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bubothereader's review against another edition
- 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
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that I like as a character, I woefully dislike that he had Blomkvist refer to her as having Asperger's Syndrome (an outdated term, but not sure if it was when this was written).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.
I really found the mystery intriguing. But, I can't continue with the series for the aforementioned reasons.
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
beabookish's review against another edition
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Graphic: Ableism, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Eating disorder, Incest, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Kidnapping, and Murder
_gabrielle's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.0
- The violence men act against women doesn’t come from nowhere. It isn’t the result of insane psychopaths who are nazis and rape their children and have sex dungeons that they kidnap and kill women in. It’s the result of a culture that tells ALL men women are the “safety valves for everything that goes wrong in their lives”. Women’s bodies and experiences are sexualized to the point of normalization. To the point that it looks like nature and not culture are the root of our sexuality.
- Constantly talking about breasts
- Salander is written as bisexual only to fetishize her. She “much prefers men” …it’s only to make her cool and interesting and hot to the reader
- Every male character is attracted/fantasizes about salander even the “good ones” all of whom are old enough to be her father
- There is no female character with dialogue (beside briefly Isabella) who is not described sexually and wants to sleep/does sleep with Blomvquist
- Salander throwing herself at Blom and him accepting…. The book is about the sexual violence men enact against women. Even the “good guy” looks at this CHILD who is clearly fucked up and thinks yeah i should fuck her. I’m not taking advantage of this broken girl in any way. He even mentions he’s old enough to be her father and salander tells him he’s one of the good ones. THE GOOD ONES DONT FUCK BROKEN 24 YEAR OLDS MORE THAN HALF THEIR AGE.
- Author clearly sees himself as Blom
- You can’t write a book trying to bring to light the sexual violence enacted against women while simultaneously reinforcing the culture that creates and enables this violence. Women do not exist to be the providers of men’s sexual satisfaction. By writing a book that portrays every single female character in a sexual light; By writing salander in a way that is “strangely” irresistible to every man that comes across her; the author calls out the symptom of the problem while writing a book that reproduces the root of the problem. It’s a display of liberal male privilege that he gets to call out the “bad guys” and make himself the “good guy”. But both are participating in the same behaviour only to different extremes.
Graphic: Pedophilia, Rape, Sexism, and Sexual violence
Moderate: Ableism
amylouise12's review against another edition
Graphic: Rape
Minor: Ableism and Eating disorder
ginny1321's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Incest, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Antisemitism, and Murder
Moderate: Ableism, Animal death, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Medical trauma, Stalking, and Car accident