The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
discussion
Did Anyone Else Hate This Book?
It's a shame Steig Larson never got to enjoy his fame. I agree with you there. Very sad that he didn't see other people share his vision.
Yes, I hated it. I was the only one in my book group that hated it. When I asked if they were comfortable with the sexual violence several of them said they skimmed it. Ok, then you can't say you loved the book if you had to skim parts of it.
I also hated this book. There were entire sections of the book that had nothing to do with the mystery at hand, they didn't help to develop a character or move the plot forward. Pointless.
I'm glad to know I'm not the only one. I really had a hard time getting into it. Must have re-started it half a dozen times. Went on to read the second, which was a little better, then skipped through most of the third to read the very ending. I almost like the movie better than the book. Now that NEVER happens for me.
I hated this book and the sequels. They are over-written, under-edited drivel with zero characterisation. Stieg Larsson is one of the most overrated hack writers ever to reach number 1.
Nope. Loved it. Yes, it's from a different country, a different culture. Other peoples think differently, plots SHOULD be differently paced. I enjoy the differences.I must note that reading all three back to back definitely help with understanding the whole purpose of the series.
I'm also a hater. Thought it was poorly written and clunky, with unnecessary detail that served no purpose other than distraction. I never read any of the other books in the series. Scheduled root canal instead.
It is not very well-written, coming across as unsophisticated and clunky. I got to page 10 of book three and couldn't read any more, I have to admit. The first two were odd enough to keep me in then the style really started to annoy me.
It is a series of revenge novels and it was written from the heart, so Larsson obviously hated a few people to go to the trouble of creating a barely credible and laboured framework just so he could skewer them in the most violent manner possible. Nordic voodoo.
He had talent, and if he could have written a little more dispassionately and with more discipline we may have seen some really clever plots and characters. Instead we got two-dimensional girl -- computer genius and sometime lesbian who makes a load of money and ... what else? Nothing. No life force, drive other than forming the Swedish Justice League of Sweden where she and Michael could call in all sorts of resources and knowledge in later books that strangely are not available to them in the earlier book! She lives in an IKEA world and doesn't do anything. It's like a lot of people's lives, and we don't read about them exactly because of that.
Cartoon comic stuff - should've been made into a manga novel.
Emma wrote: "I have to be honest; I hated this book.
I found the first third of the book clunky, slow and bogged down with jargon and pointless detail.
I found it disturbing and hard to read (which is not nec..."
I didn't enjoy it very much either. A part of me wants to believe that much of it was lost in the translation from Swedish to English, but I'm convinced that much of the book is too verbose and over-descriptive. I usually devour books in a day or less. It took me a month just to get through the first one. I honestly feel that if it were cut by 150 pages it would have been a much better book...
I was not a fan. Glad to see I'm not alone. Everyone I know who read them loves them...I was beginning to think I misplaced my cup of Koolaid.
I got about 2 chapters in and stopped (which is something I never normally do.)I just was not interested, it didn't grip me, I couldn't get into the story and found it didn't flow.
Maybe I should try again since everyone tells me how good it is but I really just don't want to.
I hated the Da Vinci code as well. So maybe it is me!
The Da Vinci Code was more like a movie script, for me :)Just keep in mind that not only is this a foreign culture's story, but it was ~translated.
Yes, it's not a hurry up and read it today book; it takes a long attention span (I'm not being snarky). It,s long, involved, and informative. Yes, I enjoyed every bit of it.
If you think it should be shorter, all books could be shorterAs in: "the smart girl was a victim, many times, but she got her revenge against them all. The end."
Or, for a different book: The pretty blonde girl loved vampires, or other supernatural bad boys. Then she found out she had supernatural abilities too, because she had a special grandfather. But everybody (all the guys) always liked her. The women, not so much. She survived everything and became thoughtful.lots of people were killed though. The end. Until the next book, where it happens all over again, with lots of different people."
