The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (Millennium, #1) in What's the Name of That Book???

Apr 05, 2010 Jackie "the Librarian" rated it really liked it

Shelves: mysteries, adultfiction, glbt

Lisbeth Salander, the girl of the title, is kick ass. And kind of scary. I don't think I'd be friends with her, but I would respect her and never, ever, piss her off. She makes this book worth reading, despite all its other faults. This is not great literature, it's a mess of a book with elements that made me cringe, but I couldn't put it down because of Lisbeth.

She almost takes too long to come into the story. Larsson makes us wait, and he almost lost me by starting out not with Lisbeth, but wi Lisbeth Salander, the girl of the title, is kick ass. And kind of scary. I don't think I'd be friends with her, but I would respect her and never, ever, piss her off. She makes this book worth reading, despite all its other faults. This is not great literature, it's a mess of a book with elements that made me cringe, but I couldn't put it down because of Lisbeth.

She almost takes too long to come into the story. Larsson makes us wait, and he almost lost me by starting out not with Lisbeth, but with a framing story about Mikael Blomkvist. Mikael is a reporter on trial for libel against a prominent businessman, and we get to learn a plethora of mind-numbingly dull details about financial shenanigans. For anyone thinking about reading this, don't sweat these details, just skim all this intro stuff quickly to get the basic idea. You won't miss anything.

Add to that a thicket of interchangeable (to me, anyways) Swedish names, an intergenerational family with too many members to keep track of that plays a central role, and details about how many cupboards there are in the kitchen that I didn't need to know (although it's cute that the author thinks I might want to know, maybe it's a Swedish thing?) and you have a book crying out for an editor. But I'm glad I persevered.

Lisbeth Salander is completely asocial, a computer genius, bisexual, and SO not afraid to use violence. She's a ward of the state with a mysterious past. Just like Mikael Blomkvist, who she joins forces with, we grow fascinated with her, and her ferocity. She's like Dirty Harry, she lives by her own code, which is not necessarily within the law. Something happened to her in her childhood, something evil, but what? WHAT??? I couldn't turn pages fast enough, and then I dived straight into the second book, to find out more.

The other mystery, about the disappearance of a young woman years ago, was interesting, too, but took a disquieting turn toward the end that I found overly sensationalized.

One last note: This book is not for anyone squeamish about violence towards women. I do NOT want to see the movie they recently made based on it, I had enough trouble reading certain sections, I don't want to see them depicted on screen. ...more

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Jun 12, 2010 Thomas rated it really liked it

Shelves: dark, thriller, mainstream, mystery, 2010

This book is a hard one to peg. On the one hand, it's a mystery; on the other hand, it's a police procedural; on the OTHER other hand, it's a thriller; and on the OTHER OTHER other hand, it's a political intrigue novel. That it's set against the backdrop of the world of financial journalism makes it unique, and that it's a compellingly readable story makes it worth the time to read. So it's not completely surprising that this is an "international best-selling novel," but to be such a hybrid of d This book is a hard one to peg. On the one hand, it's a mystery; on the other hand, it's a police procedural; on the OTHER other hand, it's a thriller; and on the OTHER OTHER other hand, it's a political intrigue novel. That it's set against the backdrop of the world of financial journalism makes it unique, and that it's a compellingly readable story makes it worth the time to read. So it's not completely surprising that this is an "international best-selling novel," but to be such a hybrid of different genres, it's successful despite itself.

I say that because my biggest complaint about the novel is that it's almost clinical in its description of the minutiae of life of its characters. If you've ever wondered what it's like to live in Sweden during the deep winter, or what the typical drudgery of being a researcher is like, or what it entails to be a financial journalist, then this is definitely the book for you. Larsson covers in great detail all of these different aspects of life, which in part accounts for the near 600-page length of the book. While it gets a little tedious to see so much detail, it's still written in such a way as to be relatively fascinating, enough so that you're not going to be taken too much out of the story during these passages.

