Great Deal The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
once i got passed all the boring politics....wow. i couldnt put it down. read the next in immediately...then the last one. i hated to put them in my archives. the character salander is spectacular.
wooden characters, plodding plot - Susie - Saulsbury, TN, US
I am so glad that I finally found some bad reviews for this book. I was beginning to feel like a pariah--sort of like how I felt when I appeared to be the only person in the world who hated the movie, PRETTY WOMAN.
With all due respect to those who have practically a cult-like love for this book--I just don't see the appeal.
-----------These examples may contain some spoilers------------------------------
Our hero is a man-bimbo who is simply irresistable to women of all age groups. I know it's Sweden; but his "relationships" are simply vapid, empty, and defy believability. He is such a passive, agreeable little ho. We never even know if he is attracted to the women who can't help but seduce him. Even an angry, anti-social, asperger suffering, vigilante, bi-sexual, who never even talks to anyone, starts seeing white picket fences when she is in Blomkvist's presence. Even though she has just suffered a violent, brutal beating and rape by a sadist that would have killed any other 90 pound, 4'11" woman, she is able to nonchalantly seduce the passive Blomkvist just days later.
The author spends about one paragraph on Blomkvist searching his soul over ignoring his daughter for years on and wraps it up with the very profound sentence on about page 600: "Blomkvist was a bad father." Oh well. The next sentence he is back to the cabin being a compliant little man toy.
And the plot!!! Oh my. Defies silliness. From the get-go it is just assumed that only a dead body could have been sneaked off the island. And why consult with Harriet's former best friend/cousin, who happens to work for an airline and travels internationally (hence the pressed flowers)?--when you could solve a mystery by tracking down various angles of obscure photos from 36 years ago? And some people can live happily ever after, even after enduring the most egregious of violence as a child--and never bother to report the crimes even anonymously.
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One-dimensional characters, silly detective work, very convenient clues and everything falling neatly in line from 36 years ago. The redeeming value of the book is only in the last few pages. But even that is just too, too contrived. I feel a little bad for dissing this, since the author is dead and can't defend himself, or maybe didn't get a chance to edit.
If you want good character development, plot and mystery, read Ruth Rendell/Barbara Vine or Margaret Atwood.
Why has the world lost its collective mind over this dreck? - E. S. Kats -
So, I finally get around to reading this INTERNATIONAL PHENOMENON. Where to begin? Hm... Well, first of all, it's really poorly written. The writing style is trite at best, often choppy, full of unenlightened cliches, red herrings and loose ends that never get tied. As far as the plot is concerned, the mystery is fairly predictable, and the plot "twists" utterly unoriginal, except to say some of them are just DISGUSTING for the sake of being disgusting. People make a big ado about how the female protagonist is such an "original creation" and a heroine of post-modern feminism, blah blah. No. Lisbeth Salander appears to be just one of Larsson's (many) ways to exploit and glorify rape and female brutalization. By the way, the book's title in the original Swedish is "Men Who Hate Women." That's right, even the original title sucks. At some point, Lisbeth decided to sleep with the OTHER (utterly unimaginative) main character (who smells oddly of Larsson himself, and yet is apparently a walking aphrodisiac) only to first lament in the mirror the fact that she allegedly has no boobs. Seriously: a heroine for the ages??? Also, what's with all the product placement in this novel? Was Larsson getting kick-backs from Apple? I guess we'll never know now...
Watch the Swedish film instead, which is much better than the book, seeing as it's free of Larsson's crappy writing and many of his pointless "plot details" (most of which involve everyone having sex with the Larsson stand-in anyways).
Rating : 4.0
Price on Sep 02, 2010 08:00:13 : $14.95
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The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Features
- ISBN13: 9780307454546
- Condition: New
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The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Overviews
An international publishing sensation, Stieg Larsson's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo combines murder mystery, family saga, love story, and financial intrigue into one satisfyingly complex and entertainingly atmospheric novel.
Harriet Vanger, a scion of one of Sweden's wealthiest families disappeared over forty years ago. All these years later, her aged uncle continues to seek the truth. He hires Mikael Blomkvist, a crusading journalist recently trapped by a libel conviction, to investigate. He is aided by the pierced and tattooed punk prodigy Lisbeth Salander. Together they tap into a vein of unfathomable iniquity and astonishing corruption.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Specifications
Amazon Best of the Month, September 2008: Once you start The 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 really don't want to mess with the girl with the dragon tattoo. --Dave Callanan
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