Reviews tagging 'Torture'

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

111 reviews

ed_moore's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

Thus concludes the oldest book on my TBR, which I have had intention to read for at least 5 years when thriller was my go-to genre. Stieg Larsson’s thriller ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’ follows journalist Mikhail Blomkvist and his unlikely partner, hacker Lisbeth Salander in their freelanced job to find the missing niece of a industrialist tycoon CEO who went missing 40 years prior, the case closed as an unsolved mystery. It also follows a side plot of a corporate legal battle which highlights the faults of capitalism as a system. It was an extremely engaging story throughout, as the case with most mysteries as clues begun to emerge me progressing through the book much faster, and some moments succeed in sending literal chills down my spine. The mystery was really well written and full of twists, though it is impossible to ignore how harrowing the book was. Larsson writes extremely graphic and detailed scenes of rape and torture that are extremely uncomfortable to read. Each part of the book is epigraphic by a statistic about women and sexual violence in Sweden, which is extremely important in addressing the crisis beyond being in fiction, and in most cases the sheer size of the statistic percentages were tragic. (Men are disgusting.) I end on that note as it is the primary message of the novel, though the mystery was engaging it was an extremely uncomfortable and illuminating read. TW’s are crucial with this one. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Sexual assault, Torture, Rape, and Body horror

Moderate: Car accident and Child abuse

ob3nwan's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape and Torture

meraru's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.5

Out of all the traumatic, horrible things that happened in this story, Lisbeth having coffee and toasts with pickle slices was the hardest to read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Violence, Sexual violence, Torture, Death, Kidnapping, Murder, and Misogyny

Moderate: Kidnapping, Alcohol, Sexism, Racism, Pedophilia, Drug use, Xenophobia, Addiction, Alcoholism, Sexual harassment, Rape, Misogyny, Mental illness, Death, Incest, Grief, Drug abuse, and Death of parent

Minor: Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Animal death, Animal cruelty, War, and Trafficking

There's several rape scenes, also several of the deaths are described in graphic detail.

ne0nxbutterfly's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Violence, Incest, Animal death, Dementia, Death of parent, Torture, Murder, Kidnapping, Eating disorder, Animal cruelty, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Rape, Pedophilia, and Misogyny

kristen_monique's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Blood, Cursing, Murder, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Torture, Dementia, Violence, Animal death, Eating disorder, Death, Gun violence, Incest, Gore, and Sexual violence

Minor: Car accident

clotalksbooks's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.5

I ultimately enjoyed the story and waiting for the mystery to be unravelled. But there was a lot of "getting to know the characters" before the main story began, which was fine but a little slow. There is so much detail to things that I probably could have done without. 

It takes quite a while for things to happen, and again once the main crux of the mystery is revealed (and covered very quickly comparatively), there is a lot more story to go. It felt like there were multiple endings, and I kept looking at the time left on the audiobook with shock. 

Luckily the characters are interesting, and the narrator is good at putting them all across. His narration voice is very soothing though, so sometimes I did find myself drifting a little. 

Overall I liked it, even with the dark themes, just think it could have been a shorter book and packed more of a punch. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Sexual assault, Torture, and Sexual violence

bearlyliterate's review against another edition

dark tense 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? No

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexual harassment, Incest, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Toxic relationship, Torture, Sexual assault, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Violence, Murder, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Mental illness

Minor: Abortion

brendanmcbryan's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Violence, Torture, and Rape

rchltnnswd's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad 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? Yes

4.0

An interesting book, I agree with others that the beginning was a bit fussy and had too many characters to keep track of, also a bit slow. Once it got started I was really into it. 

I did find all the references to sex just annoying and childish. “I would like to have sex with you”. “I like having sex with you too” it was just weird and felt so basic and unnecessary. I felt there didn’t need to be so many sexual relationships, it didn’t add anything at all to the story. 

A lot of mention of “the anorexic girl” or “the girl who looks anorexic” as descriptors. Again, just felt flat and unnecessary. We get it, she looks anorexic *eye roll*. 

Generally though I did enjoy the story and will read the next in the series. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Mental illness, Pedophilia, and Child abuse

Minor: Eating disorder

boogiebeez's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

this shit insane

• I never read mystery but this was actually very good!
•  definetly was a good book to make into a movie cause the dialogue in the book feels like a movie script.
• I 🖤 lisbeth salander
• i feel like I'm probably not gonna read the other books in the series but you never know 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Incest, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Transphobia, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Animal death, Blood, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Domestic abuse, Sexism, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual violence, Ableism, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Stalking, Body shaming, Death, Kidnapping, Child death, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Cursing, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Addiction, and Car accident

Minor: Abortion, Cancer, Chronic illness, and Confinement