Read it or see the movie? Both? Neither?

[Cloé]

I can honestly say its a crime not to have read the books! The first book is so much deeper than the film! With any film the book is usually better as it has a lot more detail and you get to know the characters a lot more. Definitely recommend this book, but for those who are unsure watch the film then read the books, things will become a lot clearer.

[William]

Read these books.... they're damn good! It's a bummer the author died so there won't be more.

[Judy]

Pam wrote: "I found out that Netflix has a Swedish version that is the original television production that the movies were taken from. There was a lot cut from the television series."

There's a TV series?

[Vishesh]

Rachel wrote: "I still have not read this book, but have heard mixed reviews about it. I was warned there is a lot of violence against women.

Now there is a movie out, which I also haven't seen. Would you recomm..."

The book is phenomenal. No doubt about that.
The movie, however, is not up to scratch. Many parts of the story have been altered in the movie.
I would highly recommend reading the book and then watching the movie.
Anyway, when you get to seeing the movie do not waste time watching the Swedish version it is awful. The hollywood version is way better.
And, about the thing with violence against women – you don't have to worry about that, it's is not that intense and Spoiler Alert!! there is revenge taken by the women after every violent attack by the male.

[Global]

yeah the movie is no joke and the book is suspenseful...

[M.]

I saw the Swedish film versions of all the books before I read them, and thought the movies were really well done. The book filled in some holes in the movie plots and were engaging in themselves. I felt the actress who played Lisbeth Salander in the Swedish versions, Noomi Rapace, was much better in the role than the woman in the American version. The American version was ok and had good acting but I totally prefered the Swedish version even with subtitles. The violence against women as mentioned in several previous post, while graphic, does further the plot, and gives an insight into the character Lisbeth, her background and motivations. It also makes her that much easier to form an emotional attachment with in the film.

[Marni]

I'd rather read the book than the film of America version , unfortunately I have not seen the Swedish version, and I am curious about it, maybe next time ..:)

[Mike]

Pam, you are so right! Loved the books, and the Swedish film versions, even the US film. Different style and mystery.

[Afifah]

I highly recommend you to read the book first before watch the movie. Its not kind of book that you can read while you drink your tea and take some snack, but if you like the kind of book about investigation, crime, family intrigue, this is definitely the book you should read. I have read the first book and just finished watching the Hollywood version of the movie. The book was a little bit boring at the beginning with a long plot and so much fact and history mentioned. But after you get through it, you wont be able to put it down. The movie was good, but some details from the book are changed and some are excluded, but if you just watch the movie and not read the book, it wont make any different. The best thing of the movie is, Rooney Mara played Lisbeth Salander remarkably awesome. I don't know about the Swedish version, but Lisbeth in Hollywood version was just exactly the same as the image of Lisbeth in my mind when I read the book. No wonder she got those nominees.

[Leslie]

I have read the book and seen the movie. I've actually seen both the Swedish and American version of the book.

Love the series, it was a different read for me. Many were put off by the story, but something about it called to me. Really like Lisbeth.

As for the movies, I enjoyed the American version more than the Swedish (I've seen all 3 movies). Thought the American version stuck more closely to the book and casted the more appropriate actress to play Lisbeth. Overall just liked the look and feel of the American version.

[Colleen]

"Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" Title Sequence by Blur from Motionographer on Vimeo.

[Colleen]

freakin awesome!

[Susan]

Check out what this blog has to say about a dragon tattoo girl!

http://fundinmental.wordpress.com/201...

[Alex]

Rachel wrote: "I still have not read this book, but have heard mixed reviews about it. I was warned there is a lot of violence against women.

Now there is a movie out, which I also haven't seen. Would you recomm..."

Hello,

I've seen the first movie and yes, there is some violence against a woman. There is reason and rhyme to this, although this is not made clear in the first book. Having read the first book, I find that the movie (US) are somewhat similar. I saw the Swedish version and it is, IMHO, a little simpler (however it was made for television and they were aiming at converting all three books into three separate tele-movies).

So: See the first US film, read all the books, then see all the Swedish versions. It is only a recommendation however I found this to work for me quite well!

[Angela]

i myself loved the book, I thought it was great writing & Lisbeth came up from the slums. Yet she still manages to overcome obstacles. I didn't likw the violence she endured at all, but all in all great book. I have not watched the movie & don't plan to books are always better then the movie in my opinion .

[Pam]

Alexander's advice was to watch the American version, read the books and then see the Swedish movies. My advice is to read the books, see the Swedish movies, and then the American version. I am looking forward to seeing the television version. As you can tell, I am obsessed with this series. So, whichever way you choose, just read them and watch the movies! Great story and good filmmaking.

