The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (Millennium, #1) in Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge

Aug 26, 2010 Emma rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: translated-to-english, fiction

I was extremely glad to finish this book. From the first page until the last I found it truly laborious reading. There has been so much hype about this book, so many people reading and raving about it but nowhere in its massive 500+ pages did I discover why.

Admittedly before starting The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo I knew that it was not my kind of book – crime books and thrillers are about the only genres I never read. I also have no head for or great interest in the corporate world and so was I was extremely glad to finish this book. From the first page until the last I found it truly laborious reading. There has been so much hype about this book, so many people reading and raving about it but nowhere in its massive 500+ pages did I discover why.

Admittedly before starting The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo I knew that it was not my kind of book – crime books and thrillers are about the only genres I never read. I also have no head for or great interest in the corporate world and so was completely bored with the relentless details of the entire financial histories, business dealings and structures of companies and businesses. A lady on the train who saw me reading this book and gushed about it assured me this was all necessary to “set it up for later on”.

I persevered but the writing style continually annoyed me. I know I was reading a translation but I don't think these things suddenly appeared in the English version. It seems every time a new character is mentioned they are followed by a long, dry, impersonal-sounding biography of their life up to that point. They are then confusingly referred to alternately by either their first or last name. A room, house or office cannot be entered without a complete description of its history, design and layout and an inventory of everything within it, right down to the paper clip supplies or bookmarks in the drawers. Meals, outfits and every movement of characters were also often spelled out with such frustrating detail. It seems too that so many companies got free advertising out of this book; barely an object is mentioned without its capitalised brand name. It’s a Canon camera, a Corolla with automatic transmission, not to mention “the new Apple PowerBook G4/1.0 GHz in an aluminum case with a PowerP.C. 7451 processor with an AltiVec Velocity Engine, 960 megs of R.A.M. and a sixty-gig hard drive. It had BlueTooth and built-in C.D. and D.V.D. burners.” (Page 184 if you don’t believe me). There’s also a point, when describing which actual computer program the disgraced journalist Blomkvist is using, that the address of the website is given where you can apparently download it for free.

There was a potentially interesting mystery of a girl gone missing 40 years ago, but this seemed buried towards the back of the book and even then was so often bogged down and interrupted by these seemingly irrelevant descriptions and asides that I never felt “hooked” by what may have happened to Harriet Vanger and how other family members may have played a part. When the truly disturbing discoveries of what has been going on are made I still did not feel moved or that they had an impact. Maybe because none of the characters appealed to me and I’d completely lost interest in it by that stage.

I’m a bit confused by my reaction when everyone seems to think this book is such a compelling read but I can’t even think of one thing I liked about it to end this review on a positive note – sorry!
...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Jan 08, 2011 Rae rated it it was ok

Shelves: mystery

I wanted to be on the bandwagon but just couldn't bring myself to jump high enough. I was disappointed by the mystery itself (it was way too easy to figure out) and especially the unsatisfying conclusion. The book is too wordy and detailed and is filled with annoying product placements.

And then there's the raunch--way too much sex. Casual sex. Violent sex. Criminal sex. I understand that Salandar has a background and I found her to be quite an intriguing and sympathetic character, but the sexy ...more

Like · see review

Jul 11, 2011 Melanie rated it really liked it

Shelves: read-in-2011, subc-2011

The first half of the book was painfully slow. I had such a difficult time getting into it that I was strongly tempted to give up on it. I stuck with it, and am glad I did. Once it got going, it totallly sucked me in. The violence in the book was hard to take, but the mysteries were fascinating.

Though I rated this book a four star, I don't think I will continue the series. I like to read as a happy escape and this book doesn't fit the category. ...more

Like · see review

Feb 03, 2011 Jen Peters rated it really liked it

Shelves: mystery-suspense

Good book, with so much in it. Murder mystery, journalistic decisions, and first love. I was warned the book was hard to get into for the first half or so, but really I only had trouble getting interested for less than a quarter of the book.

Like · see review