A review by jazful
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

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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