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Bridal Shop USA - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
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List Price: $24.95
Our Price: $14.97
Your Save: $ 9.98 ( 40% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Knopf
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 839.738
EAN: 9780307269751
ISBN: 0307269752
Label: Knopf
Manufacturer: Knopf
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 480
Publication Date: 2008-09-16
Publisher: Knopf
Release Date: 2008-09-16
Studio: Knopf
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Editorial Reviews:
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A sensation across Europe—millions of copies sold
A spellbinding amalgam of murder mystery, family saga, love story, and financial intrigue.
It’s about the disappearance forty years ago of Harriet Vanger, a young scion of one of the wealthiest families in Sweden . . . and about her octogenarian uncle, determined to know the truth about what he believes was her murder.
It’s about Mikael Blomkvist, a crusading journalist recently at the wrong end of a libel case, hired to get to the bottom of Harriet’s disappearance . . . and about Lisbeth Salander, a twenty-four-year-old pierced and tattooed genius hacker possessed of the hard-earned wisdom of someone twice her age—and a terrifying capacity for ruthlessness to go with it—who assists Blomkvist with the investigation. This unlikely team discovers a vein of nearly unfathomable iniquity running through the Vanger family, astonishing corruption in the highest echelons of Swedish industrialism—and an unexpected connection between themselves.
It’s a contagiously exciting, stunningly intelligent novel about society at its most hidden, and about the intimate lives of a brilliantly realized cast of characters, all of them forced to face the darker aspects of their world and of their own lives.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: The middle was middlingly exciting
Comment: The middle chunk of this book is a moderately interesting murder mystery thriller. I feel like I've read better mysterys, however. The motivations here are totally concealed and then completely explode to resolution in the space of 100 pages. The interesting part, alas, wraps up 100 pages before the end of the book. The rest is the 'corporate thriller' and is not thrilling. The 100+ pages of dull setup to start this book is not thrilling either. I love the tease on the back, something like, if you get to chapter two you're HOOKED!. Huh? Maybe if you get to chapter 14 you might get engaged.
OK, SPOILER ALERT. Again, why are are thriller masterminds so stupid? This mastermind has a worldwide criminal empire spanning drugs and WEAPONS dealing. He's ostensibly run afoul of international law in coopting aid money to arm hosile commandos or whatever. So his arch-nemesis (worth installing a mole in the organization) is a SWEDISH FINANCIAL JOURNALIST WITH A STAFF OF SIX PEOPLE? WHAT? He's not concerned about Interpol, NATO, the Columbians, NSA, CIA, MI-6, no, no, no. He's busy trying to ruin a small magazine BY CONSPIRING TO WITHHOLD ADVERTISING. REALLY?
Also, the mastermind keeps 100% of all of his files on one laptop, had kept the SAME HARD DRIVE OVER NUMEROUS LAPTOPS FOR 15 YEARS AND STILL USED IT RELIGIOUSLY EVEN AFTER FLEEING? This plot device is so stupid the book even acknowledges it in two places and continues to use it. Also, he apparently has a million bank accounts but manages to lodge every critical krona in ONE BANK ACCOUNT that apparently doesn't require him to be even aware of what's going on to withdraw some super-bonds which are so liquid and transferrable they violate every possible money laundering statute even in Switzerland.
Oh, in further SPOILERS: the second generation killer has been able to kill apparently hundreds of women in his secret underground dungeon over the course of forty years, fine. Though the town is notably small and every coming and going of our hero is observed by EVERYONE, the killer can transport foreign women in and their remains out over decades without the slightest detection. Yet, within two hours of being detected manages to not kill a journalist and crash his car into a truck. Dumb.
Further, I think the utter goofiness of the plot makes the startling violence and misogny in the book shocking and misplaced. Frankly I'm sad to see the plug from John Burdett on the back because Burdett's books are awesome.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great thriller and much more... in a time of financial crooks
Comment: As other reviews mentioned, this book catchs you and it does not let you breath until you reach the end. Fortunately, the sequel is already in our bookshops here in Spain and I am looking forward to my girlfriend finishing `the girl who played with fire` to go on reading (it's tempting to steal her the book!). Unfortunately, the author died, and we will just have a trilogy. (Maybe fate wished that: too many sequels could be self-defeating).
The plot is greatly constructed in two parallel thriller stories plus a number of personal stories which are also very interesting to read. I would like to underline two things:
First, the great construction of characters.I am thrilled by Lisbeth Salander, hacker-hero, freak and completely un-adorable. It is a great character. But also Mickael or Henrik Vanger. All have their own contradictions and that makes them very deep and close.
Second the premonitory (?) depiction of the corporate-financial world (and the role of journalists therein). When Mickael (Larsson) criticizes the idolatry of journalist to corporate tycoons, one cannot help recalling the recent times when the villains of today -some come to my mind-, were the heroes of the financial world and the financial journalism.
A great book!
Just one minus, not to Larsson, but to the English version. The traslation of the title is unfortunate. It is much more appropiate the original traslation (Men who do not love women). Those who have read the book will understand why.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Crept Right Up On Me
Comment: It was a bit slow moving out, but once the characters, the atmosphere, and the growing story line were fleshed out this book took off for me! Delightful and wicked! As it grew closer to the end of the book I found myself not wanting it to end. When it did "finish up" I only wanted more! I want the author to explore, further, the irresistible interplay between Mikael and Salander. Lisbeth Salander is unconventional, extremely bright, intriguing and a nice complement to Mikael's practicality. The Vanger family is so full of interesting people and though often strange, I find them compelling and want to delve more into their history and personalities. Wrap all this up in a tale of suspense, treachery, and dark secrets, you will quickly find yourself deep in the world of the Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Takes Some Effort
Comment: One real problem with this lengthy novel is that it encompasses a multitude of characters--most of whom have exactly the same surname! Hence, you really need to invest a lot of effort and valuable time referring back and forth to the expansive genealogical chart conveniently placed in the opening pages. Another difficulty lies with the occasionally awkward translation which, I thought, was a tad shaky with some foreign sounding naratives that seem odd to American ears.
However, if you stick with it, everything and everyone eventually falls into place, and you are rewarded with a fine intelligent mystery with accompanying psychologial pathologies. I might add that I uncovered what I believe to be an unintentional spoiler early on, which kind of took the edge off of the suspense. Query me by submitting a comment to this review and I'll gladly reply and explain.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Slow start but great second half... left me wanting more
Comment: I don't do many reviews but I felt compelled to write a review of this book. I thoroughly enjoyed it overall, and give it 5 stars.
Pros:
* Interesting to get exposed a bit to swedish culture.
* Great characters. Lisbeth Salandar particularly interesting.
* Great multi-threaded storylines.
* Good blend of mystery and thriller
* Exciting ending
Cons:
* Started slow for me. First chapter or two discusses a corporate corruption story the main character (a reporter) is writing. Didn't grab me right away.
* minor nit-picking: The author tended to swap referring to the characters by their first name or their last name. Not a big deal, but there are several character with the last name of Vanger. Henrik Vanger, the rich patriarch of a family that owns a corporation, and his relatives Harriet, Martin, and Cecilia, among others. So a sentence might go like this: "Martin and Cecilia discussed it with Vanger". That took a little getting used to. Vanger in most cases referred to Henrik, although all three in that sentence had the same last name.
* another minor nit: there was a subplot in the book around Lisbeth and an adversarial relationship with another character. It was loosely resolved halfway through the book, but I expected a bit of follow-up at the end. Perhaps it will be dealt with in the sequel.
Again, overall, one of my favorite reads this year. Can't wait for the sequel.
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