well. i read that, i guess. i had high hopes for this but i was incredibly bored for most of it. the story's a slow burn that seemed to emphasize the "slow" part for its majority; once we get to the long awaited climax — which i genuinely enjoyed as i really didn't see the twist coming — it isn't given the focus i would've expected, seemingly lying in other aspects of the book i didn't care for. that's most of my gripe with this book tbh, i just didn't care for a lot of it, blomkvist's entire character included. i thought salander was really cool and i wanted to see more of her pov, but even by the end of the book i was kind of over her, and her

sexual & romantic involvement with blomkvist

irked me from the moment it began. i understand what the central theme of the book is, but it's drenched in a male perspective i can't get past, especially in regards to

salander's rape and consequential revenge

. i hate to judge things as superficially as "you can tell a man wrote this" but my god, you really can tell a man wrote this. really disliked the constant descriptions of lisbeth, too. 

this was really not for me, idk. i was holding out hope it'd feel gripping at some point but after 20 chapters of vague interest in the story i just couldn't wait to be done.