The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (Millennium, #1) in Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge

Jan 11, 2013 Molly rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: literary-fiction, kindle, 3-and-a-half-stars, i-want-to-like-you, realistic-fiction, read-in-2013

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I'm torn on how to rate this. I had a hard time getting into the story at first, which I blame not so much on the book itself as my own glut of YA (which can't afford 100 pages of setup).

The novel takes place all over Sweden, a place I have obviously zero familiarity with. In a way, I felt like I could never get a true grounding with the setting -- which is odd, because I read plenty of fantasy without having that feeling (I'd gladly visit Westeros!). Anyway. The beginning was rough. We open wi I'm torn on how to rate this. I had a hard time getting into the story at first, which I blame not so much on the book itself as my own glut of YA (which can't afford 100 pages of setup).

The novel takes place all over Sweden, a place I have obviously zero familiarity with. In a way, I felt like I could never get a true grounding with the setting -- which is odd, because I read plenty of fantasy without having that feeling (I'd gladly visit Westeros!). Anyway. The beginning was rough. We open with editor-in-chief of Millennium magazine, Mikael Blomkvist on trial for libel, his magazine having published an entirely false account of the shady business practices of Hans-Erik Wennerstrom. Apparently the information was true, but Blomkvist was unable to reveal his source. Stepping down from Millennium and heading for a year of self-imposed exile (also some jail time), Blomkvist gets an intriguing request. Billionaire Henrik Vanger reaches out to the journalist for his help in solving a mystery -- Vanger's niece Harriet disappeared nearly 40 years ago and Vanger has been on a hunt for her murderer ever since. The family nearly all live on an isolated island and represent a psychologist's dream of fucked up family dynamics. Vanger also offers Blomkvist some REAL information that could crush Wennerstrom and negate those pesky libel charges. Blomkvist is both intrigued by the case and Vanger himself. He takes the job and a cabin on the island.

Existing in what may as well be an entirely different novel, is Lisbeth Salander, a free lance agent for Milton Security. Salander is unique in her ability to dig up dirt on seemingly anyone. Her secret? She's a badass computer hacker with a photographic memory. She also clearly has more backstory than is revealed here -- she's a ward of the state and her mother lives in a nursing home (she seems like she has Alzheimer's, but it's never discussed in detail). Even though she's a legal adult at 24, Salander's mental condition has been deemed somehow unfit, and she has to check in with an "advokat" a few times a year. When her previous guardian steps down, her new guardian intends to take advantage...in some terrible ways I don't care to relive. She shuts him down in some equally terrible ways and it's all really hard to read.

Salander becomes involved in Blomkvist's narrative when she is briefly employed to do a background check on him. Out of curiosity, she continues looking into his life and is intrigued by him. When she hears that Vanger has joined forces with Millennium, she decides to investigate Blomkvist further. Basically, she's bored.

The two don't actually cross paths until halfway through the novel. Blomkvist makes progress on the case of Harriet's disappearance, noting her sudden devotion to religion in the months before her death, along with a strange series of names and numbers, which he eventually learns correspond with scripture passages, which in turn correspond with gruesome murders of women. It's Salander who helps him track down the murder cases and the two begin working together. They both develop a kind of obsession with the Vanger case. Meanwhile, Millennium's defacto editor in chief (and Blomkvist's sometime lover) Erika Berger, struggles to keep the magazine afloat.

Like I said, I enjoyed parts of the story. Once Blomkvist began investigating Harriet's disappearance, and the murders that may have been connected with it, I had a hard time putting the book down. Weirdly, the "murders based on scripture" element was a substantial plot point in The Diviners as well, so I kept crossing the two plots in my mind. I was interested in the mystery plot, when it deigned to show up. Although I suspected that Harriet wasn't actually dead, I didn't guess about her family's involvement with the murders. Another disturbing side plot.

