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Loading... The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (original 2005; edition 2009)by Stieg Larsson
Work detailsThe Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson (Author) (2005)
If I could have skipped about 1/3 of the book (the first third), this book would have gotten four stars. I actually liked the characters, the book is well written, and despite being the first of three (maybe four) books, ends with all the strings neatly tied. (  ) lesmel | May 21, 2013 |  I thought that this book got hype because it was groundbreaking or dramatic in some way. It wasn't. Instead of Sherlock Holmes's observations of different kinds of tobacco ash or Encyclopedia Brown knowing that a polar bear and a penguin do not belong in the same geographical exhibit, Lisbeth Salander's shtick is that she is a genius computer hacker, with contacts around the globe despite having no social skills, *and* has a photographic memory, *and,* despite minimal schooling, speaks at least two non-native languages (though Norwegian is maybe not so foreign for a Swede?) with her German unaccented. She's a fun character but she suffers from severe protagonistitis. (  ) ljhliesl | May 21, 2013 | It took me 3 times to get started on the book. I think it was the unfamiliarity with Swedish names. Taking time getting the main characters down was worth it so that I got more out of the story later in the narrative. Though the storyline deals with adult material, Larsson provides sort of a fade out from some of the sexual content. However, there is violence and sexual violence against women. Dragon Tattoo is not a light read and will not be good for more sensitive readers. In some ways the book was an easy read. Once I was into the story, I faithfully returned and finally pulled a late night to finish by 2am. (only 100 pages to go syndrome) The protagonist, Mikael Blomqvist, is somewhat reminiscent of pre-1940's detective heroes. He's uncommitted and basically a good guy at heart. He is also the quintessential "bad boy": multiple sexual partners, moody, indecisive... a "good" character. The story is interesting enough that it lingered in my mind for a long time after reading it. (  ) scootorian | May 21, 2013 | The storyline was interesting, I'll admit it. The violence and corruption (many kinds) were a bit much for my blood. I don't suspect that I will be reading the other two in the series. ( ) silva_44 | May 21, 2013 | It took a while for me to get into this book although I liked Lisbeth immediately. Then, WHAM! The pace quickened, the plot thickened and I was in for one helluva ride. I adore Lisbeth Salander. Not a fan of any of the other characters. Overall, very entertaining and very disturbing. I won't see the movie because of the rape scene. It's bad enough to read; I don't want to watch. ( ) Mortybanks | May 20, 2013 |
 [Richman reviews several Scandinavian novels, including Larsson's.] Why have readers taken to these writers? The novels are not formally innovative: With a few exceptions, these are straightforward whodunits, hewing closely to conventional models from the English tradition. Nor does their appeal depend on a "relentlessly bleak view of the world," as a writer for the London Times has put it. Bleak worldviews are not particularly hard to come by in crime novels, no matter what country they come from. What distinguishes these books is not some element of Nordic grimness but their evocation of an almost sublime tranquility. When a crime occurs, it is shocking exactly because it disrupts a world that, at least to an American reader, seems utopian in its peacefulness, happiness, and orderliness. It’s Mr. Larsson’s two protagonists — Carl Mikael Blomkvist, a reporter filling the role of detective, and his sidekick, Lisbeth Salander, a k a the girl with the dragon tattoo — who make this novel more than your run-of-the-mill mystery: they’re both compelling, conflicted, complicated people, idiosyncratic in the extreme, and interesting enough to compensate for the plot mechanics, which seize up as the book nears its unsatisfying conclusion.  The novel offers a thoroughly ugly view of human nature, especially when it comes to the way Swedish men treat Swedish women. In Larsson’s world, sadism, murder and suicide are commonplace — as is lots of casual sex. (Sweden isn’t all bad.) The first-time author's excitement at his creation is palpable, strangely, in the book's sometimes amateurish construction. There are frequent long digressions in this big book (more than 500 pages) in which he laboriously fills in back-story details. Then there is the Vanger family; what might have seemed like a bit of fun gets out of hand as easily more than 20 people with the surname Vanger are mixed into the story. To his credit, though, he always regains control and restores momentum.  At once a strikingly original thriller and a vivisection of Sweden's dirty not-so-little secrets, this first of a trilogy introduces a provocatively odd couple: disgraced financial journalist Mikael Blomkvist, freshly sentenced to jail for libeling a shady businessman, and the multipierced and tattooed Lisbeth Salander, a feral but vulnerable superhacker. Is contained inContainsHas the adaptationThe Girl with the Dragon Tattoo {graphic novel} by Denise Mina The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo {movie-Oplev} by Niels Arden Oplev [director] The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo {movie-Fincher} by David Fincher Is abridged inIs parodied inThe Dragon with the Girl Tattoo by Adam Roberts The Girl with the Sturgeon Tattoo: A Parody by Lars Arffssen Has as a reference guide/companionHas as a studyThe girl with the dragon tattoo and philosophy : everything is fire by Eric Bronson The Psychology of the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo: Understanding Lisbeth Salander and Stieg Larsson's Millennium Trilogy by Robin S. Rosenberg Has as a student's study guide
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(retrieved from Amazon Wed, 02 Jan 2013 12:43:43 -0500)
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.… (more)
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