Who is Lisbeth Salander?

Ok. Maybe I spoke too soon. But not really. I have finished The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo  and am left wanting more Lisbeth Salander. Who is this girl? What is her story? What are the dark secrets of her past that she tries so hard to hide and avoid? We get glimpses and innuendo, but no real detail and no answers about her life. I guess I was expecting the story to be about her. The book is called The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo after all, not The Journalist who Uncovers a Secret, which is really what the book is about.

I was, obviously, left feeling a bit disappointed and with a lot of questions about Lisbeth and her story. Larsson makes such strong arguments against the abuse of woman in this story and spends so much time condemning the patriarchic culture that allows men to murder and rape at will. The Swedish title of the book is actually Men who Hate Women so the man was obviously trying to make a point here.  But then he leaves so much in the shadows when it comes to Lisbeth. Is he ignoring her individuality and stating that she is not important becoming yet another man who exploits and abuses her? Or is he respecting her past by not exploiting her and letting her live in peace? I can’t figure it out. I can see why people love her for the crazy-badass things she does in the book, but I wanted more about her past.  I think my frustration stems from the fact that she was not the protagonist I expected, more of the plucky sidekick

I will say this, the book did have me on my toes. Every few minutes I had a new theory about who the killer was and what happened to Harriett. I am happy to say that I was about half right and I knew SPOILER ALERT! Seriously, I’m about to give it away here, stop if you don’t want to know about the big twists, she was alive somewhere. At first I thought she was hiding in plane site and living as the cafe waitress Blomkvist meets in Hedeby. For a split second I thought maybe she was Lisbeth’s mother, but then I realized that would be way too soap opera-y and figured she was just living somewhere out of the way. Larsson did get me for a minute with one of the biggest red herrings in the novel. Once all the details of the biblically themed murders started forming, I assumed that crazy old Nazi Harald Vanger was behind everything.

In terms of a good action/adventure/thriller the book does do its duty. The closest I can compare it to is the feeling I have when reading Dan Brown. Larsson comes close to creating the same level of intensity and suspense, but for me at least, it was just a tad … less… Yes, I wanted to figure it out, but it was easy for me to stop reading and not play the “just one more page” game with myself.

I think this is because at the heart, this is two stories. On the one had we have Blomkvist’s investigation into the Vanger family history. And on the other is the complicated plot surrounding his magazine and the take down of a corrupt Swedish business men. I have to tell you, this second story line was not my favorite thing. I was just not into the financial twists and publishing turns that make up the last bits of the story. It felt a bit tacked on and I would have been fine had the book ended at the conclusion of Harriett’s story.

My interest is piqued to read the rest of the trilogy, thought I am a little annoyed and am not sure if The Girl who Played with Fire is my next read. I’m a little stung and feeling tricked by Larsson at this point. Plus, I think I may need a break from all the killing and rape and violence.