Kavi Reads

When I think of a fictional genius, my mind goes straight to Sherlock Holmes. And when I visualise Holmes, I see a well-dressed gentleman living in 19th century London, not unlike Jemery Brett’s portrayal. While he can come off as dispassionate and cold, during an investigation, he is animated and excitable. He has a flair for showmanship, making sure he guides everyone through his methods of deduction, in a way showing off. Lisbeth Salander is a stark contrast to Holmes. She is a pale, skinny young woman who has hair as short as her temper, pierced nose and eyebrows, and multiple tattoos. She takes the cold personality of Sherlock to a new level and can be hostile to someone prying into her life. Where Sherlock’s powers of analysis and deductions are legendary, Lisbeth’s skills lie in the areas of computer security and research. Give her the name of any individual, and she can dig up every detail about them. In case it wasn’t clear, she is The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.

Spoiler Free

The story is about struggling journalist, Mikael Blomkvist, who was recently found guilty of libel in a case involving a billionaire business magnate. He is the investigative journalist and co-owner of the monthly magazine Millennium. However, due to the libel charges, his magazine is failing and advertisers are quickly pulling away. In the midst of all his troubles, he is approached by the CEO of Vagner corporation, Henrick Vagner. Henrick wants Mikael to find out what happened to his niece, Harriet Vagner, who disappeared under mysterious circumstances forty years ago from the family’s private island. Henrick is convinced that a family member murdered her, but with her body never found, the case was eventually closed. While at initial glance, the case looked entirely hopeless, Henrick’s offer of a generous salary and the prospects of helping Mikael’s magazine tempts Mikael enough to drop everything and move to the Vanger estate on Hedeby Island. Along the way, to help with his investigation, in need of a skilful researcher, he finds Lisbeth Salander. Together, they explore a world of dark crimes, corruption and the misogyny that is embedded in the Vagner family. During their journey, they also find an attraction towards each other and the novel becomes, among many other things, something of a tender love story.

When I took on the 52-book reading challenge last year, I had focussed most of the attention on popular science books and biographies plus some books about economics (most of which were fairly boring). This wasn’t entirely a conscious decision, but it was my way to ease into the habit of regularly reading. And more recently, I moved my focus to science fiction. In all that, I forgot how incredibly gripping a classic thriller can be. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo was a good reminder of that. I had heard very little of Stieg Larsson’s Millennium Series (though I knew it was quite popular) and never thought about reading it. In fact, reading The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo was a completely random choice, a choice that I’m glad I made. Overall, it was an excellent novel. It had just the right amount of excitement, suspense and humour. It had some slow parts, but when the investigation gained speed, it was hard to put the book down.

The book did have some shortcomings, none major enough to spoil the enjoyment of the story, but nonetheless there. Lisbeth’s character was very well-defined. The author talked about her journey as a social outcast from her traumatic childhood to now, dealing with her abusive legal guardian. By the end, the reader becomes quite familiar with her. On the other hand, Mikael’s character was much less clear. While we spend most of the book with him, there is not much we learn about him. There are mentions of his family (ex-wife and daughter) and we meet his boss/casual lover Erica Berger, but the relationships are half-formed. Lisbeth, who normally has difficulty connecting to people and making friends, is able to trust Mikael, which gives us a glimpse into what his personality might be like. They form an incongruous but credible bond as everyone they meet is against them. Watching them try to solve the case was a treat in itself, since both characters, in the end, are believable creations, in conflict with themselves and each other, not unlike most of us. In a way, the book redeemed itself in this regard. The real problem I had with the book was towards the end (not a spoiler) where, after the case is over, we spend almost a hundred pages with the boring account of Mikael’s effort to take down the executive who originally won the libel lawsuit. This felt like an unnecessary addition to the story and I would’ve prefered if the novel ended with the author subtly letting the audience know that Mikael has the means to save his magazine and leave us satisfied in knowing that it all ended well for him instead of dragging us through it all.

Spoilers Ahead

The book’s original Swedish title was “Men Who Hate Women,” a label that makes perfect sense in hindsight. Nearly every man we meet that is not Mikael or Henrick is a violent misogynist. The sexual assaults on Lisbeth by her guardian were already shocking events in the story; the crimes of father and son Gottfried and Martin Vagner, that spanned over many decades, took it to another level. When Mikael and Lisbeth discovered their crimes, they faced quite a dilemma. Since both Gottfried and Martin were already dead by the end of the book, exposing their crimes to the world would only mean more suffering for Harriet, who had disappeared to get away from Gottfried and Martin. On the other hand, keeping their crimes under covers would be an injustice to the dozens of victims that were tortured and killed by the father-son duo. While, in the end, they decided to take the latter path and leave Harriet in peace, the reader is still left with the question of whether that was the right choice.