Amazing when i see this The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo: Book 1 of the Millennium Trilogy (by Vintage) :
Customer Review for this product :
Not Worth It. -
I"m giving this book two stars. It was a huge disappointment to me, as it was recommended by a couple of people who I generally consider reliable in matters of taste.
As has been correctly observed already by many reviewers, the book suffers from poor writing. I suspect that this is mainly due to bad translation, but I don't read speak/read Swedish, and even if I did, I wouldn't put myself through this story again just to see if it's better in the native language.
Some of my big criticisms are;
1 - Boring main character. Mikael Blomkvist is terribly dull. Yes, he's the main character, not the girl of the title. She's maybe slightly more interesting, but only maybe, and only slightly.
2 - Too many sub-plots. I won't bore you with the details, but suffice it to say that there are a number of sub-plots that literally have nothing to do with the main mystery.
3 - Takes forever to get to the point. The first 200 or so pages don't deal with the main mystery in any way. That's a third of the book that doesn't have any bearing on the main theme.
Beyond those main criticisms, the book is filled with cliches and awkward writing. The editor and translator should be made to read this book 50 times over as punishment.
Back to the main character, Blomkvist. The more I think about him, the less I like him, and that's a really bad thing for the protagonist. He doesn't DO anything in this book. Things happen TO him, but he is reactive only. Yes, he starts to piece together a decades old mystery, but it's so drawn out, and ultimately uninteresting, that I didn't care.
Blomkvist is a poor father, a poor husband, a poor journalist, and a poor detective. Only through an embarrassingly coincidental and fortuitous meeting with his daughter does he receive the key to the mystery. If she hadn't miraculously popped in to make her comment, he'd have never figured it out. So he's literally a failure in all facets of his life. Why should I like him?
Lisbeth Salander, the girl of the title, is also deeply flawed. She's a complete social misfit, yet late in the book we are asked to believe that all of a sudden she can pull off a series of complicated deceptions involving disguises. She's suddenly completely at ease with strangers, and not only competent in social interaction, but excels. This is too much to believe. I found her off-putting, cold, unlikeable and quite unsympathetic.
I got the feeling that Larsson wrote this novel as a means of glorifying his profession. Unfortunately, he may have been a decent journalist, but he was a poor novelist.
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More Detailed Product Description
An international publishing sensation, Stieg Larsson's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo combines murder mystery, family saga, love story, and financial intrigue into one satisfyingly complex and entertainingly atmospheric novel.
Harriet Vanger, a scion of one of Sweden's wealthiest families disappeared over forty years ago. All these years later, her aged uncle continues to seek the truth. He hires Mikael Blomkvist, a crusading journalist recently trapped by a libel conviction, to investigate. He is aided by the pierced and tattooed punk prodigy Lisbeth Salander. Together they tap into a vein of unfathomable iniquity and astonishing corruption.
From the Trade Paperback edition.Amazon Best of the Month, September 2008: Once you start The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, there's no turning back. This debut thriller--the first in a trilogy from the late Stieg Larsson--is a serious page-turner rivaling the best of Charlie Huston and Michael Connelly. Mikael Blomkvist, a once-respected financial journalist, watches his professional life rapidly crumble around him. Prospects appear bleak until an unexpected (and unsettling) offer to resurrect his name is extended by an old-school titan of Swedish industry. The catch--and there's always a catch--is that Blomkvist must first spend a year researching a mysterious disappearance that has remained unsolved for nearly four decades. With few other options, he accepts and enlists the help of investigator Lisbeth Salander, a misunderstood genius with a cache of authority issues. Little is as it seems in Larsson's novel, but there is at least one constant: you really don't want to mess with the girl with the dragon tattoo. --Dave Callanan
An international publishing sensation, Stieg Larsson's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo combines murder mystery, family saga, love story, and financial intrigue into one satisfyingly complex and entertainingly atmospheric novel.
Harriet Vanger, a scion of one of Sweden's wealthiest families disappeared over forty years ago. All these years later, her aged uncle continues to seek the truth. He hires Mikael Blomkvist, a crusading journalist recently trapped by a libel conviction, to investigate. He is aided by the pierced and tattooed punk prodigy Lisbeth Salander. Together they tap into a vein of unfathomable iniquity and astonishing corruption.
From the Trade Paperback edition.
