Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

12 reviews

brodabooks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

Not so incredible from start to finish, but incredible overall.

Many rollercoasters throughout, well-penned characters with reasonable development. 
 
I especially love how the plot and the characters effortlessly switch control and takeover under Larsson's pacing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Incest, Mental illness, Rape, Sexism, Sexual violence, Antisemitism, Murder, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Abandonment

Minor: Abortion

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

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

mbrogs2024's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Rape, Torture, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Car accident, Murder, Pregnancy, and Abandonment

Minor: Body shaming, Cursing, Eating disorder, Homophobia, Suicide, Antisemitism, Colonisation, and War

milshollini's review against another edition

challenging dark funny sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Rape, Violence, Xenophobia, Murder, and Abandonment

theuncannydani's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Trafficking, Grief, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body shaming, Confinement, Gun violence, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Dementia, and Kidnapping

Minor: Ableism, Biphobia, Bullying, Cancer, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Police brutality, Abortion, Lesbophobia, War, and Classism

alexandrajjjk's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Antisemitism, Dementia, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Car accident, Abortion, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Sexual harassment

nixicat1's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Incest, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Stalking, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Drug use, Gore, Racial slurs, Racism, Antisemitism, and Alcohol

Minor: Car accident and Abandonment

bubothereader's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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? Yes

3.5

Do you ever read a book that you enjoy, but you also want it very far away from you when you finish it? The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo  was that book for me. It's mysterious, well-written, and intriguing. But, it's also traumatic, triggering, and brutal—probably the most trigger warnings I've ever put on a book. 

I thought Larsson wrote strong characters, created a spooky atmosphere, had great pacing, and had fine writing (though it might be better in its native Swedish). But, I can't get past how graphic this novel is. Some scenes are still scarred in my head and I wish I'd never read them. I skimmed over it where I could, but he also wove important plot points into those scenes, so they weren't entirely avoidable. 

And though there are parts of Lizbeth Salander that I like as a character, I woefully dislike that he had Blomkvist refer to her as having Asperger's Syndrome (an outdated term, but not sure if it was when this was written). Larsson wrote her VERY stereotypically for autism if this is the case. As an autistic myself, who's also been through loads of trauma, I find it disgusting to paint this violent stereotype—it's not true, even with PTSD. And even if it is true for some, using her as a character with these characteristics makes neurotypicals feel like all autistics are like this (and she's not an own-voice) or make autistics feel mislabeled and unseen.  
It's so frustrating to continue having this harmful narrative spread. It's what causes us to get held against or will, or worse. 

Finally, an incest plot. I'm sorry. I can't. If you have to stoop to incest to make your plot interesting, you've got the wrong plot. The characters were horrific enough—at that point it just felt gratuitious.

I really found the mystery intriguing. But, I can't continue with the series for the aforementioned reasons. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Dementia, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

serena_reads's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-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

4.5

Make sure to look at trigger warnings before reading. Big plot twist!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Incest, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Antisemitism, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Car accident, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment