Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Denise Mina

8 reviews

rcaudf's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-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

3.5

This is my second read of the book in several year, and I still haven’t figured out how I feel about it. On one hand, it’s violent and explicit and the usage of the “all the women want to sleep with the male main character” trope greatly annoys me makes it feel a bit like the author’s self insert. On the other hand, it is still one of the best and most technically written mysteries that I have ever read, and the effort of the character building shows through in the thoroughness and complexity of the details. Maybe I’ll revisit it again in several years and try to figure out how I feel about it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Rape, Violence, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Torture, Death, Blood, Car accident, Child abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Drug abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Stalking, and Suicidal thoughts

meraru's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.5

Out of all the traumatic, horrible things that happened in this story, Lisbeth having coffee and toasts with pickle slices was the hardest to read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Violence, Sexual violence, Torture, Death, Kidnapping, Murder, and Misogyny

Moderate: Kidnapping, Alcohol, Sexism, Racism, Pedophilia, Drug use, Xenophobia, Addiction, Alcoholism, Sexual harassment, Rape, Misogyny, Mental illness, Death, Incest, Grief, Drug abuse, and Death of parent

Minor: Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Animal death, Animal cruelty, War, and Trafficking

There's several rape scenes, also several of the deaths are described in graphic detail.

zamnabatool01's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious relaxing sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Domestic abuse, Self harm, Car accident, Alcoholism, Murder, Incest, Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Kidnapping, Sexism, Violence, and Death of parent

abbileigh's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense slow-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Pedophilia

Minor: Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Drug abuse, and Animal death

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

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

dizzypanda's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Antisemitism, Body shaming, Car accident, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Death of parent, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Incest, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Misogyny, Police brutality, Rape, Sexism, Sexual content, and Torture

archosaur's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• 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: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Rape, Pedophilia, and Child abuse

Moderate: Sexism, Sexual content, Torture, Misogyny, Incest, Hate crime, Drug use, and Drug abuse

Minor: Addiction, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Toxic relationship, Terminal illness, and Self harm