:D
Anna wrote: "I hated the Da Vinci code as well. So maybe it is me!"Anna, I am ashamed to say I didn't even bother with Da Vinci code. Or 50 Shades. By the time I heard everyone loving or ranting about the pair of them, I decided I couldn't be bothered to try (naughty I know) when there are so many books out there to read.
Quite a few people told me to persevere through the first few chapters and it is fair to say that the whole thing does pick up after then and the plot does start getting going but I just found what with the clunkiness of the first few chapters along with the things I mentioned in the opening about the rest of it, it just didn't hit the spot.
I thought the first two books (have no desire to start book three) had interesting stories but way too much superficial information that I found way too boring (maybe you have to be European to get it). Also, I found myself laughing that a 50ish year old man who smoked, drank and pretty much seemed a very uninteresting character had to basically fight off women, one in her 20s and another in her 40s (married no less). I can do without reading the last of the installment for some time. And...the movie was horrible, though well casted.
I can't say I hated them, because I didn't read them; I just have no interest in them. I tend to like crime fiction, but these are "the big thing" and everyone seems to read them because it's "expected", so I just have stayed away, just like I stayed away from Twilight and the 50 Shades and such... *shrug*
Emma wrote: "I have to be honest; I hated this book.I found the first third of the book clunky, slow and bogged down with jargon and pointless detail.
I found it disturbing and hard to read (which is not nec..."
Yes I disliked it as well, I discovered the movie first (swedish version), loved it and thought surely the book would be even better. Unfortunately, I found it dry, stale, too full with details and not enough action, and I ached with boredom from fighting to quit the book before finishing it.
Oh, interesting ... I like books like that. Maybe I'll have to go ahead and read them ... :-)
yup, did not enjoy it at all, I read at least 1/3 before throwing in the proverbial towel. Cannot understand the obsession with it.....I tried!
Sue wrote: ""What? You'll have to speak up, I can't hear you ... :-)
If I hadn't seen the movie first (the Swedish version), I would never have made it through the first half of the book. I've found all the books in this series to be like that - you have to wade through a whole lot of boring but the last half makes it worth the effort.
i did read the book i didnt really like it but i want to see the movie
just to see if its worse
I didn't even get past about pg 120. I was reading it on my kindle while traveling and kept texting my daughter, "This is terrible! Does it get better?" She said it did, but I gave up.
I got the same feeling, but the story really gets better. Its like a roller coaster, slow... damn fast... slow.
I did not like this book at all.
I did not like "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" either...pretty much for the same reasons that you listed Emma....and I have read different books from different cultures...but this was not a good book in my opinion.
Ugh I hated this! Anytime I hear someone rave about this book I think my head is going to explode. I seriously don't get it.
My husband loves it, but I gave up after p. 50. I really wanted to like it, but oh, the backstory! All I could think of was how much grief literary agents gave me for far lesser crimes than this.The movie was good, if disturbing. But then, they cut out all the stuff that kept me from enjoying the book.
Nope. I loved it. I loved all three books.
I hated it. I didn't finish it. I suggested it to my husband on the chance that if I didn't like it, he might. He liked it and read all three books and watched the movie after reading it.
Personally I think that anyone who can not stand reading 50 pages of background story should stick to childrens books or books for "young adults".
I didn't hate it, but I don't get why it is so hyped up. It is just another mystery.
Marius wrote: "Personally I think that anyone who can not stand reading 50 pages of background story should stick to childrens books or books for "young adults"."Well, now, that's a tish unfair - keep in mind that the current TV generation has destroyed a lot of people's ability to concentrate if there aren't constant explosions or sex. I blame video games...
Marius has a superiority complex.
Lets not get personal all. This thread is about the merit of the book, not on each other's reading preferences and styles.Thanks for all the feedback all. I hoped there were others who were not fussed out there; seems you were all hiding in the cyber-woodwork, I rarely meet people who agree in the real world.
