Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

龙文身的女孩 by Stieg Larsson

292 reviews

arellareads's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-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

3.75

This is the first book I’ve listened to via audiobook, so this probably influenced my experience, but I was having a hard time following all the characters and plot points at first. I actually read a synopsis after each chapter just to make sure I wasn’t missing anything since the book is very dense. The story doesn’t start picking up until a hundred pages in or so, when the mystery takes hold — at that point I started getting hooked on the crime drama. 

Despite the slow start, this book gets extremely dark and disturbing mid-way through as the mystery behind the girl with the dragon tattoo comes to light. It’s a heavy read, with a complex, intellectual plot line about social tensions surrounding the fascist Nazi regime, family economics, domestic violence, serial murders, sexual assault, and systemic abuse and oppression against women (many of these scenes are graphic).

It’s a very meticulously crafted story and I value the planning that had to go into this. However, the writing is very explanatory and matter-of-fact, leaving little breathing room. I’m assuming some of the style was lost in the English translation, but this made it challenging to get through. It wouldn’t be my usual choice, but I can appreciate the serious issues this book tackles. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Incest, Pedophilia, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Antisemitism, and Trafficking

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Animal death

ashere's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, and Religious bigotry

isabeljmiller's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Incest, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Stalking, and Murder

miss_anthrope's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Antisemitism, Dementia, Kidnapping, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

saradford1's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Rape, and Sexual violence

sparky63's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

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

2.75

This book is very obviously the first book in the series where it just feels like it is leaving things open to be a plotpoint/hook in the sequel. Also nothing really happened until like the 20% mark and it just took so long. I think the whole time I was just catching crumbs of what I wanted it to be

I truely got invested when it was Salander and the guardian that they assigned to her.

I didn't really care for Blomkist the whole book and his whole, wow I'm not a great parent thing got old very very quickly.

That said, I really like the theme of power and manipulation that they got going and how they used it. It was pretty cool as well to see it focused over the mistreatment of women but it was odd that there were so many... men in it. But to each there own. I didn't really care for the relationship drama or the main mystery (which got me infuriated as the clues were visbily connected but they waited so long to pull the trigger. The last two chapters were pandering though to finish the initial drama (that also was boring) and set up the sequel. I will not be reading the sequel. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual violence, and Murder

Moderate: Gun violence, Hate crime, Violence, and Antisemitism

aleyajo's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

You know shits bout to go down when they put coffee on the stove.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Incest, Infidelity, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Antisemitism, Kidnapping, Car accident, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Medical content and Dementia

abwilli's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.75

Stellar. Excellent twist, complicated characters. No clear “good” or “bad.” A truly enjoyable read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Incest, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Antisemitism, Car accident, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Sexual harassment

lilkingtrashmouf's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.5

Despite being 800+ pages, this is a book I devoured. 
This is my second read through, but it's been nearly a decade since the last time I read it and I was pleasantly surprised how quickly I was sucked back in. 
Some parts are hard to read, but its original title was "Men Who Hate Women" so to be expected. 
In spite of the unpleasant parts, I love this book. 
The last couple pages irked me, but it's fine because the story doesn't end there. If it was a standalone, I would be pissed.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Sexual content

I'm not sure how to adequately sort the content warnings. There is sexual violence/assault/harassment of varying degrees and description. A lot is implied or viewed after the fact, but it is a theme throughout the entire novel.

frenchfrybri's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

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

5.0

lisbeth salander is an icon

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Child abuse

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Trafficking, Religious bigotry, and Murder