Special Review – Stieg Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy
Submitted by Paperback Dolls on May 28, 2010 – 5:00 am6 Comments
The Millenium Trilogy, Stieg Larsson
- The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
- The Girl Who Played with Fire
- The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest
After watching hundreds of Kung Fu movies, anime and westerns, I consider myself, if not a connoisseur, then definitely a lover of the revenge genre. However, after reading the Millennium Trilogy by Stieg Larrson, the third installment of which, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest, has finally been published in the U.S., I’ve decided that this trilogy is so much more than a revenge story. Although, as with Kill Bill, the revenge plot is so very sweet to experience! The series is a mystery, a Bildungsroman, and a thriller all rolled into one. It takes resilience, guns, hackers, investigative journalism, a billion dollars, and a touch of vigilante vigor for this adventure to end well. The uniqueness in this story lies in that there are two protagonists and they both need saving.
Lisbeth Salander is “the girl” in this trilogy. She is a small, young woman, usually dressed in Goth attire, who rides a motorcycle and has a few tattoos. She is also the top investigator for a security firm in Stockholm. Her employer doesn’t know how she obtains her information, but it is usually fast, accurate and professional. Lisbeth has been heralded as an unusual heroine, but for those who watch anime, her type is well-known: a socially challenged genius hacker investigator. To call Lisbeth Salander a girl is misleading – there is nothing girly about her, other than her current legal status as a citizen in Sweden. Due to her autistic behavior and one episode of violence against her father, she has been judged psychologically unfit and violent. She was therefore stripped of her rights and is a ward of the state. Under these circumstances, she is a girl – she can’t even withdraw money from her own bank account to buy a computer.
Mikael Blomkvist, or as Lisbeth likes to call him, Kalle f*cking Blomkvist, is an investigative journalist and editor of a left-wing publication called Millennium. Picture a younger Christopher Hitchens with his brother’s political notions – both men and women fall in love with him because of his ballsy idealism and courage in going up against “the man.” In the beginning of the trilogy, Blomkvist is a broken man. He tried to uncover the corruption of a Swedish billionaire CEO but was set-up, and his once stellar career was destroyed overnight.
This entire adventure begins in a fog. Larsson does this to purposely slow the reader down, because this is an epic story. In my experience, all revenge stories must be epic and the injustice must be massive to warrant the revenge. The first book, The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo, sets up the characters and situation so that the reader understands who these characters are and why they cannot save themselves. Lisbeth and Blomkvist work together as sleuths to solve a 40-year-old mystery and reveal a serial killer. While solving this mystery, Blomkvist finds out she’s a hacker and has a photographic memory. However, despite all that we learn about Lisbeth’s traumatic baggage, she is the savior in this book. She literally saves Blomkvist’s life from the serial killer and uses her hacking skills to reveal the truth about the corporate scandal that cost him his career. However, while Lisbeth reaches out and trusts Blomkvist, something very rare for her character, she realizes he will never really love her; hence her pet name for him: Kalle f*cking Blomkvist.
In the second book, The Girl who Played with Fire, Lisbeth mends her broken heart while Blomkvist regains his journalistic status and Millennium becomes known as the publication that goes after “the man.” The next injustice to fight: an illegal prostitution ring. Everything with the investigation goes well, until Lisbeth finds out her family as well as her own case worker is connected to the prostitution ring, and that they want her to get blamed for murders. In a Kill Bill scenario, Lisbeth would destroy everyone who meddled in her life and ride off into the sunset, but what happens when one’s own family is the problem? In a Kung Fu scenario, that would be no obstacle – it’s always the family! With the police combing all of Sweden for her, she is left with no choice but to take on her own family. With help of her worldwide hacker friends, she skillfully hunts down her clan and begins her revenge. There is a great shoot-out scene, but it’s almost predictable that Blomkvist finds Lisbeth before the police do and saves her life. Her life may have been saved, but she is still considered a criminal. Only a ball-breaking journalist can unravel Lisbeth Salander’s story and get her off the hook for all the murders surrounding her.
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest is the conclusion to this mystery called Lisbeth Salander. Lisbeth tried revenge the old fashion way, but now Blomkvist is completing her revenge by proving her innocence. Blomkvist and Millennium go for “the man” again, and this time, it’s the government! By personally investigating Lisbeth’s innocence, he stumbles on one of the biggest scandals in Sweden. He discovers that there is an equivalent of a CIA within the CIA and that Lisbeth’s life is wrapped up in all of it. Blomkvist administers his own brand of justice and blows the entire story out in the open – which I would love to share with you, but it would ruin the story! The main point is that Lisbeth realizes that she isn’t alone in the world, she’s worth saving and that, despite all the mean men who have abused her throughout her life, it has taken one exceptional man to save her and make her visible in a society that was more than willing to cast her off.
It took me about 50 pages of the first book to get into this trilogy; after that, it sucked me in. As I mentioned, Larsson slows the reader down. He wants the reader’s undivided attention because the story he is telling is intricate, mysterious, and impressive. Since this takes place in modern-day Sweden, a supposedly progressive place with a reputation for generous social services and non-existent crime rates, I was a bit shocked at the levels of chauvinism, misogyny, and anti-Semitism. On the other hand, there is Millenium, the publication that acts like the greed and power police. Never have good and evil in modern times been so transparent to me. The hackers were portrayed as vigilantes, but I would say that the information highway is still like the Wild West, and a little vigilantism isn’t so bad in this story. If the Millenium Series did anything, it made me realize that a story of intellectual revenge can be as compelling as a bloody one.
On a final note, the original Swedish title of The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo translates as Men Who Hate Women. There is a reason for this. Lisbeth Salander and many of the women in the trilogy experienced mental and physical abuse at the hands of men. The misogyny portrayed in these books is so acute, it single-handedly annihilates the last 40 years of feminism. While I believe chauvinism is alive and well in the world, I feel like the Millennium Trilogy highlights not only women’s issues, but the issues of all people who are hidden in this world as Lisbeth was, such as undocumented immigrants. Larsson’s work is especially relevant in the US, where so many of our constitutional rights are being challenged every day.
~Swinka
edited by Elvie
Swinka loved this series so much, she decided to create a special piece of jewelry for it! Check out this beautiful dragon, just like Lisbeth’s beautiful dragon tattoo and other pieces by clicking on the dragon!
PBD would like to thank our Honorary Dolls – Swinka for her wonderful review, and Elvie for her hard work in editing this piece until it was perfect!
Paperback Dolls is made up of women from different parts of the world, with different backgrounds, different tastes and beliefs that were brought together through a love of reading. We like to think of ourselves as a cyber version of "The View" that focuses on books, authors, and reading. We are proof positive that one common love can unite the most opposite of people and form lasting friendships that introduce other ways of life and perspectives to each other.
I love it!!!
Am I the only person who has yet to read this series? I really must read it now and order the dragon necklace to wear while reading the books;)
Day – read these books! They are amazing!
I want to be Lisbeth….well, sort of.
In addition to what I said in the review, I encourage women who have been abused by men to read this trilogy. It is refreshing to see a man write about women's issues and get it right!
Oh, and another note about the dragon charm. My friend Sherry begged me to make it for her. So, it was originally a one-of-a-kind until she twittered it to Music Box Films who picked it up for the Girl with a Dragon Tattoo promotion.
Ahhh my life is a book.
No Day, you´re not the only one who hasn´t read it.. I have to admit, I´ve never been especially interested in this series. But, I guess I have to now that Swinka has convinced me it´s well worth the read! :D
OK, another recommendation. Read the first book during summer if you're really hot because all the snow will make feel sooooo cold! LOL!