Weekly Reader: The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson; A Tight Suspense Novel With a Polarizing Protagonist

Weekly Reader: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson; A Tight Suspense Novel With a Polarizing Protagonist


By Julie Sara Porter


Bookworm Reviews





Spoilers: About ten years ago, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo was everywhere. My first semester at Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis, many people had a copy of the book in their hands. Suddenly movies and TV were filled with Swedish detectives and psychological thrillers involving torture and murder of women. Many debated about the actions of its protagonist, Lisbeth Salander (more on that later). It had been on my reading bucket list for some time. Now that I can check this title off, I can do it gladly because I found The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo is a tight suspenseful novel with an appropriate cold and somber setting and a protagonist that is polarizing but fascinating.





When the book begins, finance journalist, Mikael Blomkvist is in big trouble. He penned an article with questionable fact checking about a wealthy corrupt financier. On suspension from Millennium magazine, the magazine he helped create, Blomkvist is put on suspension and faces possible imprisonment. He is then contacted by millionaire businessman, Heinrik Vangar to cover a history of his family and to find out what happened to his favorite grand-niece, Harriet who disappeared when she was 16-years-old and Vangar believes she was murdered.





The book is rich in suspense even in the settings of Stockholm and Hedeby Island. Both are written to be cold unpleasant places where the weather is often dark, dreary, and the locations are filled with corrupt politicians, families who willingly admit to being Neo-Nazis, and where someone can hide a body and not be discovered until decades later.





The richness in Larsson's writing is also within his characters.


Blomkvist is the type of character that often heads books like these. Divorced and troubled but always one who wants to protect those who are suffering. As he visits the island in which Vangar’s family lives, he begins a romance with one of the Vangar family members seeing her as a victim of abuse. He is the type of man who also is driven to do the right thing and is willing to face the consequences.





During his investigation, Blomkvist meets the woman who not only helps his investigation but steals every moment she's in: Lisbeth Salander. The 24-year-old researcher/hacker is driven to help Blomkvist’s investigation because it relates to the potential murder of one or several women.





Salander had her own history of sexual abuse and has been diagnosed with several mental illnesses. After a youthful violent encounter, Salander was declared mentally incompetent and required guardianship. Unfortunately, her latest guardian physically, financially, mentally, and sexually abused her. When Salander has had enough, in an eerie moment, she binds her guardian and blackmails him that she will reveal the abuse if he doesn't leave her alone. After he agrees, she tattoos words like “I'm a rapist and a pig” on his body.





This passage brilliantly characterizes Salander. She is someone who has been hurt so much that her outlook on society is extremely skewered. By contrast, Blomkvist is more reserved and conventional. Salander behaves on impulse and believes that becoming violent and murderous towards sex offenders is her only option.


The Reader may not condone her actions, but her mental state, abused background, and violent tendencies are called into question. She is not likeable when she commits these acts but she is understandable as someone stuck inside her own head, is distrustful towards others, and is filled with hatred and vengeance. Lizbeth is an incredibly polarizing protagonist. One may not agree with her actions, especially when she commits murder (and is implied to have done it again in the final pages.), but also understands that she is someone whose warped sense of justice propels her to do such things because she can't trust that anyone else will help her or anyone else.





The mystery is filled with various clues that the two follow to a logical conclusion. A photograph of a parade on the day of Harriet’s disappearance becomes key to learning about what happened to her. Witnesses recall events with surprising detail of situations that happened over 40 years ago. In some of the book's weaker moments, Blomkvist and Salander rely on luck to get their answer such as when they listen to one member of the Vangar talking on the phone to another who conveniently provides a much needed solution to the mystery.





The book also has some major flaws. It runs far too long. After the Vangar murder is solved, there are still several chapters to go that deal with Blomkvist's dismissal and exposure of the man who made it happen. It's not an interesting subplot and it drags longer than it should.


Another issue with the book is the romance that develops between Blomkvist and Salander. While Salander has been damaged by others previously, she insists that she and Blomkvist begin a sexual relationship. It's unnecessary and falls into the cliche of “male female partners become romantically involved.” A father/daughter relationship would be a much better option and fills a need in both their lives (Salander had a kindly guardian that died before the events of the book and Blomkvist is estranged from his wife and daughter and doesn't see his daughter often.) The romance is forced on and unnecessary.


Also the resolution is somewhat easy to guess (especially if you are someone like me, who reads a lot of mysteries and psychological thrillers that also have the same ending.) However, the revelation of one character's motives is eerie and suspenseful especially with the realization that the character has been a serial killer for decades and that an older family member trained them in killing.





Despite its flaws, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo is a great book and Lisbeth Salander is a fascinating character. She is not only the most interesting character in this book, she is one of the, if not the most, fascinating female character in the psychological thriller genre.