Name: Matthew Jackson's review of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
Item: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Rating: 4
Author: Matthew Jackson

Stieg Larsson

Denise Mina

Leonardo Manco

Andrea Mutti

Mikael and Lisbeth try to dig up the truth as the darkness of the Vanger family threatens to engulf the both of them in this graphic novel adaptation of the novel.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Matthew Jackson

Forty years after the disappearance of Harriet Vanger from the secluded island owned and inhabited by the powerful Vanger family, her octogenarian uncle hires journalist Mikael Blomqvist and Lisbeth Salander, an unconventional young hacker, to investigate.

Colleen

3 Stars

This review contains some spoilers.
 
I heard all the fuss back when this came out, but it sounded too dark and graphic. It didn’t help that people were mostly talking about the rape and physical abuse in the book more than anything else about it. So even though several people recommended it to me, I passed on reading it at the time. I’m not sure what exactly made me reconsider now, but I finally read it.

The story has a very slow start, but it is intriguing. The author quickly weaves a complicated web of trickery, manipulation, and betrayal. The main characters are Mikael, a reporter who tried to take down a rich, powerful man but botched it and ended up sued for libel, and Lisbeth, a hacker with a dubious past who is implied to be on the spectrum. There are two separate plot lines. The first is Mikael’s investigation into the man he was trying to expose. The second is the forty-year-old case of the disappearance of Harriet Vanger which Mikael is hired to investigate. The two plot lines are only feebly connected by Mikael’s involvement in both. And at times it felt like two different stories mashed into one.

I wonder how much of this disconnection is due to the translation. I have heard that the English version does have notable changes from the original text. So I don’t know for sure whether I am critiquing the author or the translator.

All of the characters were morally grey to say the least. I know that is a hallmark of Nordic Noir, but I prefer characters to have more complexity and motivation for why they are the way they are. While many details are given about the characters’ backgrounds, at times it felt more like an encyclopedic listing rather than depth of character. They always felt hollow to me which made it difficult to move past a surface level of interest. I was engaged enough in the story, but truthfully did not care for the characters. I think my expectations of Lisbeth in particular were too high going into this book. I have heard so many people say how awesome she is, but I found her character disappointing. 

The story raises questions about crimes against women. I mentioned that there is rape in the story, but I should reiterate a trigger warning for rape, physical and psychological abuse, torture, incest, and murder. And some of it is described in graphic detail and presented almost as if sexual assault is an unavoidable part of life. The book does include some statistics about abuse. And it touches on the awful grey area of what is the best outcome for victims of abuse. Sadly, the world puts a lot of blame onto victims. Even when they are not overtly blamed for what happened to them, seeking legal justice involves baring their lives to the public, reliving the crime, and not having a guarantee that any justice will be served. Which leads the story to vigilante justice and disregard for the law. Maybe it was just me, but the thread of don’t trust the law and take matters into your own hands seemed so strong in this book both in the plot and in the characters’ attitudes and actions. It was pessimistic boarding on nihilistic. 

Where I really started to roll my eyes: (view spoiler)[I literally thought “at least Lisbeth isn’t sleeping with Mikael, because that would be nauseatingly clichéd!” Of course, a scant few pages later they started humping like rabbits. It was an absolutely clichéd sexual relationship with a man twice her age who sleeps with everything female. (hide spoiler)]

Unfortunately, the ending took as long to wrap up as it did to set up. While the long intro was interesting and kept me engaged, the overly protracted conclusions lost my interest especially since the two separate plot lines had two separate drawn-out endings. And even though there were some exciting elements in the endings, they dragged on and on until they eventually sputtered out into an anticlimactic cessation. 

The story kept me engaged well enough overall, but I’m not in any hurry to read the rest of the series. In fact, I doubt I will continue with it at all. It is a satisfactory enough story though - if you like your mysteries with a side of pessimism and slathered in bleakness.


RATING FACTORS:
Ease of Reading: 3 Stars
Writing Style: 3 Stars
Characters and Character Development: 2 Stars
Plot Structure and Development: 3 Stars
Level of Captivation: 3 Stars
Originality: 3 Stars

Lacy W

Trigger warnings: rape and incest 

This was really such a cool book. I admit, I get worried when I read translated books. I worry because when books get translated, they sometimes lose their...awesomeness for lack of better words. Things that sound really good in the original language, which in this case is Swedish, might not sound so awesome in English. You feel me? 

You feel me?! I sound like a really professional reviewer. Moving on....

I read this book because my boyfriend really liked the movie and I have heard several people say what a good book this was. The Swedish version movies, I am told, are the best ones. I wouldn't know. I haven't seen either.I found this at a thrift store and I was like sure, why not? Plus, I really liked the colorful cover. 

