Reviews tagging 'Antisemitism'

Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Denise Mina

78 reviews

jpalms0626's review against another edition

mysterious slow-paced

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

3.5

Reading this book in 2024 was tough, a lot of the character descriptions felt rather dated and offensive at times. I found it super weird how characters talked about Salander, though I’m not sure if that was the point (to make us dislike the characters discussing her) the mystery portion was interesting, especially between like 50-75 percent. Before and after that the pacing felt slow and off. Not for me, it was an okay story and well developed mystery that wasn’t too off the walls with twists, so I did like that

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Rape, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Antisemitism

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: Sexual violence, Antisemitism, and Confinement

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

nicolermcmath's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious slow-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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Animal death, Sexual assault, Murder, Antisemitism, Gun violence, Sexual violence, Animal cruelty, and Suicide

dishwaterpossum's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Oh this was so dark. I knew it was going to be but wheeeew. Great twists and turns through the Scandinavian landscape. I loved the breadth of the mystery and how it all dovetails together.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Incest, Torture, Toxic relationship, Animal cruelty, Antisemitism, Child abuse, Death of parent, Murder, Pedophilia, Rape, and Sexual assault

maddies_bookshelf's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

5.0

The first half of the book is slow but when it picks up the wait is worth it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Sexual harassment, Kidnapping, Rape, Incest, Violence, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Murder, and Animal death

Moderate: Antisemitism

vulturetime's review against another edition

2.5

I will say it was a very readable book and I was interested for a lot of the main plot. The thing that detracts from my enjoyment are the relationships. Almost everything is about sex and it gets rather tiring. Additionally, Lisbeth and Mikael get in a relationship, to which Mikael protests that he is old enough to be Lisbeth's father. And yet he still continues to have sex with her fairly regularly. Man has no backbone when it comes to these beliefs of his and it was just irritating to read about. Also there were some fairly iffy lines to me now, reading this book almost 20 years after it was first published. 

There is a lot of sexual violence in this book, so keep that in mind. There are some fairly explicit descriptions of women who had been raped and killed in brutal ways. Lisbeth is also a ward because she was deemed mentally incompetent, so there's a bit of talk on that. Lisbeth does get raped during the course of the story and Mikael was a second away from being raped as well. Lots of talk about Nazis and antisemitism as well, for reasons that are apparent when you meet the Vanger family.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape

Moderate: Antisemitism, Sexual violence, and Incest

Minor: Eating disorder

photogenicegg'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? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Antisemitism and Animal death

eks's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.25

The mystery was very spicy and unexpected. I definitely didn’t know what was going to happen or how characters were going to connect. 

Some parts were slow and boring though. Took me a while to get through the beginning. There’s a lot of financial industry jargon that made my eyes glaze over. 

My main critique is that the female characters are so one note and clearly written by a man. Like they’re all so boss bitch but also flighty and needy but then again cool? And the treatment of sexual assault and violence against women is questionable to me. And the age gap relationship. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Sexual violence, Murder, Rape, and Xenophobia

bibicornxx's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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? It's complicated

3.75

I honestly dont know how to feel about this book. Its very definitely of its time, and also very obviously a predecessor of every trope to do with crime media of modern day. 

Lisbeth is an amazing character and also awful. she makes me want to rip my hair out, but i can also respect that shes so unique and different from every flimsy protagonist of today that i have to respect her.

blomkvist bored me to tears in some parts, but was oddly likeable in a few others? definitely found his perspective the most difficult to read at the start of the book.

the complicated family tree and legal issues definitely killed a few brain cells off, but the action parts (although few) brought them back.

overall, not a book i want to read again in a hurry, but one i have an odd amount of respect for.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Child abuse, Rape, Medical trauma, Kidnapping, Incest, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Antisemitism, Stalking, and Child abuse

padsworth's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Sexual harassment, Torture, Death of parent, Animal death, Rape, Suicide, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Antisemitism, Kidnapping, Animal cruelty, Abortion, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Incest, Forced institutionalization, Domestic abuse, and Emotional abuse