Just puzzled over why Marius feels the need to insult people who did nothing to him/her other than dislike a book that he/she liked. People like that are what ruins this site for me.
At first, I struggled with the background - perhaps because there were no characters to latch onto, and the geography was unfamiliar. There was, as well, a slightly different "tempo" to the writing - due no doubt to translation. At one point I felt that it might never get there and I asked an acquaintance for reassurance - which she offered. I was deeply grateful that she did - I loved the book and went on to love the other two as well. May I postscript that I do not expect nor believe that this book - or any book - is for everyone. Each to his/her own - that's what keeps the choices so delicious for me!
Can't say I hated it, but there were points when I was frustrated by all the extra material included that did nothing to move the story along and really had nothing to do with the plot. If I could have taken that out I would have liked it a lot more.
This is not a book for women. It is too close to the true evil and anger in the world. I loved it because of that reality. Not that I like those things, it's just real life.
C.P. wrote: "My husband loves it, but I gave up after p. 50. I really wanted to like it, but oh, the backstory! All I could think of was how much grief literary agents gave me for far lesser crimes than this...."
the second book is better, imo. the first was so brutal it was difficult to get through. the second, you honestly could skip the first few chapters and start when she gets back to Stockholm. After that, it was fantastic. I couldn't put it down. You get all the background on Lisbeth's childhood and it's very interesting. The second and third books of this series are my favorites. Larsson did need to pare down his writing, he left a lot in that didn't need to be.
Ray wrote: "This is not a book for women. It is too close to the true evil and anger in the world. I loved it because of that reality. Not that I like those things, it's just real life."Sorry - but as a woman, gotta respond by saying I liked it for the very same reason.
I read all the reviews, but a bit strange.this book has everything.I'm looking in the book.Maybe,We have expectation of difficult.
I like the book, I found the resolution very unsatisfying. I guess I just needed something more sinister. I didn't bother reading the rest of the trilogy, I couldn't bring myself to.
Ray wrote: "This is not a book for women. It is too close to the true evil and anger in the world. I loved it because of that reality. Not that I like those things, it's just real life."What a ridiculous thing to say. You can't avoid things that are hard to acknowledge. Particularly for reasons of gender, age and culture.
I couldn't get through the second chapter and gave up on it after trying thrice.
I ranted, right her on GR, about the ridiculous details/product placement. Also the very odd word choices made by the translator ("Forsooth"? Really!?) They ripped me right out of the narrative, because not only am I a computer programmer, but I'm also a Mac user, and am very familiar with the now 6-7 year old models of mac laptops he described. And by "described", I mean gave tech specs that only really matter to technophiles. It was ridiculous; if you don't know anything about computers it's just boring and tells you nothing. If you do know about those computer specifically, then you know that it has to be set in the early 2000's despite the book lacking any specific dates in the modern day narrative. Those details were pointless, didn't illustrate the relative tech savviness of the two main protagonists to the vast majority of readers, and dated the book before it was even released.
Did I mention the use of "forsooth"? ;)
Personally, the entire book could have been told from Lisbeth's perspective, and I would have liked it a lot more (3 or 4 star's worth of liking it).
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I found the first third of the book clunky, slow and bogged down with jargon and pointless detail.
I found it disturbing and hard to read (which is not necessarily a bad thing - as I enjoyed but struggled with Lolita and American Psycho) and was unable to form an attachment with it. I found it pointlessly and crassly sordid and but not enough to stir feelings of hatred for misogynistic men despite its intentions. I think it’s because the characters were so excessive and extreme that you don't link it to real life sexism and violence towards women on a serious but day to day level.
I tried to love it. I thought I'd give it a while before I started the second in the series but found myself making excuses for starting it. It was only when I watched the Swedish Film that I realised I was putting off the second novel because I actually hated this book.
I know there are some pretty passionate fans out there for this novel, so I would be interested to see how many people are offended by my disregard for Girl With Dragon Tattoo, and how many people agree with me.