A review by cjfooks
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

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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