Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Los hombres que no amaban a las mujeres by Stieg Larsson

113 reviews

cjfooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

I had to restart this book about three times before it stuck.
I would agree with others that it's brilliantly written and deserves the praise it gets for how well rounded the characters are, how unique and unpredictable the plot is, and for the sheer emotion and attention is commands. It's definitely a book that sticks with you for sure, but please please make sure you check the triggers first.
However, it actually wasn't the brutal/intense scenes that made me restart it so many times, but how dense the start is. A key part of the plot does revolve around understanding finance and financial law, so we can understand what Mikael's (the main character) situation is. But I found myself losing interest and struggling to understand all the intricacies of this. (Disclaimer: I did had a very limited understanding of these going in).
For these reasons, I found that once I'd read about 150 pages, it was hard to put the book down, but prior to that, I struggled to stick with it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Incest, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Death, Torture, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, and Adult/minor relationship

ashlwy's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-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? Yes

3.0

I feel like the sexual violence toward the female main character was unnecessary. Also the female characters in general aren’t given any substantial depth besides being a sexual objects. The mystery plot was fairly good and kept me going but the sexual violence subplot in the first half almost had me putting the book down.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Incest, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Rape, and Animal death

Moderate: Car accident, Stalking, Domestic abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, and Death

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

rattledragons's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense fast-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: Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Sexual assault, Cursing, Death, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Trafficking, Violence, Ableism, Forced institutionalization, Rape, Sexism, and Sexual content

Moderate: Child abuse, Incest, Kidnapping, Car accident, Gaslighting, Torture, and Body shaming

Minor: Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Eating disorder, and Police brutality

maddierandolph's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Gun violence, Death, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Violence, Torture, Murder, Kidnapping, Rape, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual violence

a1mello's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

3.75

The short review is that the book truly starts to pick up in the middle and is very good overall. The story was very intriguing and well done and kept me interested. The long review is that unfortunately there were several unnecessary scenes in the first half of the book that did nothing to advance the plot or to assist in character development. These could have certainly been excluded without affecting the storyline at all as they felt like they were included for shock value. It should also be known that Lisbeth doesn't truly start to come into the story until about halfway through which was frustrating. Beyond that, the female relationships that the main character has feels very much like it was written by a man, which was wholly annoying and disappointing in comparison to the rest of the books writing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Violence, Misogyny, Antisemitism, Racism, Rape, Animal death, Death, Murder, Sexism, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Animal cruelty, Blood, and Child abuse

Moderate: Vomit

Minor: Car accident

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

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

erebus53's review against another edition

challenging dark informative mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.25

This is a book that my mother recommended to me before her death and I'm glad I finally picked up a copy. As an ex-goth Autistic with tech leanings and a penchant for Photoshop, I can see why she recommended it to me.

This is a murder mystery but is also peppered with informative statistics about the welfare of women and Disabled people, and plenty of heat leveled at financial speculators and stock market traders.  Do not read if you can't tolerate animal cruelty. The story is edgy and dark and includes sexual violence, so it will not be a good fit for some readers. This book is generally sex-positive, consensual rather than coercive, and also depicts bisexuality and respectful polyamory. The body image discussions are nuanced.

I would normally find it irksome that an Autistic character is described as being violent, but in this case of a character who has childhood trauma, demand avoidance, and a fundamental lack of trust in authority figures, it's quite understandable that she might want to solve her own problems without the interference of police. I can see her work as an amazing revenge fantasy, and her competence as super-heroic.

I found that the pace dragged in places, but the problem solving and the relationship building was pretty cool. I could see some people eyerolling while specific tech equipment, vehicles and software are discussed, but I find it really cute, especially as I am familiar with much of it, and amused by how the high-tech stuff is now outdated (well it was 18 years ago...).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Rape, Torture, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Murder, and Animal death

bookstore_plantlover's review against another edition

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Xenophobia, Domestic abuse, Sexual content, Gaslighting, Rape, Alcoholism, Death, Pedophilia, Sexism, Misogyny, Murder, Incest, and Torture