What I didn't like was all of the hacking intrigue that went into catching Wennerstrom and marking him as a mobster. The Harriet plot is wrapped up about 60 pages from the end, and I just plain did not give a shit about whatever Wennerstrom was guilty of. And also, reading about someone using a computer is PAINFULLY dull. Also, so much rape. The casual treatment of rape in A Song of Ice and Fire has always bothered me a bit (the phrase "needs a good raping" should just not be in print), and while it wasn't necessarily treated *casually* here, it didn't sit right. Why does nearly every female character need to be a victim of sexual violence? While most of the men are sexual deviants. I have a hard time reading about extreme violence in any form, and this was actually worse for me than Dark Places, in terms of how often I had to put it down.

Overall, I'm glad I finally gave this book a chance after hearing about it for the past couple of years. It was a (mostly) decent read. I'd like to hear more of Lisbeth's backstory, but given that she spent the last few pages acting like a 16 year old YA heroine (or Sansa Stark...), I kind of want to give her a good shake. It bothers me that she's so fiercely independent and the moment she thinks she's in love, she turns into a moron. It left a bad taste in my mouth. Thus, I'm not terribly motivated to read the rest of the trilogy. I kind of don't care what happens to these people. ...more

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Apr 25, 2009 Cindy rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: blog, mystery, 2009

I heard so much about this book online that I wanted to try it myself. But I have to admit that I wasn't sure about it after I finished the first chapter. It looked like it was going to be about politics and big business, and I hate political thrillers. They just don't catch my interest at all. Happily, I kept reading and then the book shifted again and got into the main mystery. Mikael Blomqvist has been hired to look into the disappearance of Harriet Vanger 40 years ago. Lisbeth Salander, the ...more

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Mar 23, 2011 Keturah rated it it was amazing

I avoided this book for a long time, thinking that such a popular book couldn't be any good. However, I was wrong! I loved this book and raced through it to get to the ending. The main protagonists (Lisbeth and Mikael) are fascinating and well developed. The various plot lines were intriguing and inter-related in so many ways that it was like a huge puzzle to figure everything out. I've never known much about Sweden, so it was also neat to learn a bit about Sweden. My favorite part was the plot ...more

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Oct 15, 2009 Hardcover Hearts rated it really liked it

This is one of those books that always pops up in the Amazon suggestion list for me, so I thought I would take it out of the library and see what the fuss was all about.

While the start was very slow, and I wasn't too involved, I am glad I stayed with it. I loved the setting in Sweden, and I liked the challenge of reading a book in translation which still kept a lot of cultural references.

The plot was wonderful. I had about a hundred pages to finish and I just couldn't stop without knowing what ...more

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Apr 20, 2010 Sarah rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction, mystery, mystery-contemporary, thriller, nordic-countries

A thrilling and dark mystery set in modern-day Sweden, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, is the first in a series of three from Stieg Larsson. This book starts a little slow, introducing journalist Mikael Blomqvist who has been found guilty of libel against uber-capitalist Hans Wennerstrom. Needing a break, Blomqvist takes a leave from his magazine, Millenium, and heads north to take on an unusual assignment. He is hired by Harald Vagner, CEO of Wennerstrom rival, Vagner Corporation, to find the ...more

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Oct 05, 2010 Kerry rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: fromthelibrary, about-a-woman, audiobook

Needs an editor.

Even if you took out all the boring financial stuff, more than half the book is people TELLING you things. Maybe they don't teach the "show, don't tell" thing in Sweden, but someone should let those folks know.

If you strip all the boring stuff away, and pretend that all the fucked-up woman-hating shit isn't there, it's just a mystery where the "clues" (i.e. photos -- such a bunch of shutterbugs in Sweden in nineteen sixty-whatever!) are discovered all-too-serendipitously. Whatshe ...more

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Jan 02, 2010 pianogal rated it really liked it

Shelves: zi-ve-been-meaning-to-read-that2011, thriller

So I finally got a chance to read this one - and it definately lived up to the hype. There was a point where I was mad b/c I had to put it down and go do something else, and I didn't want to. I will say that the Wennerstrom conclusion was good, but it was a little anticlimmactic after the Vanger affair. I can't wait to see where this story goes next. ...more

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