The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

Author: Stieg Larsson
Goodreads Rating: 3.99
My Rating: 4 Stars
Length: 16 Hours (465 Pages)


I gave into the hype for this book, not because of the hype, but because my boyfriend, who (if you're new) hates books, said it was great. Because of this, I just had to try it. Since I had heard all bad things about the start of the book, I decided to try it in audio version. I knew that it was supposed to be graphic, but it wasn't as bad as I was expecting it to be. That being said, I'm not sure if I'll watch the movie or not.


Goodreads Synopses:


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. 


Follow the jump to see my review. Warning: graphic details to follow.

I wasn't blown away by this book, but I did really like it. I'm starting to think that when I listen to a book I love it less. Then again, in the case of this book, I'm not sure I would have even finished this book. Just listening to it I could hear how well it was written, no joke. The descriptions were so vivid and perfect. I remember at one point stoping and thinking about how descriptive it was.


I didn't think that the sex scenes and rape scenes were as graphic as everyone made them sound, but then again I was expecting something much much worse, not to say that they weren't awful to listen to. Maybe because I was only listening, which meant I could do other things, it didn't hit me as hard as if I were reading it. To be honest, I can't really recall the rape scene with Lisbeth, but I think that might be because I wasn't paying enough attention.


I'm glad Lisbeth did what she did to her guardian. I thought the whole concept of the guardianship to be so wrong and it was too open to the abuses like the one that Lisbeth had to go through. Although, tattooing his chest was just desserts, as well as raping him in her own way. Of course, this kind of screwed up was just a taste for the incest, rape and murder that was to come. 


I'm not sure that I liked Blomkvist, sure he was really awesome and whatnot, but he seemed liked too much. I'm not sure how to describe it really except that it irritated me that he went to bed with nearly all the main females in the book; Berger- his co-owner of Millennium, Cecilia Vangar- his neighbor while investigating the Vangar family, and finally Lisbeth Salander. I don't know, it just really bothered me. I didn't care much that he was disgraced for libel and the background story.


I did appreciate the ending because it could have been left as just one book, but there are two more out there. With so much controversy surrounding this book and the rest of the series, it's all very exciting. I just read that there is a majority of the fourth book, but Larsson's family won't allow his girlfriend to finish it, which, as a fan is disappointing. Although since I don't know how the last book ends, it might actually be an okay thing.