Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Miehet jotka vihaavat naisia by Stieg Larsson

56 reviews

kisstheladder's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I’m so glad I read this without having seen the movie & can’t wait to watch the film now. What an incredible story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Incest, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Death of parent, and Murder

adventurouspotato's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

This is a tough book to review. The mystery at the heart of it is compelling and well laid out but there is a lot of other stuff in this book which slows the pace down incredibly for most of the first half as well as the last 50 pages. I think the beginning of this book is pretty bad, with infodump problems in the first couple chapters. The Wennerström affair and the future of Millennium was just not that interesting to me and the book outlines it in too much dry detail. 

It took until part 2 for this book to even start being interesting, and it takes until part 3 for any progress to be made on the case! But the mystery itself is well laid out and interesting, and while I guessed a couple things, namely that

Harriet was still alive,

most of it was a complete surprise. The end of part 3 and beginning of part 4 was a real page turner, but then we saw more of a secondary plot at the end which I didn't care much about.

The characters are also interesting, especially the title character, but I had some issues with their relationships with one another. Is it really too much to ask for

any of the main female characters not to fuck Blomkvist? I think his relationship with Cecilia was a bit interesting cause it could have compromised the case, but otherwise, was it really necessary to spend that much time on the subject of his sex life?

Salander is even more complicated in this regard.

I think her experience of SA and how she responded to it actually gave an important look at her character, which I do have to respect since it's kind of rare for that to work. Her revenge was really satisfying and shows how she takes care of things on her own even though it may be more dangerous. 

You can also see how her circumstances affects her attitude towards the case and other male characters. She has no idea what it's like to have healthy boundaries or relationships, whether platonic or sexual, and it's no surprise when she randomly asks her boss if he thinks she's attractive or when she tries to have sex with Blomkvist even though he's old enough to be her dad. This is the first time Salander actually trusts someone as a friend and she basically tries to sabotage it by reverting to a dynamic she understands.

This all makes sense for her character, but I hate that Blomkvist goes along with it! For him it's just sex but it should be clear that Salander is vulnerable and that their relationship would be healthier without that. Blomkvist isn't always perfect but I'm not sure if we're supposed to treat this as a mistake since there isn't any consequences for him and their relationship remains pretty much the same, just now with sex. I think this is a missed opportunity for Salander to either be confronted with healthy boundaries in a platonic relationship for once, or to have a conflict between them because their sexual relationship isn't super healthy for their friendship and working relationship.

Anyways, I'll wrap up with some more small thoughts. This book is really Swedish and it doesn't try to explain linguistic or cultural things to a foreign audience for the most part, except for some reason it used Fahrenheit for the temperature which just killed me as a Canadian. It also makes constant reference to books, newspapers and magazines characters read, almost none of which I had heard of. For all I know they are fictional, but I assume they are well known to Swedes. I thought this surprising lack of localization was interesting given this book's international success.

Also, most characters are referred to by last name way more frequently than I would expect, which is probably a Swedish cultural thing? But it makes it confusing since the Vanger family are all called by their first names, but "Vanger" is specifically used for Henrik Vanger. Another example is that Birger Vanger is called "Birger" while Erika Berger is called "Berger". This confusion could have been avoided if she was called by her first name in the text!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Incest, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Torture, Antisemitism, and Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Domestic abuse, Kidnapping, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

allymcbroom's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Incest, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, and Sexual harassment

summerlyn's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

There is too much unnecessary information in this book. The plot doesn’t progress until about 60% in and Lisbeth isn’t really a main character. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Incest, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Antisemitism, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Mental illness, and Religious bigotry

jimmyhawkins's review against another edition

challenging dark hopeful informative mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Men that are so openly feminist are the best!

Tack so mycket Stieg Larson, jag älskar den hör boken.

Ich habe dieses Buch verschlungen, weil ich es nicht aus meinen Händen nehmen konnte! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Antisemitism, Stalking, Abandonment, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Eating disorder, Incest, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Car accident, Abortion, and Death of parent

helenrm's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Incest, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, and Death of parent

Moderate: Confinement, Antisemitism, Grief, and Abortion

Minor: Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Trafficking, and Kidnapping

dkamada's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Incest, Infidelity, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, and Murder

annilikesbooks's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

It started kinda slow and was a bit of a drag but It picked up pace and I guessed

that Harriet is alive

I did not appreciate the excessive descriptive scene of gruesome acts against women but I guess the book is a product of its time. 
It's a engaging mystery novel but it was not really extraordinary and the plot didn't surprise me that much. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Incest, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Antisemitism, Dementia, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Car accident, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

marshalleewrites's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Torture, Kidnapping, Car accident, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

decie's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Rape, Sexual violence, Torture, and Murder

Minor: Animal death, Gore, and Death of parent