Lynn_Harnett
"Stunning debut for Swedish novelist"
A Lunch Community
Rating:
+3
I started this book after seeing advertisements and high recommendations for it. The beginning was slow to start - especially because I wasn't familiar with Sweden's culture and system. I pushed through because of the recommendations and the careful setting - plenty of detail to paint a complete picture, but not so much that it drags. Though it did take some time to establish the situation and settings, it was rewarding in the end when I felt like I had a good picture of the setup of a country I've never been to. The book definitely began to pick up though, and by the end, I read the whole last third of the book all at once because I couldn't put it down.
This is an amazing story with a big cast of characters and a mystery that spans several generations. Characters and threads that seemed to be unrelated at first ended up tying together in a satisfying and completely surprising conclusion. I loved that I couldn't guess what had happened as the mystery unfolds and each new clue seems to only deepen the complex case.
I watched the movie after I read the book, and while hte movie was also enjoyable, the book had so much more of an intricate mystery, plot, and character development, I would have to say that the book is definitely preferable.
I highly recommend this to anyone who likes a good mystery or thriller!
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joytur
July 20, 2010
I agree that this started slowly and that the end was engrossing. I understand that the others in the series are similar. Is the structure particularly Swedish, and are we just not accustomed to it?
trtrot
July 22, 2010
I'm only about partway through the second book right now, so I couldn't say about the others in this series (though I thought the beginning of the second book was more engrossing than the first - it may just be a case of already knowing the characters, though). As for the structure, if you mean the slow beginning and engrossing end, I think it's simply a case of a great climax with a lot of setup and a bit of meandering int he beginning of the book. As far as I know, it's not a case of Swedish writing as I've read other Swedish-translated authors (i.e. Henning Mankell, John Ajvide Lindqvist, of course Astrid Lindgren, etc) and none of them write in the same style or the slow beginning, great ending structure. It may be that those other authors I've read are not in the same genre of books that the Millenium Trilogy is, though.
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Translated from the Swedish by Reg Keeland I was late coming to the massively popular and critically-acclaimed novel (now a Major Hollywood Movie), and while I was thoroughly entertained, I found it left me not quite satisfied. The hook, if you've not read or seen it in any of its formats (there is also a Swedish movie version), is the Girl of the titles (Larsson finished three before he died, and an unfinished fourth is in limbo pending a bitter estate battle)--an … more
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I had mixed feelings about what type of a rating I should give this book purely based off my disappointment with the end of the novel, which I won't spoil in my review. Overall, I enjoyed the mystery. I couldn't solve the ultimate puzzle, which always fascinates me since I consider myself an amateur sleuth when it comes to mystery novels. In retrospect, I fear I was too engrossed in the book to pay enough attention to the clues that would help me solve … more
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When I finished reading this book, it was hard to imagine it being the same book that I began a month before. In fact, reading the last third of the book was like reading a completely different book from the first third. The first third of this book was so slow and boring that I had significant problems even wanting to pick it up off my nightstand to read it. It was great for sleeping but not so good for reading! Everywhere I went, people were raving about how fantastic … more
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Mikael Blomkvist, investigative journalist and owner of Millennium magazine, is on top of his world. He's just published a hard hitting series of sensational financial articles exposing the staggering corruption of Swedish banker, Hans Wennerstrom, and his star is in the ascendant until Wennerstrom drags him into the courtroom and wins a devastating criminal suit for libel. Blomkvist's world looks bleak as he faces three months in prison and a fine that threatens to take down everything … more
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I finished reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo around three-thirty this morning and I still can't believe how brilliant it was! My husband bought me a copy and I started it as soon as it arrived. Lisbeth Salander is one of the most likable characters that I have come across. I had heard a lot about how great this book was and so I was expecting it to be pretty awesome. What I found though was that words cannot describe this book. No matter how great I tell you it is, you won't understand unless … more
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OK, so I'm a little late to the phenomenon that is Stieg Larsson and The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. This book, and in fact the whole Girl trilogy, seemed to come out of nowhere and reach a fevered pitch in a very short period of time. I find it even more amazing that it did so as a novel that had to be translated into English after the author's death. Regardless, I finally got a copy and started reading... and was immediately hooked. Larsson mixes a criminal mystery plot with a number … more
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"The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" is the first book in Stieg Larsson's "Millennium" trilogy. It is a well crafted crime thriller, but both in its scope and execution it is much more than that. It features two main characters, a middle-aged journalist Mikael Blomkvist who publishes a magazine Millennium in Stockholm, and a young tattooed girl with a troubled past named Lisbeth Salander who works as a freelance security consultant. These two unlikely individuals find themselves … more
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I saw the movie, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, before reading Steig Larsson’s book, and I really enjoyed it. The movie is very true to the novel, but the main surprise I found in reading was how handsome and intriguing the main character was meant to be. Lisbeth’s attraction to him is much more believable in the book. And Lisbeth herself is perfectly cast! I think I liked the book even better than the movie. The story starts slowly with lots of details of … more
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I was initially drawn to Stieg Larsson's The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo after reading about the movie, which, to be honest, is a crying shame. When I started looking for it (this was before it started turning up in big box stores, following the release of The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest - which is, by the way, a great way to pick it up on the cheap), no one I knew had ever heard of it. Two things really stood out in Larsson's story: the characters … more
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For me, The Girl With a Dragon Tattoo started as an audiobook. It's slow at first, and I had a hard time getting into the story--but after about an hour of listening, I realized that I didn't have enough patience and picked up a hard copy of the book. I couldn't stop reading for seven straight hours. Stieg Larsson's style is enrapturing, every scene leads you onto the next, and you're always wondering what's going to happen, how this information ties into that. … more
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trtrot
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Jun 26, 2010
Last Login: Jul 22, 2010 03:33 PM UTC
Last Login: Jul 22, 2010 03:33 PM UTC
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Amazon Best of the Month, September 2008: Once you startThe Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, there's no turning back. This debut thriller--the first in a trilogy from the late Stieg Larsson--is a serious page-turner rivaling the best of Charlie Huston and Michael Connelly. Mikael Blomkvist, a once-respected financial journalist, watches his professional life rapidly crumble around him. Prospects appear bleak until an unexpected (and unsettling) offer to resurrect his name is extended by an old-school titan of Swedish industry. The catch--and there's always a catch--is that Blomkvist must first spend a year researching a mysterious disappearance that has remained unsolved for nearly four decades. With few other options, he accepts and enlists the help of investigator Lisbeth Salander, a misunderstood genius with a cache of authority issues. Little is as it seems in Larsson's novel, but there is at least one constant: you reallydon'twant to mess with the girl with the dragon tattoo. --Dave Callanan
--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
ISBN-10:
0307269752
ISBN-13:
9780307269751
Author:
Stieg Larsson
Genre:
Mystery & Thrillers
Publisher:
Vintage
Date Published:
September 16, 2008
Format:
Hardcover
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