THE TRIUMPH OF THE FRIENDS OF SALANDER

2010_7_05 THE TRIUMPH OF THE FRIENDS OF SALANDER
The third volume of the MILLELLIUM TRILOGY, THE GIRL WHO KICKED THE HORNET’S NEST, is mainly devoted to the two sides strategizing on how to outsmart the other; it is filled with endless long conversation about what to do at the upcoming trial of Lisbeth Salander; and by both sides I mean those who seek to put Salander away forever by having her committed permanently to a mental hospital and those who wish to help her by doing whatever is necessary to liberate her from injustices and eventually to see that she is redeemed and declared competent, rectifying the abuse she had suffered as a 13 year old girl by a cabal of authoritarian men. Indeed, the Swedish title of the first novel in the series was actually THE MEN WHO HATED WOMEN. That seems to be the overall theme of the series. There are the controlling men that are arrayed against a platoon of very competent women—Salander, Harriet Vanger, Erica Berger, Monica Figuerola, Sonja Modig, Susanne Linder, and Mikael Blomkvist’s sister, Giannini, Salanger’s lawyer at the trial. They constituted a cadre of Amazons, who weren’t going to take any shit from authoritarian males. In contrast there is Salander’s mother who was beaten into insensibility by her brutish Russian husband and who also tried to kill Lisbeth by shooting her three times, or Isabelle Vanger who did not want to challenge the past, present, or future. They represent the weak women, those too far gone to transform themselves.

The first group was called THE SECTION, or alternately, “The Zalachenko Club,” which was how Blomkvist tagged the group. Zalachenko, besides being Salander’s father, was a Russian defector, formerly a KGB member, who was, at first, the prize of the Secret Police, but then a liability when he got involved with criminal activity and his care and protection was taken over by THE SECTION which became a rogue organization within the SIS or the larger Bureaucratic Secret Police Organization. Salander stood as a threat to their existence because of her hatred of her father, as she had already tried to kill him once for what he had done to her mother. The Russian justified their existence; they were basically obsolete bureaucrats hanging on by their fingernails trying to justify their turf. Ultimately Zalachenko‘s life and death is the key to the group’s final downfall and arrest. The main reason for them being unable to compete with ‘Friends of Salander,’ was they weren’t as adept as the hip, younger crowd when it came to computers, who took full advantage of their superiority.

The Friends of Salander were composed of people from Milton Security where she had been employed as a researcher, some police officers on the case, an elderly Lawyer that had been her first Guardian, people at Millennium, a magazine headed by Blomkvist and Erica Berger, a long-time associate and part time lover of Mikael. They were determined to see she got a fair shake, for they knew she was odd and different but far from incompetent and mentally disturbed; in fact, she was brilliant. (She is probably Larsson’s darker side, his ANIMA, or female side, a PERSONA that he was capable of realizing only in fiction.) Salander was ‘Queen of the Hacker Republic.’ For example, while imprisoned in her hospital room she, using a Palm computer, hacked into some adversary’s computer to find out who was sexually harassing Berger. She did it as a gesture of gratitude to Berger. Susanne Linder strong-armed the twerp who was doing it, a colleague at SWP, the newspaper where Berger was Editor-in-Chief. The Hacker Republic kept the Friends of Salander always a few steps ahead of THE SECTION. Their antagonists had no idea what evidence they had marshaled to throw at them when the trial came around.

Along the way Blomkvist manages to fall in love with ‘Wonder Woman,’ the agent from SIS, Monica Figeurola, a muscular gal who worked out every day and ran too. She was also a real asset to the team. Erica sniffs out what was going on between the two and gives her blessing to the love affair. (There is little jealousy in these novels.)

The trial was exciting to read and it comes out well for The Friends of Salander and a disaster for Zalachenko’s Club. Giannini turns out to be a very effective criminal lawyer; she annihilates the pompous Dr. Teleborian who is totally disgrace as a latent pedophile. He was supposed to be the prosecutor’s strongest witness. The big dramatic moment arrives when Giannini shows the clip of the rape scene with Salander’s dirt-bag second guardian. That blows the opposition right out of the water. It is the tipping point that secures Salander’s release. The shrink had insisted the rape was just a fantasy of a schizoid mind.

The end of the book is a little strange, not as strong as other parts of the trilogy. Salander leaves for Gibraltar as soon as she is freed; that is where her stolen money is, administered by some lawyer/stockbroker she pays handsomely to oversee her fortune. He is a homosexual, only the second one in the series. She blows off steam by drinking heavily for a week or so and picking up a fiftyish overweight German businessman for some sexually relief and entertainment. The climax of the book is a confrontation with Lisbeth’s half-brother which brings the family drama to a close. Needless to say she outwits him and leaves him dead.

To reiterate, I think the theme of the series is indeed THE MEN WHO HATED WOMEN who are contrasted with seven very strong female personalities who combined to save the day for Lisbeth Salander, the exemplary rebel and OUTSIDER who enjoys a unique position in this Pantheon of Amazons. She is the Lunar Sister that the others circulate around. They draw strength from her fountain of resources. Mikael Blomkvist is not only the cheerleader for these women; he is their mythic partner, part lover, part trickster, and part brother.