So, I read 'The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo'

[ChickensHaveNoEyebrows]

And I didn't rate it. At all. Am I missing something? Why is is amazing?

I tried to read the girl with the dragon tattoo. So you are already 100% better than me.
DH loved all three (or four) in the series. I just couldn't be arsed and lost the will to live after about 30 pages.
There are plenty of other good books around.

I read it too and was really disappointed. Perhaps something gets lost in the English translation?
I think it was like so many other thrillers I have already read. A bit trite, really.

Thought small parts of GWADT were pacy but the first 130 pages dragged terribly and the mystery was slow-going and had a rather hackneyed resolution. That said imo the second and third in trilogy were corkers.

So worth perservering Kangaroo? I just found tit very hard to like the main male character, and Lisbeth wasn't really in it 'til the end. Also saw the end coming by miles.

PMSL at my freudian slip (apt, though)

I thought the same. It did pass the time , but I can't say I felt as enamoured with it as other people seem to be.

You may be able to ignore me though, because although I thought Room was an ok book, I acutally felt guilty that I didn't like it more.

actually

yup first half really quite dull, second half more exciting but a bit silly

I liked 'Room', but the first half was better than the second imo.

I didn't really enjoy it either. It just felt overly padded, like someone had forgotten to cut out the irrelevent and uninteresting bits.

I like the Jo Nesbo books though.

I have definately read better books. Much better books. That said, I read The girl with the Dragon Tatoo and the next one in the series whilst we had the builders in and we had no TV / internet connection etc. So I would have read anything even the yellow pages cover to cover!
I enjoyed the first one, liked the second one a bit more but just cannot be bothered with the third one. Is it worth perservering and getting the third one?

Why do you have to try and like the characters in a book? Honest question.

I think you have to have a connection with the characters in a book, to like the book. Whether this means 'liking' the characters or not is another thing.

Do you have to read the Jo Nesbo books in order? I have them on my kindle to read.

I agree the first half of Room was better than the second. It was readable, I liked the child's narrative, just thought it was a bit meh at the end.

No, you don't. Otherwise, nobody but psychopaths would read books about serial killers, not to mention those like J. G. Ballard's "The Atrocity Exhibition" or Burroughs' "Naked Lunch".

Also, if you insist on "having a connection" with main characters, you will end up only reading about people like yourself.

I think I was supposed to like Blomkvist though, wasn't I? And I didn't. Just thought he was the author's own fantasy (he seemed irresistable to all women, none of which expected anything from him in any way). He was just too cool for school. I did like Lisbeth a little more, but she was barely sketched out and seemed more like an afterthought. Which was weird considering the book's title.

Lizbeth is at the forefront on the next two books, she becomes the principal character & the books definitely benefit from that.

A connection doesn't mean that you empathise with them or feel as one with them.

You should be scared or horrified of psychopaths, sympathise with victims and so on, but you should feel some kind of connection with the characters.

I think that a good author captures you with the storyline and therefore the characters. It is only my opinion though.

You have to believe in the character otherwise you can't picture them and their circumstances and feel involved in the book.

I thought you were supposed to like Lisbeth, that Blomkvist is a sidekick I suppose.

I read it last year, I thought it was an easy read and ok I guess, but not the most amazing book ever - it reminded me a bit of The Davini Code, in the way it's kind of trying to be clever but really it's a just a bit silly

at reading people like myself.

But Lizbeth comes late to the book & is on the periphery of the 1st..not too much to engage with, iyswim, but it's a means into her character, developed in the next two.

It does give you a chance to identify with Blomkvist and see what a cad (for want of a better word) he is.

I think that this is meant to give you greater appreciation for his relationship and treatment with/of Lisbeth.

He is a bit of a chauvinist and a cynic. I wouldn't call him any man's fantasy, especially in the way he gets beaten up and saved by a young girl. He does appear to be a good journalist, though.

It has never occurred to me before that people might not like a book if they don't like the characters. Thinking back at some very good books I have read with complicated and rather unlovable characters, I dare say that you are missing out on a lot of interesting books.

I don't mind if I don't like the characters, I just have to feel that they are real ( I don't know 3D in these days terms?). I would think that this differs depending on who's reading the book though.

I read anything and everything and always persevere with a book, so don't think that I would miss out.