The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (Millennium, #1) in Crazy Challenge Connection

Dec 02, 2010 Anne (Booklady) Molinarolo rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: winter-2011-12, thriller-mystery, thriller-suspense, classics, permanent-library, good-fiction

I first read THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO Christmas week of last year while in Illinois celebrating the holiday with my family. I wanted to see if Stieg Larsson’s novel withstood the test of time; and it most certainly does! I had originally thought that the novel began slowly, but it is necessary that we get to know the “ruined” finance journalist, Mikael Blomkvist. His loss of the libel suit against the ultra rich financier, Hans-Erik Wennerström is imperative to the main plot line to the b I first read THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO Christmas week of last year while in Illinois celebrating the holiday with my family. I wanted to see if Stieg Larsson’s novel withstood the test of time; and it most certainly does! I had originally thought that the novel began slowly, but it is necessary that we get to know the “ruined” finance journalist, Mikael Blomkvist. His loss of the libel suit against the ultra rich financier, Hans-Erik Wennerström is imperative to the main plot line to the book. If he had won the suit, Herr Henrik Vanger couldn’t have gotten Blomkvist’s interest in the disappearance of his niece decades ago. Facing a hefty fine, a leave of absence at Millennium Magazine, and a 3 month prison sentence, Blomkvist needs money and a flexible schedule. Though intrigued by Herr Vanger’s story about his missing niece, Harriet, and the fact that the old man has been receiving a framed single dried flower on his birthday Vanger clinches Blomkvist’s services by promising the journalist ammunition to bring down Wennerström. Under the guise of writing the history of the once very prominent Swede family, Mikael begins the year long assignment.

Blomkvist realizes that he needs help with his investigation and needs an assistant. Enter the very young looking waif, Lisbeth Salander. The 24 year-old with numerous piercings and tattoos (that includes a tattoo of a large dragon) has done her own investigation of Mikael Blomkvist. She is an egimia to all who know her, especially to her older employer at the Security firm. Her deep investigating tools are a photographic memory and that she is one of the world‘s premier hackers. She has a story of her own that is revealed in the course of the novel and will dish out her own brand of justice to those she believes deserve it. This girl whom is a ward of the Swedish state abhors violence against women and more so against those individuals she allows herself to become close to her. And there are many in the dysfunctional Vanger family who richly deserve her kind of justice.

Larsson has created more than your typical crime novel; he has crafted a deliberate calibrated mystery with the suspense of a thriller with enough violence that a true thriller enthusiast enjoys. But the violence is not gratuitous. It has its place within the multilayered plotlines. Unfortunately, violence against women has been happening since the morning of time, but Larsson brings a modern cautionary tale to the subject. Many reviewers have said THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO is a great character study of flawed individuals, and it is true. We readers become enamored with some, cringe at others while ultimately caring for almost all of them. I am saddened that we will not get more Millennium books since Stieg Larsson died in 2004.
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Jan 02, 2012 Megzy rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: contemporary, physical-and-emotional-abuse

You are either going to love it or hate it. It is not an easy book to read. The first 50 pages are terribly boring but the story picks up from there and the last 1/3 of the book is a page turner.

My biggest beef with this book is how irresistible Blomkvist character is and how no woman, no matter how old they are, can help themselves by falling in love or in bed with him...how it is the women that make the initiative...how he makes everyone feel safe. Rolls eyes. Good thing that based on Cecilia' ...more

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Dec 18, 2016 Sam rated it really liked it

Shelves: ebooks, books-of-2016

I've read a lot of complaints about this novel, both concerning the pace and the content. I think that's why it took me so long to finally decide to pick it up, and I have to say, I'm disappointed that it took me so long!

Many people seem to complain about the slow start and how it takes the first quarter of the book before they were really invested. That wasn't an issue for me at all; I started reading and didn't want to stop! There is a lot going on, which can be a little confusing at the begi ...more

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Jul 26, 2011 Arow rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, 5-star, mystery, 2011

I had no idea what to expect from ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’ and I was more then pleasantly surprised. With each page I was drawn further into the web of information and detail that Stieg Larsson had put into his world. I was fascinated with the lives of each of his characters and the incredible depth that went into everyone’s background.

The life and voice that he was able to breathe into Lisbeth Salander was beyond what most male authors do for their female characters. I felt everything ...more

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Nov 07, 2010 Madge rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: all-time-favorites, thriller-mystery

I really enjoyed this book. I think that about 50-75 pages worth of unnecessary descriptions and the like could have been cut without effecting the story, but over all it was a great book. The first third, or half, was a little slow. Ok, it was painfully slow at first. But, once it begins to pick up speed, it doesn't stop until right at the end. It took me a week to read this book. The first five or six days were spent between the first page and roughly page 50, but once it finally gained moment ...more

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Jun 13, 2011 Autumn rated it liked it

Difficult to get into at first, skimmed most of the financial talk, but got exciting & stayed that way throughout the rest. Like a really in-depth, mysterious Law & Order SVU episode.

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Jul 26, 2011 Norma rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: summer-2011

When I started reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, I wasn't sure if I would like it or not. As it turned out, I could not put it down. I cannot wait to start reading the next book. ...more

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