There were a couple of parts that seemed a little clunky, too. The main character has a daughter with whom he isn't estranged, but he doesn't see her often. She pops in right in the middle of the novel for about four pages, and provides the clue to keep the plot moving along. It was plainly obvious that she was only there for that one purpose only, and it stood out to me like a neon sign. There were also a number of references to authors and novels listed strictly for flavor, without being necessary to the plot at all, and I felt like the author threw them in there for recognition more than anything else. It wasn't that Larsson was going for his own recognition, as much as he was giving a shout out to his inspirations, but it was pretty clear that's what the purpose of the comments were. As I understand it, though, this was Larsson's first novel, despite having been a writer for years, so I can overlook some mechanical gaffes in the narrative. As compelling as the story is, it was very easy to overlook them, in fact.

And that's ultimately what I look for in the books I read: Story. This single novel has it in droves, with plots, subplots, and sub-subplots, peopled with likable characters with their own flaws, set against a historical backdrop in a remote, out-of-the-way place. What starts off as a single-minded plot becomes much more layered and involved, without it ever seeming contrived or forced. The good guys win and the bad guys lose, but the journey to see who's who, what drives the different characters, and the growth that they endure over the course of events will keep you stuck with the story, no matter how much you want to be doing anything else. The book may have a few flaws, but what works in it works so damn well that the flaws will hardly make a difference to you by the end.

By now, you have to have heard about this book. Now you just need to get out there and read it. ...more

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Apr 20, 2010 Jennie rated it did not like it

Shelves: thriller, mystery

I avoided this book for a long time because I usually stay away from the books that "everyone" is reading. My curiosity finally got the better of me and I decided to give it a chance.

I was pleasantly surprised when I found I couldn't put it down, though I'm not really sure why. An interesting puzzle (though I figured out part of it before the big reveal), with vivid (though not really likeable) characters. For me, this book was three things: a whodunnit, a revenge story, and a message, with the I avoided this book for a long time because I usually stay away from the books that "everyone" is reading. My curiosity finally got the better of me and I decided to give it a chance.

I was pleasantly surprised when I found I couldn't put it down, though I'm not really sure why. An interesting puzzle (though I figured out part of it before the big reveal), with vivid (though not really likeable) characters. For me, this book was three things: a whodunnit, a revenge story, and a message, with the whodunnit being the primary focus. Larsson's writing was best when he stayed with the first two.

The third, his "violence against women is BAD" message, was a little clumsy and primarily took the form of random statistics in the section headers at the beginning of each part. The message resurfaced later in the book when a character is asked to make contributions to a charity dealing with women who are victims of violence. A sub-sub-subplot between one character and another in a position of power over her felt entirely gratuitous and tacked-on, and the knowledge she gains as a result could have come from someplace much less icky and still carried weight. It seems to only exist in the story so she could have an excuse to do some important Internet research, and so that we could understand her opinion of violent men (though I think a reader can feel that visceral hatred without personal experience).

There was so much about this book I didn't like: the graphic rape/torture scenes (can we declare a moratorium on these, please?); all the coffee and sandwiches; the precise measurements of every room; the male lead's strange babe-magnetude; the total lack of connection between the plotlines. Still.

Update: When I originally posted my review, I said I'd probably read the other books. After several months' distance, however, I just can't. This book is just too dark, and I don't think I can handle more of the same. I don't know why I keep holding out hope that *this* time will be the time I actually like a book that *everyone* is reading. The only time I haven't been burned by that one was with "Harry Potter". ...more

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Feb 16, 2011 Marsha rated it it was ok

Shelves: not-finishing

I am about 1/3 of the way through and am not going to finish reading. The characters are, for the most part, amoral and not very likable. While talking to people, I found out that the only character I like so far--the girl with the dragon tattoo--gets some pretty violent stuff done to her and I just don't want to read it. So I am not. ...more

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