The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

I decided to read this book after reading about it in my favorite magazine, Entertainment Weekly. The never ending praise by this magazine, and also the fact that the book was very obviously displayed in every bookstore I walked into, made me buy it.

I knew right from the start that this book would be a challenge. However, I enjoyed it and I'm glad I gave it a try.

My review for this book will come in three parts.

1. The beginning. The beginning of any book is without a doubt the most important part of it. Every book needs to have an attention-grabbing opening. Without that, an average reader could easily get bored or disinterested and move onto something more exciting. I came thisclose to giving up before the story got under way. Why? Because of the mumbo jumbo. I have no interest in the stock market or economics, and so when this book started out with some long explanations about some financial scandal, I had half a mind to give up right then and there.

2. The middle. This is the bulk of the book, and the only reason why I stuck with it. Once the story got going (and it took a little too long for my taste) I decided that I really wanted to see what happened. The character of Mikael Blomkvist didn't interest me too much, but the story he was investigating did. I found myself pulled in by the murder mystery that the book was trying to solve. I also became very intrigued by the idea of Lisbeth Salander. True to my expectations, she was as bad-ass as everything I had heard about her, and naturally that made her my favorite character.

3. The ending. Besides the part where the main mystery of Harriet Vanger's murder was solved, I skim-read the end. It was more mumbo jumbo, and a whole lot of something I didn't feel like reading. However, I was pleasantly surprised by the very last page, and the incredible cliff-hanger that was presented. Is it enough for me to read the sequel? Maybe.

Overall: This book is not for everybody. If you think you can handle a book with a lot of backstory, I'd say go for it. I also have to add that there are some very graphic sexual abuse scenes, so this is not a story for a young reader. The best person to read this would be an adult with an open mind, and a desire to read an interesting and different story.