Another Related The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo: Book 1 of the Millennium Trilogy Products :
Customer Review for this product :
Not Worth It. - I"m giving this book two stars. It was a huge disappointment to me, as it was recommended by a couple of people who I generally consider reliable in matters of taste.
As has been correctly observed already by many reviewers, the book suffers from poor writing. I suspect that this is mainly due to bad translation, but I don't read speak/read Swedish, and even if I did, I wouldn't put myself through this story again just to see if it's better in the native language.
Some of my big criticisms are;
1 - Boring main character. Mikael Blomkvist is terribly dull. Yes, he's the main character, not the girl of the title. She's maybe slightly more interesting, but only maybe, and only slightly.
2 - Too many sub-plots. I won't bore you with the details, but suffice it to say that there are a number of sub-plots that literally have nothing to do with the main mystery.
3 - Takes forever to get to the point. The first 200 or so pages don't deal with the main mystery in any way. That's a third of the book that doesn't have any bearing on the main theme.
Beyond those main criticisms, the book is filled with cliches and awkward writing. The editor and translator should be made to read this book 50 times over as punishment.
Back to the main character, Blomkvist. The more I think about him, the less I like him, and that's a really bad thing for the protagonist. He doesn't DO anything in this book. Things happen TO him, but he is reactive only. Yes, he starts to piece together a decades old mystery, but it's so drawn out, and ultimately uninteresting, that I didn't care.
Blomkvist is a poor father, a poor husband, a poor journalist, and a poor detective. Only through an embarrassingly coincidental and fortuitous meeting with his daughter does he receive the key to the mystery. If she hadn't miraculously popped in to make her comment, he'd have never figured it out. So he's literally a failure in all facets of his life. Why should I like him?
Lisbeth Salander, the girl of the title, is also deeply flawed. She's a complete social misfit, yet late in the book we are asked to believe that all of a sudden she can pull off a series of complicated deceptions involving disguises. She's suddenly completely at ease with strangers, and not only competent in social interaction, but excels. This is too much to believe. I found her off-putting, cold, unlikeable and quite unsympathetic.
I got the feeling that Larsson wrote this novel as a means of glorifying his profession. Unfortunately, he may have been a decent journalist, but he was a poor novelist.
Check Best Price Here
More Detailed Product Description
An international publishing sensation, Stieg Larsson's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo combines murder mystery, family saga, love story, and financial intrigue into one satisfyingly complex and entertainingly atmospheric novel.
Harriet Vanger, a scion of one of Sweden's wealthiest families disappeared over forty years ago. All these years later, her aged uncle continues to seek the truth. He hires Mikael Blomkvist, a crusading journalist recently trapped by a libel conviction, to investigate. He is aided by the pierced and tattooed punk prodigy Lisbeth Salander. Together they tap into a vein of unfathomable iniquity and astonishing corruption.
From the Trade Paperback edition.Amazon Best of the Month, September 2008: Once you start The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, there's no turning back. This debut thriller--the first in a trilogy from the late Stieg Larsson--is a serious page-turner rivaling the best of Charlie Huston and Michael Connelly. Mikael Blomkvist, a once-respected financial journalist, watches his professional life rapidly crumble around him. Prospects appear bleak until an unexpected (and unsettling) offer to resurrect his name is extended by an old-school titan of Swedish industry. The catch--and there's always a catch--is that Blomkvist must first spend a year researching a mysterious disappearance that has remained unsolved for nearly four decades. With few other options, he accepts and enlists the help of investigator Lisbeth Salander, a misunderstood genius with a cache of authority issues. Little is as it seems in Larsson's novel, but there is at least one constant: you really don't want to mess with the girl with the dragon tattoo. --Dave Callanan
An international publishing sensation, Stieg Larsson's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo combines murder mystery, family saga, love story, and financial intrigue into one satisfyingly complex and entertainingly atmospheric novel.
Harriet Vanger, a scion of one of Sweden's wealthiest families disappeared over forty years ago. All these years later, her aged uncle continues to seek the truth. He hires Mikael Blomkvist, a crusading journalist recently trapped by a libel conviction, to investigate. He is aided by the pierced and tattooed punk prodigy Lisbeth Salander. Together they tap into a vein of unfathomable iniquity and astonishing corruption.
From the Trade Paperback edition.
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