Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

Verblendung by Stieg Larsson

30 reviews

loveisabird's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

i have never seen the movies nor did i really have any idea what the book was about yet i picked it up at the used bookstore for $3.50 anyway. and it totally whipped ass so a good decision on my part i think. 

gotta say that while the english “the girl who…” titles for this series are certainly snappy and memorable the swedish “män som hatar kvinnor” aka “men who hate women” is. well. much more accurate to this book as a whole innit?

(also. should a book about violence against women in the country have made me miss sweden this much?)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Incest, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Antisemitism, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Emotional abuse, Xenophobia, Grief, and Classism

Minor: Alcoholism, Suicide, and Alcohol

directorpurry's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Bullying, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Forced institutionalization, and Antisemitism

Minor: Racial slurs, Religious bigotry, and Abortion

helenrm's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Incest, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, and Death of parent

Moderate: Confinement, Antisemitism, Grief, and Abortion

Minor: Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Trafficking, and Kidnapping

dkamada's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Incest, Infidelity, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, and Murder

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

randeerebecca's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense 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? No

3.0

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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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Suicide, Torture, Antisemitism, Grief, and Death of parent

Minor: Animal cruelty, Confinement, Dementia, and Kidnapping

jazful's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Incest, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

orangeslices's review against another edition

dark 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? Yes

2.5

"Men Who Hate Women" was the original title of the Swedish thriller that later came to be known as "The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo." Each section of the book is prefaced with a statistic about the violence that is endured by Swedish women that goes unreported and consequently, unknown. Braced with the facts in mind, the plot unravels to an obvious conclusion about who is the perpetrator behind Harriet Vanger's disappearance. Drawn from the same vein, Stieg Larsson, falls into cliche trappings. The perspective pieces from Lisbeth falls flat - which is disappointing because I was so excited to meet her character - her punk looks and intelligent character was the main draw. Unfortunately, all of the women of import are drawn to Blomkvist (who's not very interesting) and women that are meant to be written as independent and whip smart (e.g. Erika and Lisbeth and Cecilia), they all fall for him and even draw up petty emotional "catfights" over him.
I really can't draw myself to read any more of the books because the debut book in the series falls flat.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement, Sexual violence, and Antisemitism

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, and Incest

laurajeangrace's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, and Murder

Minor: Torture, Medical content, and Abortion

fbc_2122's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Stalking, Car accident, and Sexual harassment