This book was seriously a wild ride with a slow burn pacing. It was a mystery within a mystery within a mystery. It was very slow burn but it was good. I didn't mind the pacing of it. It was like an onion. You peeled one layer and got more and more layers. I had thought that I had figured out the mystery at one point and then BAM, plot twist. Well, okay, I had figured out a part of it but not all of it. 

I really liked Lisbeth. Her POV was incredibly interesting and the way she operates her life is very insightful. I felt so bad for her. Life had really dealt her the short end of the stick but she truly has tried to make the best of it. I felt anger for her over certain parts of the book and I couldn't understand why people just couldn't accept her for who she was. She is the type of person that I could easily be friends with. Hell, I could probably be best friends with her... if she let me. I hope in the next book, I get more of a backstory with her. 

Mikael was interesting as well. He annoyed me during certain parts but at the same time, I understand why he did a lot of what he did. He was tasked with finding out what happened to Harriet Vanger, Henrik Vanger's brother's granddaughter. I think, despite all the bs that happened, Mikael is a good guy and I really am glad he was able to turn a very awful situation into something positive for himself and others. 

I am anxious to read the next book and I am cursing myself for not buying it at Goodwill when I saw it. I was just so damn worried that I wouldn't like this book. From now on, I am going to ignore my anxiousness and buy a book that I think I might not enjoy. 

This book isn't for everyone and there are graphic depictions of rape. Please read this at your own risk. The scenes are brief, only happen two times but are very descriptive. The incest is mentioned briefly and not as descriptive but I know that inscest is a sensative topic.

“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a striking novel. Just when I was thinking there wasn't anything new on the horizon, along comes Stieg Larsson with this wonderfully unique story. I was completely absorbed.” —Michael Connelly "I doubt you will read a better book this year.” —Val McDermid Forty years ago, Harriet Vanger disappeared off the secluded island owned and inhabited by the powerful Vanger family. There was no corpse, no witnesses, no evidence. But her uncle, Henrik, is convinced that she was murdered by someone from her own deeply dysfunctional family. Disgraced journalist Mikael Blomkvist is hired to investigate, but he quickly finds himself in over his head. He hires a competent assistant: the gifted and conscience-free computer specialist Lisbeth Salander, and the two unravel a dark and appalling family history. But the Vangers are a secretive clan, and Blomkvist and Salander are about to find out just how far they are prepared to go to protect themselves.

Book One Of The Millennium Trilogy

Zachary Roberts

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

Beatriz Aguiar

Deborah Kerr

Arturo Hernández

Even though the first chapters are a bit slow, the novel gets the pacing right after that (the Vanger story is quite messed up) and leaves you wanting to understand more about the past of Lisbeth (and her motives). Definitely will be reading other installments of this series.

edith w.

I tried (twice) to read this heap of rubbish, but I couldn't do it. It just didn't make any sense, the story jumped around from one unsympathetic character to another, and 70 pages in (when I realised I'd been skim-reading for the previous 20), I gave up. 

It's now helping to hold up a broken shelf in a bookcase, so at least it's useful for something.

Haylie

The book started off sort of dull with Blomkvist and his troubles but I kept reading because I wanted to see what happened and what all the hype was about. The book didn't truly get good until Lisbeth Salander became part of the plot. Sometimes the book can drag on with some of Blomkvist's story but it's Salander's story that made me want to keep going. When these two characters finally met and started working together, then I flew through the book, engrossed in their story. All in all, the book does live up to the hype. It's written with excellence and I'm definitely going to keep reading the trilogy.

The first in Stieg Larsson's Millennium Trilogy. Forty years ago, Harriet Vanger disappeared from a family gathering on the island owned and inhabited by the powerful Vanger clan. Her body was never found, yet her uncle is convinced it was murder - and that the killer is a member of his own tightly knit but dysfunctional family.

The disappearance forty years ago of Harriet Vanger, a young scion of one of the wealthiest families in Sweden, gnaws at her octogenarian uncle, Henrik Vanger. He is determined to know the truth about what he believes was her murder. He hires crusading journalist Mikael Blomkvist, recently at the wrong end of a libel case, to get to the bottom of Harriet's disappearance.

Lisbeth Salander, a twenty-four-year-old, pierced, tattooed genius hacker, possessed of the hard-earned wisdom of someone twice her age--and a terrifying capacity for ruthlessness--assists Blomkvist with the investigation. This unlikely team discovers a vein of nearly unfathomable iniquity running through the Vanger family, an astonishing corruption at the highest echelon of Swedish industrialism--and a surprising connection between themselves.---From publisher description.

''Wildly Suspenseful...an intelligent, ingeniously plotted, utterly engrossing thriller.''---The Washington Post

Izza

The ending always crushes my heart. God, Lisbeth needs a hug.

The Industrialist: Henrik Vanger, head of the dynastic Vanger Corp. is tormented by the loss of a child decades earlier and convinced that a member of his family committed murder.

The Journalist: Mikael Blomkvist delves deep into the Vangers' past to uncover the truth behind the unsolved mystery. But someone else wants the past to remain a secret and will go to any lengths to keep it that way.

The girl with the Dragon Tattoo: Lisbeth Salander, the enigmatic, delinquent and dangerous security specialist, assists in the investigation. A genius computer hacker, she tolerates no restrictions placed upon her by individual, society or the law. 
(back cover)

Gayathri Jinesh

Amazing character development. Impeccable, yet believable plotline.
It does take about the first 30% of the book, to actually get into the story, which was kind of annoying. Still, it was a decent thriller. The drama is what I enjoyed more than the plot twists. I never knew I could admire someone like Salander. Thankfully, there's more of her left. Yay!

Geoff norgrove-humphries

Carol Bailey

Well written. The story moves along well with plenty of intrigue and just enough plot twists to keep you on your toes.

Ana Gonçalves

This book was amazing!! I LOVED the writing style, the characters (especially Lisbeth Salander), the story and the way everything wrapped up in the end. It was so exciting and captivating.

Stephanie Honour

so entertaining! unexpectedly violent at times, should make for an interesting movie...which we conveniently just found on the movie shelf at the house we're renting.

Sepia

Yay! First book read in 2018.

I read this as an audiobook and found it to be a good audiobook. Normally, I have difficulty in listening to audiobooks but not this one! I found this book to be mysterious, and it had me at the edge of my seat. I could distinguish between the different characters when the narrator was talking, so it was easy to understand. It had many twists and turns and I didn't guess them. 

All in all, an excellent read! Or should I say, listen.

Janice Hopper

Years after it was A Big Thing, I finally got around to reading (ear-reading) this book.

I loved the fierce fierce, difficult female protagonist. I was less fond of the "All You Need Is A Good Man To Fix You" idea that kinda ran through it. Especially since the Good Man is a bit of a philandering horndog. Ok, so he's also a put-upon journalist with a grudge, but still...

I saw the movie, so the plot wasn't a big surprise to me. It was kinda nice that the guy was the one who had to be rescued by the gal.

Simon Vance was the narrator of the version I listened to. He was excellent, as always.

Isabela H 

This book was an absolute pain to get into, it wasn't until past halfway that I got genuinely invested in the narrative and couldn't put the book down (meaning that it took me more than five months to read half the book and then two days to read the second half). I was pretty surprised that a book like this one would be so popular because there were moments where I simply could not care less about what was going on. As for aspects of the book that I liked, the character of Mikael Blomkvist would be pretty high up the list because he was a very relatable man who never frustrated me in a bad sense. The character of Lisbeth Salander was also really interesting, so I appreciated that aspect as well. 
Will I be reading the rest of the trilogy? I think yes, if only because I'm interested in watching the development of Lisbeth's relationship with Blomkvist, which was my favorite part of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Rishabh

What a cracking novel! 

The way Larsson interweaves his two stories had me in thrall from beginning to end. A multilayered, multi-charactered tale by a writer of some considerable power. Every word of praise that has been said to the book and the writer is richly deserved.

Brilliantly written and totally gripping.

Georgia Carr

I don't know where to start with this review. 

For one, if you can, don't take any notice of reviews that say there's a BAM moment when the book becomes amazing. I was waiting for said "BAM moment," and I'm pretty sure that ruined my reading experience. Even at 40% in, I was still waiting for the action. That's why this is 4 stars - because it is honestly the slowest opening to a book I have ever read. It's actually pretty painful. 

BUT (yes there's a "but") it's worth it. The rest of the novel is gripping, interesting and very well written. I don't understand what it is but Larsson has a very unique way of telling a story, and all that slowness pays off to create a really three dimensional world and cast of characters. Particularly Lisbeth, who I want to be when I grow up. 

If you have time to dedicate to this book, then read it. If you're looking for a quick, fast paced thriller, this is not for you (after 45% of the book is done with, maybe). It's a great and engaging read, but crikes it took a long time to get going. I nearly put it down, but I'm glad I didn't.

Kirsten Simkiss

** spoiler alert **
           This is a belated review because I read it last year and I don't think I had a Goodreads account then. 

I definitely enjoyed it, for the most part. Reading violent scenes about sexual assaults, obviously, are not my thing, but I was prepared for it having seen the recent movie. Lisbeth is definitely the best character in the book, in my opinion, and I look forward to seeing more of her. I will definitely be reading the next one.

Megan

Took me FOREVER to get into this one. It was a pretty solid read and I did not expect the story to take the twists it did but I really didn’t like the ending.

Dana Kraft

Excellent thriller, certainly some pretty dismal events. Makes me think about the definition of justice and how much it's aligned (or not) with truth.

Sanat Gersappa

Outstanding! Hard to believe that it was translated from Swedish. Totally unputdownable and worth the time. Waiting to read the other two books in the series.

Kay Jamieson

Honestly this book was just not my cup of tea, however very well written.

Matthew Jackson &
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

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