[Susan]

I've read the first two books and have ordered the third. Saw the first Swedish movie and thought it was great. The US version was good, but not as good as the Swedish one. Haven't seen any of the other movies yet.

Should I bother? If so, which ones would you recommend?

[Kamilla]

I read the books and saw all the films (with the exception of the American version.) I liked them overall, but thought it was pretty amusing that almost all the women wanted to sleep with Mikael Blomkvist!

[Deon]

Read the book first then watch the Swedish movie, the actress does a stellar job of becoming Salander. Skp the American movie, it misses totally.

[Alex]

Pam wrote: "Alexander's advice was to watch the American version, read the books and then see the Swedish movies. My advice is to read the books, see the Swedish movies, and then the American version. I am ..."

We both agree: All aspects (book, film, US film) are worthwhile and should all be consumed! :-)

[Deborah Wells]

Pam wrote: "I'm one of those freaks that LOVED the books and the Swedish versions of the movie and I even enjoyed the American version (although I felt it was inferior to the Swedish versions.) ..."

I, too, am one of those freaks. :)

[Todd]

99 times out of 100 I would always recommend reading the book first. However, in this instance I think you should watch the American movie first. I don't think I would have finished the book, or cared to continue on to the second and third books without having seen the movie first. Lisbeth was so intriguing that I fell in love with her character, felt sorry for her, and had to find out what became of her life. The movie did a great job building her character which I think would be hard to replicate with your own imagination. The book, while slow was amazing. Yes, I knew what was going to happen, but there was so much more to the book, and a few differences, that it kept me turning the pages. Unlike the Hunger Games, which I thought got progressively worse, this series only picked up steam as it went along. The second book I thought was the best but the ending to the trilogy, minus the last chapter in book three which I thought should have just been left out or set in an earlier part, was the best ending to a book or series I have ever read. It reminded me a lot of the epic ending of A Few Good Men. I watched the American movie first, then read the books, then loved the series so much I bought all three Swedish versions of the movie. It can be slow at times, but it is a good slow. It is a book that you really need to be able to concentrate on because you will get lost if you find your mind wandering at all. Many names are similar, but if you can find the time to sit down and really get into the series, you will not regret it. I would rank it as a whole as one of my top ten books/series I have ever read.

[Clyde]

Oh hell yes. Read them all and watch them all.
Read the books first as they have much more detail. The movies are all good, but the Swedish versions are better. (Noomi Rapace as Lisbeth Salander for the win!)

[Alex]

Todd wrote: "99 times out of 100 I would always recommend reading the book first. However, in this instance I think you should watch the American movie first. I don't think I would have finished the book, or ..."

Oh yes, Nooomi Rapace is most definetly worth watching. After seeing her in the movie version, I could not imagine anyone else *but* her in the role of Lisbeth ... it was good!

[Susan]

I agree, Todd. Difficult to imagine anyone else in the role. The US film was okay, but the Lisbeth actor I found much less enthralling.

[Deon]

Rapace had Salendar down, she was the character. The US actress did not connect with the story or Salander.

[Deon]

Read the book, then see the Swedish movie. The US movie was disappointing.

[Marthe]

So.. I read all 3 of the books and I was not impressed. Not at al. I think I expected too much of the story, 'the girl with the dragon tattoo', the title sounds so exotic & exciting.. and I was completely disappointed with it. The whole plottwists revolving around the company the guy had, I really didn't care about, and the mystery wasn't very exciting to me. I liked Lisbeth, she was strange & secretive and just not a character I often see, but still, I feel this story had a lot more potential, or anyways Lisbeth had. I didn't care about the guy (even forgot his name) at all..

Total letdown, slow writing, not at all worth 3 books i think. Maybe it's just not my kind of story..
Haven't seen the movies though, they might be better and more fastpaced?

[Chris]

I got almost 3/4's of the way through. It pissed me off that it took him 353 pages to introduce the 2 main characters. I did end up watching the Swedish film and totally loved the movie. Ha there's a reversal for you! Usually the book is better,than the movie. I guess, for me, there is always an exception to the rules

[Anita]

I guess this series would be concidered a more adult read, mostly because of the violence and killings and sex, but I read it last year when I was sixteen and read it in two days. I finished the series in five. I even got out of some pre-calculus homework because my teacher understood how addicting they were! I just finished watching the Sweedish productions and I'll watch the American one as soon as there aren't over 100 holds on it at the library... oh well... time to read the series again :)
Anyway, I loved it. You have to just stick with it past the first half of the book as the author introduces the characters and the plot. I definately thought it was worth reading and I recommend it to anyone who wants to read it.

[Anne]

Just read it! It is the best of the triology. And I much prefer to visualize my own movie while reading the book.

