Reviews... helpful or hurtful?

Image from Goodreads

I'm currently reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. I usually don't like to read books that I know everyone else is reading. The fact that something is on the Oprah's Book Club list is a bit of a turn off (although I did read What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day and I enjoyed it - it was different from what I usually read). I don't want to be told what to read by mass media. But sometimes your curiosity can't help but be peaked.

A crime drama, a 30 year old mystery, a social outcast with a gift... I think it was probably images of the movie, particularly Lisbeth Salander, on TV that made me decide I wanted to check it out. Also it takes place in Sweden, not North America. A friend of a friend married a Swedish guy, they have a great social system I hear, other than that I know nothing about the place. I'm also at a point in my reading where I don't have anything I'm waiting on from the library. I was recently thinking that it's only really gotten interesting just before page 200, which makes me wonder why I didn't put it down beforehand. Is it really that interesting or am I swayed by its mass appeal and the fact that it's been made into a movie. I made the mistake of reading some Amazon reviews and the first paragraph of Wikipedia's entry, and damn if they didn't give away stuff that I didn't need to know! Ugh, I hate that! Do reviews really ever help?

Image from Goodreads

I loved the first part of the story which took place in Afghanistan. I remember being caught up in the authors description of the beauty of his surroundings before Russia invaded. I was so mesmerized; it was dreamlike. I thought the characters were interesting, particularly the Hazaras with their Asian eyes from their Mongolian ancestors (cool!). I was really into the story and I cared about the characters. Somewhere along the line I made the mistake of reading an Amazon review while I was still reading it. It made some mention of the second part of the book and how it was written as if the story was meant to be made into a movie. I can't remember exact details (thankfully) but I went into the second part of the story with that in mind and it totally ruined it for me. I still enjoyed the book but I wonder if I would have enjoyed it more if I wasn't tainted by that review. Would I have come to that same conclusion as that reviewer? Probably not.

I do find myself moved by reviews. Good reviews, bad reviews, spoilers. I think it's better to save them for when I finish the book, at which point it doesn't really matter.