The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo question

I really liked the book, but it took me three times starting to be able to get through it. So, I am the opposite, I didn't like the beginning, but loved the middle.

I liked the second book even more, but unfortunately, it too was hard to get started.

I tried this book because of my book club. I will admit, I'm lazy. I don't want to work at reading any book simply due to hype. I'm an author and know you should "hook" the audience immediately. The first chapters of this book are exceedingly dull. I skimmed through until I reached the sexual violence then put the book down where it will remain, collecting dust, until I give it away. Not for me.

Michael wrote: "I hope that I am not the only one that could not get into this book. I fail to see why it is so popular, this was one of the most overrated books in awhile. It started of good but I coudl`nt even f..."

I love this book but not the series the third book is not that good and ruins the series for me. But I couldn't put the first one down. But it is one of those books where either you love it or hate it.

If you didn´t liked it, then i am sure that you will find it overrated, since you don´t care for the book at all - happened to me in other very overrated books to whom i have heard wonders and to me they were just a waste of time and money.

One cannot please everybody.....and that´s good because it would be terribly boring if we all liked the same things, in this case books: then we would not have thousands of writters - only one would be required, yes?

I thought the plot was a bit confusing and it seems more like a crime novel than a thriller--which is what it's marketed out to be.

I admit the first few chapters were tough to get through, but after that I couldn't put it down....The movie was good....a few horrible scenes. . but they got to the point ..the percent of women who get raped in Sweden is very high...

it took me awhile to get into but have the first 150pages or so it picked up and i couldn't put it down. I wanted to know who was the killer of all the women.

I plowed through the first one and it was horribly slow and boring until the end where all the action was packed into the last few chapters. It was so tough to get to the end that I quit after the first book. Haven't seen the movies yet...

I liked the books, they are new, they dont try to tone down what happens and it paints a picture of what happens in society.

For what reasons did you dislike the book?

NO !!! I realized while trying to read the book why Laarsen died after the 3 books...he bored himself to death.
I do believe the movie will be better but will wait for DVD just in case.
I felt an outsider because I'm not even sure I got out of the first chapter. I gave it to the Library.

I feel the same way. Everyone and their mother told me to read this book so i was PUMPED to get into it. Hated it the entire way through. So damn tedious and boring. Yes there were good parts, but to be as popular as it is makes me feel like I completely missed something.

I really, really tried to get into it. Read half of it and couldn't take it anymore. Loads of descriptions and long, long preludes to what really matters.

You are not alone. I decided to read the book because I am a librarian and many patrons raved to me about the series. After reading about 50 pages I decided to get it on CD and listen to it in the car because I never would have finished it otherwise. Can you say BORING? Too many stories going on at once and the one character I truly like (the girl with the dragon tattoo) really was not the focus for most of the book. Even on CD it felt like it would never end. The other two books are definitely not on my "too read" shelf.

I actually liked it a lot. The only thing that bothered me was the names/places that I didn't know how to pronounce them.

No, you are not. It took me weeks to get through the first fifteen chapters. It was like reading the bible. This was the mother of that person who was the nephew of that person who made a sandwhich for that person who smiled at that person... well, you get it. And I figured out the ending of the book pretty quickly. *spoiler* Since they kept going on and on and on and then still went on and on and on about how her dead body never turned up, I kinda just figured that she was still alive. The ending was still really awesome, but wasn't worth the journey to get there. I definitely will never read it again and will never read the next two.

I really enjoyed this book. It did start out horribly slow! But I have definitely read better books. Now the second book was much, much better and I couldn't put it down.

I'm almost done with it, and I'm not really digging it either tbh.

The first 1/3 of the book is boring. After that it picks up but honestly, after he finds Harriet and leaves Vanger's assignment, I lost interest in the book. The middle third of the book (the mystery part) is the best. Blah on everything else. It was a hard read to get into.

No, not the only one! Kept waiting for excitement....never found any. Way over-hyped!

Michael wrote: "I hope that I am not the only one that could not get into this book. I fail to see why it is so popular, this was one of the most overrated books in awhile. It started of good but I coudl`nt even f..."
I am not sure I had your exact reactions, but I did find the repetitive descriptions of locales, foods, furnishings, etc., sandwiched around sometimes unbelievable violence a bit tedious. And, at least for me, the characters seemed to be caricatures designed to send a message rather than tell a tale. Again, JMHO.

I couldn't make it past the first two chapters. I really liked the movie, it was great minus a scene that was hard to watch. I'm trying to read it again. But the first chapters are very boring.

I couldn't finish it either . . . I thought I was the only one . . . thanks for sharing that you didn't like it either!!

Morning all,

I read this a while ago based on lots of recommendations from people who had read it and, of course, based on the hype, the reviews etc etc. I too struggled with it. I felt it was too long, over written and, although I did finish it, I had no urge to read the others.

I haven't read it, but my wife did, and she thought that all of the hype was really unnecessary. She thought it was 'good' but it was far from 'great'.

I did not enjoy the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
But I did finish it.

I can't really understand what all the hype is about either! I did stick with it and enjoyed parts of it, but I've read far better crime novels that did not receive half as much publicity!

I don't think you're the only one, Michael. It's a pretty good read -- I read all three -- but not any better than other similar mysteries I've read. And the plot felt a little...unpolished is maybe the word. Yes, I think it's overrated and I'm wondering if it's because we're leaning more toward foreign writers as opposed to the familiar homegrown varieties!

I think many who have liked the book and replied to your question have hit the nail on the head: you have to give the book about 150+ pages for it to really get going. I felt that once the investigation actually started, things really picked up. At the same time, I don't understand why Larsson couldn't start off with the investigation and fill in Blomqvist's background later.

Did I like the book? Yes. Did I get bored sometimes while reading it? Yes. Would I recommend it to people? Yes, but only if you don't mind slow-paced books with lots of sexual violence. Would I have read it knowing what I do now? Probably not.

I understand your frustrations, though. I didn't like the Lord of the Rings books. Even though I'm a huge fantasy fan and loved the movies, I found The Fellowship of the Ring to be extremely boring, which according to some is pure blasphemy!

Michael wrote: "I hope that I am not the only one that could not get into this book. I fail to see why it is so popular, this was one of the most overrated books in awhile. It started of good but I coudl`nt even f..."

I could not get into this book either, though I tried,as it is so popular. I found it wasn't well written and just didn't catch my interest.