The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2005) (edit title/settings)

• Rated 0 stars

“Very good story. I recommend it. I'll read the Millenium Trilogy.”

• Rated 4 stars

“I really ejoyed this book, the plot, the characters. I like the way that Stieg Larsson links the different situations and the way he maintained the suspense (22/11/2011)”

• Rated 2 stars

“The story is awesome, but I struggled with the language and translation. Some parts seemed to drag on forever as the author spoke about the geography of Sweden by mentioning street names for every single location in the plot. This wasn't necessary to the story line and made it almost unbearable to read.”

• Rated 3 stars

“page-turner that lives up to its hype, but it comes with more than its fair share of smut and violence against women. I believe the original swedish title of the book, 'men who hate women' might be a more accurate description of the story. Moreover, at times the story is truly incredulous and at other times, it overstimulates. Surprisingly, most of the reviews were not positive but here is a somewhat neutral one: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2429135.The_Girl_with_the_Dragon_Tattoo”

• Rated 0 stars

“4/8/2012: Just got this yesterday. Something different for me. First, I don't typically read books of movies I've seen. But, I recently saw this film and was intrigued by the characters and found myself wanting to know more about them. Secondly, I haven't read a novel, for fun, in a long while. So, this falls into my "fun" bucket -- reading, just for fun.”

• Rated 4 stars

“The good think about the end of the book that it makes you forget that it started very very slowly ...
There is a bit of suspense in this book but it comes and goes so fast that if you blink you can miss it.
Overall a good book but I don't know why it's a "best seller"...”

• Rated 3 stars

“Really enjoyed this. Not my typical read, but the twists and turns of the plot kept me intrigued until the end.

My only disappointment? A sheep farmer at Tennant Creek? Cattle sure, but it is a little hot that far north for our woolly friends...”

• Rated 5 stars

“This was a guilty pleasure read. I probably should be embarrassed that I liked it so much. I quickly and anxiously read the whole trilogy (The Girl Who Played with Fire, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest). Don't watch the movie, not even close to serve the book justice. I was mad at myself for watching all of it. The trilogy is a sexy, addictive thriller that succeeds on so many levels it's hard to know where to begin. You might be confused in the beginning with all the different characters introduced--hang in there, you will get hooked. It will not take long before you are rooting for the quirky, angry, punk heroine. The ending was very satisfying.”

• Rated 3 stars

“I admit it, I watched the movie before I read the book. (The Swedish version, NOT the American version. The Swedish version is perfectly good and I don't understand why Hollywood decided they needed to make their own.) Because of that, I actually put off reading the novel for awhile, because I didn't think I would be as captivated as I was with the movie, since I would already know what was going on with the mystery Blomkvist is supposed to solve. But, I felt bad not reading the book first, so I gave it a try and I still really enjoyed it.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is about a journalist named Mikael Blomkvist who has been convicted of libel. But, because he's such a thorough researcher, a rich man named Vanger hires him to investigate the disappearance of Vanger's niece, Harriet -- a case that's nearly 4 decades old. He ends up meeting an investigator named Lisbeth Salander, a computer genius with some serious issues. Enlisting her help, the two find that it's sometimes dangerous to dig around in cold cases.

My favorite aspect of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo are the characters and the way they are portrayed. I love how Stieg Larsson is able to write in Lisbeth's point of view while still keeping the sort of distance that she keeps with other people. Despite reading the story from her close third-person perspective, I still didn't understand very much about her, and I loved that! She's not the type of person to reveal personal information, so I was glad that I was able to connect with her while still feeling the distance that the other characters felt upon interacting with her. For keeping that distance, Larsson is a genius.

Despite that, the writing style of this book kept pulling me out of the story. I think a lot of the background information could have been edited out, especially when there's just an exhaustive info. dump of the history of various companies and such. Obviously, some of this is necessary to set the scene, but these sorts of passages go on for pages, and are a bit boring.

Other than that, this is a good story. I can see why it's so successful and why people love it. It's has mystery, intriguing characters, and it's a fairly fast-paced read. If you haven't managed to read this yet (No judgment! I was right there with you.), give it a try. Even with knowing what was going to happen, I enjoyed it.”

• Rated 5 stars

“book club”