 |
| The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. |
-Brian Mendonca
Steig Larsson was a name that was vaguely familiar. A friend had mentioned it way back after being enthralled by his novels.
Why should I be interested in what a Swedish writer was writing? Nevertheless, in the course on Detective Fiction that I am facilitating, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2005) was a prescribed text. Larsson (1954-2004) made it well worth my while.
First published in Swedish by Norstedts, Stockholm, it was translated into English by Reg Keeland and published by Hachette, UK, in 2008. It was made into a film in 2011.
Interestingly, the original title was Man Som Hattar Kvinnor [Men Who Hate Women]. The new title shifts agency to the woman - more specifically a young woman of 24 - and creates an aura of mystery around her. The fact that she is tattooed, suggests her wilful ways, and her non-conformist nature.
I read the novel over the weekend. The book is 544 pages, but I liked the easy-to-read Minion typeface and the spacious leading. Every once in a while I would take in the smell of the freshly printed pages, to egg me to go on reading.
By Saturday night I had finished the first of the four parts. By Sunday night I knew what happened to Harriet. Early this morning I leafed through the remaining pages and the cryptic Epilogue.
The novel is divided into four parts.
Prologue A Friday in November
Detective Superintendent Morell receives a call. The unsolved 'Case of the Pressed Flowers.' (16)
Part 1 INCENTIVE (Chapters 1-7; pages 17-122)
Mikael Blomquist, investigative journalist with Millennium magazine, Stockholm steps down after he is sentenced by a court for libel - accusation without proof, against Hans-Erik Wennerstrom. The security agency of Dragan Armansky. (39) His investigator Elisbeth Salander (49) Mikael's feelings for Erika Berger, the editor-in-chief of the magazine. (66) Dirch Frode invites Mikael to Hedeby. (78) Henrik Vanger asks him to find his granddaughter Harriet Vanger - missing for the last 40 years (88) The terms. (115)
Part 2 CONSEQUENCE ANALYSIS (Chapter 8-14; pages 123-254)
MAP OF HEDEBY ISLAND (124). Mikael heads to Hedestad, the seat of the Vanger family. Henrik shows him the houses of all in the Vanger family who love on the island. He examines the files on Harriet. (138) He learns about the accident on the bridge at Hedeby island which happened about the same time that Harriet disappeared on 10 September 1966. He asks about Isabella Vanger, Harriet's mother, now 75 years, who lives nearby. The temperature dips to -21. Backstory of Lisbeth (150). The arrangements between Lisbeth Salander and her guardians Holger Palmgren and Nils Bjurman are contrasted. (158) Mikael draws up a family tree. (164)
At dinner with Martin and Eva, Martin is not interested in discussing his sister Harriet.(177) In conversation with detective Morell he hears about the unsolved Rebecka murder in the '40's. (184) Mikael comes across the names of women in Harriet's diary. (201) Lisbeth's computer is run over by a dark red Saab. (203) Lisbeth is blackmailed by Bjurman (210). Mikael has an affair with Cecilia Vanger (226). Bjurman violates Lisbeth (235). Lisbeth gets her revenge. (246) Henrik becomes part owner of Millennium. (248)
Part 3 MERGERS (Chapter 15-23;pages 255-408)
The cat welcomes Mikael back from Rullaker prison. Erika surprises Mikael and Cecilia. (264) Mikael visits the Gottfried house where Harriet lived. (271) Mikael examines the photo of Harriet at the Children's Day Parade. He notices her expression change to fear. (276) Mikael gains access to the photo archive of the Hedestad Courier. (280) He notices a woman behind Harriet who could have taken a photo of what Harriet saw. (288) His daughter Pernilla drops in on her way to Skelleftea for a Bible camp. (291) He cracks the code in Harriet's diary as verses in Leviticus. (295)
Mikael reads Lisbeth's report on him commissioned by Henrik. (301) Lisbeth and Mimmi. (303) Mikael visits Lisbeth. He asks her to help on the case. (311) Henrik in hospital. (316) Mikael meets Mildred Berggren who took the picture. (337) Lisbeth gives details of the women on Harriet's list who lost their lives from 1949-1966. (347) The cat meets its end. (367) The Apocrypha. (375) Mikael gets shot at. (379) Mikael asks Cecilia if it is her in the photograph. (384) The crypt where the cat was slain. (391) Cecilia and Anita seen as twin sisters in the family photo of 1966. (397) Salander discovers that Rakel Lunde was done away with in Landskrona after Vanger Construction had clinched a deal there. (399) Martin invites Mikael over. (405)
Part 4 HOSTILE TAKEOVER (Chapter 24-29;pages 409-522 )
Martin tells his story. (413) Salander appears. (419) The accident. (422) Salander gives a word of advice to Frode (430) Salander and Mikael discuss the murders. (434) The place of Harriet in all this. (437) Mikael visits Anita Vanger in London. (442) Mikael visits Cochrane Farm. (446) The story unravels. (457) Mikael and Frode review the terms. (474) Salander sets her gaze on Wennerstrom's cyber empire. (510) Salander lands in Zurich. (515)
Epilogue FINAL AUDIT (pages 525-544)
Mikael comes home to his family. (536) Salander assesses her feelings for Mikael. (542) Mikael and Berger are together. (543)
------------------------
Page references from The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. Translated from the Swedish by Reg Keeland. Introduction by Val McDermid. Quercus Press. London. 2017. Updated 9/4/24.
Comments