the girl with the dragon tattoo

 i keep reading the words "gratuitous violence" in connection to this book and the two that followed.  it is a brutal and disturbing theme and it is certainly violent.  but i am perplexed.  is the argument that Larsson could have implied violence and made his point?  is the violence he describes too real or too graphic?  is it gratuitous because people find it unbelievable?  is it because a woman rapes a man?

I think I like this

But I do wonder if "churches" without "god" will have the same sort of
political and evangelical motivation.