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

Nov 16, 2011 Kecia rated it liked it

Shelves: general_fiction, mystery, sweden

Slow start but once it picks up steam - it really picks up steam!!!

Larsson wrote like a journalist so the writing tends to be dry, but his character development and plot development more than make up for it.

Lisbeth is probably the best fictional character of this century. You can't but love her and want to hug her to help ease her pain. She's not a strong woman and she trys her best to hide that under many layers of bravado. In the end it is that vulnerability that is so appealing about her. Sh ...more

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Aug 04, 2010 Sean rated it did not like it

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. [ more like 1.5 I guess :] The first half was vaguely promising. (While being entirely uneventful. Go figure.) At least it felt like it was going on a more cerebral and literary track. However, the plot - and ultimately, the genre - turned in a direction that, had I known, I would have been especially hesitant to even pick the book up. The latter half of the book was increasingly disappointing. And honestly, insulting.

It just devolved even further during the 'climactic sequence' = Lurid. Cliched [ more like 1.5 I guess :] The first half was vaguely promising. (While being entirely uneventful. Go figure.) At least it felt like it was going on a more cerebral and literary track. However, the plot - and ultimately, the genre - turned in a direction that, had I known, I would have been especially hesitant to even pick the book up. The latter half of the book was increasingly disappointing. And honestly, insulting.

It just devolved even further during the 'climactic sequence' = Lurid. Cliched. And above all: *Amateurish* Cringe-inducing dialogue alone from 'the villain'. But contrived motivations, hackneyed action sequences, sappy and improbable 'happy' endings, tidy narrative bows tied all around. The main character treated with narcissistic kid gloves throughout. All wreak of 'first novel-itis'.

The plot itself feels entirely dated to begin with. (This should be retitled "The Silence of the Herring" perhaps?) The Hannibal Lecture/Seven/Saw genre... Tired. I'm surprised vampires, zombies and werewolves didn't pop out from various dark corners at some point. (Probably because the author was no longer living to see those sharks get jumped.)

Yes I surrendered to the inescapable hype. Foolishly, I yielded to a knee-jerk reaction to purchase the whole 'trilogy'. After said 'climax', there was still about 70 pages of unresolved epilogue-type crap. I seriously flirted with not even finishing it. I finished just because it was such mindless fast reading. And to further confirm my verdict of just how amateurishly written it is.

Initially, I was planning on probably plowing through all 3 in a row. Plans have changed. Like picking at a healing scab, at some point I probably will plow through the other two. (Yes, I get off on holding and indulging in simmering grudges.) I'm hoping David Fincher will elevate this material on film.

And like many reviewers here, I agree that the Misogyny Question needs to be raised. I am not a fan of the Imprisoned Women Torture Fetish genre *at all*. Which, again, had I known in advance, I would have passed on this. But the author's transparent attempts at masking his lurid pulpy preoccupation with statistics about violence against women etc are facile, hypocritical and tacked on.

Someone posted this link in another review. And I think it deserves reposting as well:

"Feminist or misogynist?"
"Stieg Larsson’s thrillers have been described as feminist, but Melanie Newman argues they are just the latest in a line of novels which aim to titillate readers with graphic depictions of men raping and murdering women"
http://www.thefword.org.uk/reviews/20... ...more

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Feb 11, 2023 alana rated it it was ok

Shelves: scandinavia, crime

I put this off for years because I so disliked the movie (the original, haven't seen the English language remake). But I'm trying to finally work through the piles of used books I've acquired from a decade of trolling book off in Tokyo. The plot didn't stick with me from the film, just the general sense of disgust at the sadistic violence toward women. Now I'm wondering how many of the sprawling cast ended up on camera. I do enjoy the slow investigative plod, but the odd mash up of psycho killer ...more

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