Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

88 reviews

dontthink2x's review

challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.0

I thought I was going to love this book. I did love the story line, the detail, and how the mystery keeps you wondering from beginning to end. The book is incredibly dark, which I normally really enjoy but I found myself lacking connection with the book and struggling to feel invested in the outcome. I think this is due to the lack of emotion in the book and the overwhelming amount of business blah blah. The entire book reads as an incredibly long list of facts with not a shred of poetic wording or connection to any deeper meaning. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Pedophilia, Incest, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Confinement, Grief, Animal death, and Animal cruelty

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

keelya's review

slow-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

2.0

How this book was a National bestseller is beyond me. The actual mystery plot was good but there was so much wrong with the book it was hard to focus on the mystery. 

Spoiler

 

My main grievances lay with how the author wrote about Lisbeth. My first grievance is way the author presents the character Lisbeth. She is first described by her boss in the most disrespectful and misogynistic way. And guess what, her boss’s weird infatuation has no connection to the plot! It’s just a weird way to sexualize Lisbeth for no reason! Second, the brutal rapes of Lisbeth also have no bearing on the plot!! What was the reason for the creepy conservator?! It was not needed. Women’s assault and rape is not a plot device!! The second rape is graphic, cruel, and violent. There was absolutely no reason for this. Third, every person who comes into the book has something mean to say about Lisbeth’s body. Why? She is described as anorexically thin several times. When she is looking at her body in the mirror she says because she’s thin “She didn’t have much to offer”. Why all the body shaming of this character from everyone? The male characters body is NEVER described in a negative way, only Lisbeth’s.  Fourth, Lisbeth has a “photographic memory” - which does not exist. The author essentially gave her a magical power to further the plot. Lazy. Sixth, the author hints that Lisbeth is autistic. Oh this made me mad. Lisbeth is described as anti social - because she had a rough past and doesn’t want people to know she’s under state conservator. Not wanting to talk much doesn’t mean you’re autistic. I hate when people minimize autism like this. 

Blomkvist’s character was okay. The most annoying thing was that every woman couldn’t help but throw themselves at him. Literally he sleeps with everyone woman who he talks to in this book. He’s also an absent father. Also Lisbeth, who he sleeps with (of course) is closer in age to his daughter than to him. Gross. 

Lastly, I knew Martin was involved from the beginning. I didn’t know to what extent but I knew he wasn’t innocent. It was not that big of a plot twist. 

Overall, this book was terrible. I only finished it to see if the creepy boss and rapes of Lisbeth would add to the plot - which they didn’t. I would not recommend this book to anyone.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Violence, Racism, Child abuse, Sexual violence, Incest, Torture, Death, Sexual assault, Stalking, Trafficking, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Murder, Rape, and Sexism

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Antisemitism, Animal death, Animal cruelty, and Body shaming

nxdiac's review

dark mysterious sad 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

3.5

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was very different to what I expected. It’s a murder mystery that offers twists and turns when you least expect them. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Violence, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, and Sexual content

Minor: Eating disorder

brooksdac's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

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

4.5

This book was amazing. I never wanted to put it down. The mystery was so well crafted with layers and twists. It takes a bit to get into, but once you do you can’t stop. I loved how everyone was given an ending. Every question I had was answered and more! I can’t wait to read the next book in the series. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Animal death, Body horror, Antisemitism, Torture, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Incest, Physical abuse, and Rape

Moderate: Eating disorder

ladyzbyrd's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

5.0

HO. LY. SHITAKE.

While I definitely did make a number of correct guesses in the first half of the book for the ending, there was still one puzzle I didn’t figure out, and I quite enjoyed the entertainment that was acted upon in solving that last mess. This was a thrilling ride of torment and love (not together).

Note: know your personal triggers and what you can handle. Sexual abuse and violent crimes against women is a theme that pops up several times and is graphically described. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Antisemitism, Blood, Car accident, Child abuse, Death, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Gore, Hate crime, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Torture, and Violence

agusbelegni's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No

2.0

Entiendo que el libro para su época debe haber sido muy innovador, pero me costó mucho apreciar aspectos positivos en el mismo al momento de leerlo. A mi modo de ver, es excesivamente largo y sin motivos (todo el libro podría haberse desarrollado en 200 páginas). Relata constantemente detalles de la vida del protagonista que no aportan a la historia y lo importante ocurre de golpe en un margen de 150 páginas. Si bien me sorprendió la magnitud del caso que descubrieron, tampoco tuvo un giro de trama que me vuele la cabeza.
Tuve problemas con los personajes. Siento que las mujeres solo eran relevantes para la historia en tanto servían como intereses amorosos o sexuales para el protagonista (si bien para la época deben haber sido representaciones innovadoras de mujeres poderosas y diferentes). Ellas podrían haber tenido mucho más desarrollo como personajes individuales (separadas del principal), por lo que creo que su potencial fue desaprovechado.
Lo que si destaco es la crítica que realiza el libro ante los asesinatos sistemáticos y la crueldad experimentada por las mujeres en distintas partes del mundo. El libro es muy fuerte al representar la violencia de estas situaciones.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Murder, Gore, Sexual violence, Rape, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Child abuse, and Torture

Moderate: Forced institutionalization and Domestic abuse

Minor: Car accident and Dementia

rimbluebooks's review against another edition

challenging dark informative mysterious tense

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual violence, Religious bigotry, Torture, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Antisemitism, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Animal cruelty, and Forced institutionalization

sammygordon13's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, Blood, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, Animal cruelty, Gun violence, Death of parent, Death, Confinement, Violence, Sexual content, Incest, Child death, Animal death, Child abuse, and Car accident

Moderate: Stalking and Antisemitism

Minor: Abortion and Suicide