Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Denise Mina

9 reviews

mbrogs2024's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Animal cruelty, Violence, Murder, Animal death, and Torture

Moderate: Bullying, Car accident, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Kidnapping, Murder, Abandonment, Ableism, Incest, Trafficking, Misogyny, Alcoholism, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, and Sexual violence

Minor: Cursing, Suicide, War, Colonisation, Homophobia, Body shaming, Eating disorder, and Antisemitism

milshollini's review against another edition

challenging dark funny sad tense medium-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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Abandonment, Violence, Rape, Misogyny, and Xenophobia

theuncannydani's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, Car accident, Child abuse, Child death, Abandonment, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Racism, Sexual violence, Stalking, Trafficking, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death of parent, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Incest, Misogyny, Murder, Rape, Addiction, Hate crime, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Suicide, Infidelity, and Mental illness

Moderate: Body shaming, Confinement, Kidnapping, Medical content, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Dementia, and Gun violence

Minor: Abortion, Cancer, Classism, Eating disorder, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, War, Biphobia, Fatphobia, Bullying, Police brutality, and Ableism

alexandrajjjk's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Death, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Sexual violence, Suicide, Gore, Incest, Physical abuse, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual harassment, Violence, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Murder, Abortion, Antisemitism, Child abuse, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Stalking, and Torture

nixicat1's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Forced institutionalization, Incest, Physical abuse, Torture, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Violence, Death, Kidnapping, Rape, Sexual content, Murder, Sexual assault, Stalking, Misogyny, Child abuse, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Alcohol, Antisemitism, Animal death, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Drug use, Racial slurs, Racism, and Gore

Minor: Abandonment and Car accident

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

z_oe's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Incest, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Stalking

Moderate: Alcoholism, Antisemitism, Body shaming, and Car accident

Minor: Abandonment, Abortion, and Eating disorder