nila's Reviews (526)

Really interesting premise, and I liked the writing style and the mix of facts and reflective passages. It felt a bit repetitive as the author writes about each woman separately and there are many similarities between them. Sometimes I think she went into too many details that just felt like fillers to the story, and many of these parts were filled with assumptions due to lack of findings in her research. The book ends with a conclusive chapter which I thought summed up the whole book quite neatly and I wish it had been longer, as this was the aspect of the book I was the most interested in. 

FIVE FRICKIN' STARS!!!! 

If I had to nitpick, I'd say the lead-up to the "big event" was a bit long, I would've wanted it to have lasted longer, especially considering all the information the reader is presented for during the first 550 pages. Larsson's writing has just gotten better and better in this series. Gone are the awkward product placements, the random English terms, and there are fewer "experiemental" expositions (are whatever you call them). I still think it's weird that he keeps referring to characters with their full names, even Salander and Blomkvist... Speaking of names, there's also a sequence in the book that annoyed me to bits because Larsson for some reason had to name two secondary/minor characters Benny, and another one where two characters named Niedermann and Nieminen were interacting. Needlessly confusing, in my opinion. 

Again, a warning of how graphic the descriptions of violence, sex and all kinds of terrible things. DO NOT READ if you are sensitive to it! I've done my best to include all the content warnings I could think of. 

But the stars of the show are all the women. Honestly, whatever kind of female character you want, they're in this book. Flawed, ambitious, insecure, innocent, naïve, assertive etc. etc. My personal favorite being Annika Giannini. Throughout the entire book I just wanted more from her, and then in the end when she had her moment, I was basically just fistpumping the air every paragraph. One of my favorite literary characters, for sure!

I think this might deserve a higher rating if I hadn't read it through a very stressful time. I've been reading it sporadically for over a month which doesn't reflect on how much I enjoyed it. This book, more than the others in the series, is more eerie and feels closer to today's reality. There's a sense of hopelessness in each storyline, but Lunde balances it with heartwarming moments in the different character arcs. 

Used this for my bachelor thesis in nursing. There were definitely some chapters that went over my head,  language-wise, but for the most part it was a really interesting and, at times, a daunting read. 

Really sweet YA contempory romance, which I haven't read in ages... I honestly just picked this up due to a prompt in a reading challenge I'm participating in and I'm really glad it turned out to be a good read. It was fun and sweet with the a really nice blend of character clichés and a surprisingly good amount of honest communication about setting boundaries and expectations for a relationship and taking the next step in the relationship. There was a minimal amount of pining and unnecessary conflict which I really appreciated. It of course has some of the main hallmarks of a YA romance, but it also has its own "paint me like one of your French girls"-moment (ish)

I've heard such varying reviews of this book, that I was unsure of what to expect. The first 100 pages felt a bit like a fast-forward version of One Day, but then the different arcs intensified and though it was intense and hard to read at times, I really liked exploring the new aspects of the characters. The timeline in the novel spans over several years, but I didn't find that the relationship between Marianne and Connell always reflected that, especially considering how they communicated with and kept misunderstanding each other. I was also  disappointed with the ending, though I should've expected it as other character-driven novels I've read have ended somewhat similarly.  

An engaging read for the current times. The parallels between the real world and the events in the book are at times scary though the realistic details is what made it almost impossible to put down. 

I absolutely loved the midwife. Finally a character facing a dystopian society who is realistic and (mostly) selfish in order to survive. I also enjoyed the narrative style with the diaries. A great read, but be aware of explicit and graphic scenes.