[Sarah]

read the book first, then watch the movie afterwards :) the movie is good however the book contains many more details. i liked both though!

[Hassan]

Read the book, it's something very different to all the other novels out there! And yes there is quite a bit of violence against women. Afterall it was titled as "Men who hate women" :P

[P.J.]

I loved the suspense in the book, but I thought it could have been shorter. I saw the movie, too. I thought the violence against women was hard to read, but was so glad when justice was served!

[Evan]

Both, book is better yet they are both awesome.

[Tammie]

I listened to the book on audiobook. It's definitely a great way to keep the momentum of the pace of the entire trilogy. I'd say do the books first and then watch the movies - and watch the foreign-made ones, NOT the American version.

[Kathy]

I have read all three of the books, and I liked each of them. Just recently watched the America version movie and liked it a great deal. However, the book is always so much better!!

[Rick]

It's hard for any movie to live up the expectations of the book, but the Swedish version comes the closest. Noomi Rapace is perfect in that role. She embodies the snarling ferocity Lisbeth that I think Larsson intended. The American version was watered down and Rooney Mara didn't come close to being the right person to play Lisbeth. all that being said the book was much better.

[Jacqueline]

Started the book but couldn't hold my attention through the beginning... saw the movie, liked it somewhat.

[Wendy]

I'm going to repeat what a lot of you said here. The first 150 pages or so are hard to get through. I had almost given up out of boredom but someone talked me into continuing. I'm glad I did because I was hooked. I read all three books back-to-back. Then I watched the Swedish version, then the American. I think the Swedish version of the movie was so much better and more true to the book.

I would definitely read the books first. They just keep getting better!

[Lily]

I read the first book of the three, but found all three movies superior to the novel. The director wisely cut several of Blomkvist's extraneous couplings and much of his coffee drinking. Mr Larsson created an amazing character with his Lisbeth Salander, but he truly needed someone to edit his books.

[Jay]

Read the book a few weeks ago and I just watched the movie last night. I always like to read the book first and then watch the movie. I was surprised at how closely the movie followed the book. That isn't always the case. Sometimes directors like to add their own spin to the story. There are parts of the movie, though, that gets past the viewer quickly. that unless you read the book first is hard to grasp. An example of this is when Henrik Vanger explains to Mikael Blomvast the task he is to accomplish. The names of the characters are confusing, being Swedish names. The actress who played Lisbeth is exactly how I had pictured the character in my mind as I was reading the book. Good book and well-made film.

[Melissa]

Read it, or listen to it on an audio book. The movie was only ok & left out way too much information.

[Jay]

And, please: enough movies with Christopher Plummer in it.

[Yvonne]

Rachel wrote: "I still have not read this book, but have heard mixed reviews about it. I was warned there is a lot of violence against women.

Now there is a movie out, which I also haven't seen. Would you recomm..."
Hi Rachel I have read it and seen the movie. I found ths violence rather disturbing but I still think that it is a very good book, but I would have enjoyed it more if it had been a little less graphic.

[Jay]

How old was he when he was in "The Sound of Music"? He must have been in his 30s. The guy is still kicking around. It's like Hollywood uses him when they can't find anyone else.

[Lobna]

both and honestly if I didn't watch the movie and was hooked up to the story I WOULD probably not going through the first 30 pages but it gets very interesting and the second one is really good but the third one i am still on page 136 and I am bored as hell and i can't believe there are 300 pages to go :SS
about the violence I think it's for a good cause and it's not on every page so don't worry about ( it's not that much )
the book is named MEN WHO HATE WOMEN ( the original name ) it's a good book

[Lori]

I first saw the foreign trilogy. Loved them. I then read the books and they helped answer some questions the movies could not.

[Matt]

I read the books (all three of them) before I saw the movies. Actually I only saw 1.5 of them because I didn't like them at all. I'm talking about the first release of the movies (haven't got the chance to see the new release starring D.Craig).
So, to answer th original Question: Read only :=)

[Kerri]

I thought the book was okay. It was interesting enough that I was able to finish it, but it was very slow. I also watched the movie, I preferred the book. As with most movies I felt like there was a lot missing. My husband didn't read the book and was asking me questions about the plot throughout the movie so I definitely felt like there were things left out that were necessary to fully understand what was going on. That being said I felt like there was a lot of writing in the book that could have been left out that I never would have missed. It was easy to skim over some of the graphic writing in the book; I got the gist without having to read every detail. It's not as easy to skip an entire graphic scene an a movie and still get the gist of it. I did enjoy the second and third books more than the first. I would recommend the book over the movie, but to be honest I wouldn't go out of my way to recommend the book.