Reviews with content warning for Sexual assault - Les hommes qui n'aimaient pas les femmes

The first half was incredibly slow. It took forever to build up to the actual storyline. I am also still trying to figure out why it was necessary to use such graphic detail to describe a violent sexual assault to one of the main characters.

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lids_84's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I had heard this was a must read book so decided to read. 50 pages, even 100 I was stumped as to what the hype was about. I was bored and did not see that this was for me, but every review said I must continue. The reviews were right!!

This turned out to be an absolutely enthralling thriller. Some parts were quite graphic and disturbing, so little warning there. Overall I became really invested in characters and the story and am so glad I pushed on.

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jazful's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious 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? Yes

3.0

As "The girl with the dragon tattoo" is a bestseller and a very well-known book, I've always wanted to read it. I understand why the book was once very hyped and many people liked it, but it has a slightly different impact when you read it in 2024.

The title of the book led me to believe that it was mainly about the girl with the dragon tattoo. However, Lisbeth is not the main character; more is written about her from the perspective of the actual main character, Mikael. The book was definitely written from a male perspective, especially when he described the female characters, lol.

The book is very thick and although the story is good, there are very long descriptions of scenes and often not much happens for a long time. The plot twist was not as big as I had hoped and the book could have been written in a shorter form.

What really shocked me were the very detailed descriptions of intense violence. There were pages that I could barely bring myself to read, especially when it came to sexual violence (which is a major theme in the book).

However, Swedish crime novels are simply very good and realistic; important issues, including political ones, are addressed. There is a main story and a side story in this book, although I don't think the side story is important to the plot. It takes up a lot of space, especially in the first half of the book, with lots of economic narratives and descriptions, which shows that the author was a journalist.

At the moment I'm not planning to read the sequels as I haven't grown fond enough of the characters.

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