Rooting for sociopaths, Part I: Lisbeth Salander

I love the dark character.  Quite by accident I’ve been captivated as a reader and viewer of fictional characters in books and tv shows that are rather dark, disturbed, and deadly.  Their stories are compelling. But it always begs the question: how and when did I get so comfortable rooting for sociopaths?  

It started with Lisbeth Salander, the computer hacking bi-sexual girl with the dragon tattoo.  Her story spans a trilogy of books by the now deceased Swedish author Stieg Larsson.  

1. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
2. The Girl Who Played With Fire
3. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest

I struggled at times as a reader with Lisbeth Salander's choices, her sense of right and wrong, the way she treated people (her friends especially), her wide scope in the bedroom, and more.  But if given the choice in real life, I would want Lisbeth Salander as a friend.  And that's why I root for her.

Noomi Repace as Lisbeth Salander
in the Swedish films.

Summary: Salander is a victim; she was abused as a child, tortured in a mental ward all because her father was a Russian spy who worked in concert with a super secret organization in the Swedish government.  Fed up with the abuse of her mother at the hands of her father, and with no help from the authorities, she hurled a can of gas and a lit match at her father while he sat in a car.  He erupted in flames before her eyes, but survived.  It was then that she was institutionalized in a mental ward and placed under the very careful supervision of a corrupt psychiatrist.  She was to be a permanent ward of the state, and carefully handled as an adult.  She is assumed incompetent and stupid, unable to handle her own life.  But she's intelligent, and not just a little bit.


Book 1: TGWTDT 'Tattoo' is a great read... Lisbeth Salander befriends disgraced magazine editor Mikael Bloomqvist.  He's guilty of slandering a powerful businessman in his magazine, Millennium, and must serve an eventual three month prison term.

Without his knowledge, Salander hacks into his computer and conducts extensive background checks and research into his life, including the case against him. Eventually, she broadens her research to include the powerful businessman who had him tried in court.  From her research, she knew Bloomqvist was innocent, and his story right on the mark.

Come spring, Bloomqvist is going to prison.  With nothing but time on his hands and a busted reputation hanging over his head, another rich businessman approaches Bloomqvist to solve a 40 year old mystery: the murder of his favorite niece, Harriet. Although reluctant at first Bloomqvist agrees to the job, which will take him out of Stockholm and away from his current troubles for the time being.  Soon he is engrossed by the case and the sheer scope of personal research conducted by Harold Vanger, his employer.

The story is quite enjoyable from this point forward.  The Vanger Corporation has operated for over a 100 years.  The family is rich, as is the history they share living together on a secluded island.  The Vanger's past is colorful, controversial, and dark.

Harold Vanger hired Milton Security to dig around in Bloomqvist's past, and they put their best analyst on the job: Salander.   Her reasons for prying into Bloomqvist's life were professional, but she didn't anticipate falling for him too, which for her was highly unexpected (especially for her character and what we eventually find out about her).

No spoilers here: Salander and Bloomqvist solve the mystery; Bloomqvist uses the bonus research Salander gave him and writes a more thorough exposé and brings the powerful businessman to ruin; the story breaks while Bloomqvist is in prison; Bloomqvist and Salander are lovers now but their relationship is complicated because Bloomqvist is loyal but casual, whereas Salander is taking a huge chance by embracing vulnerability for the first time in her adult life (simply, they struggle with their relationship a lot).


Book 2: TGWPWF 'Fire' hits the ground running, and with it, Salander running from everything, including Bloomqvist.  Emotionally, she's hurting.  However, she's wealthy now (no spoilers), and living under an assumed identity to cover her tracks.  Bloomqvist is torn by her sudden disappearance but also understands that that is Salander's way.

There's a point early in 'Fire' where I'm questioning my choice to root for Lisbeth Salander.  She does something truly disturbing, and then follows that up with an even more disturbing action (no spoilers).   I had to put the book down and think long and hard about my feelings as a reader for her.  It was a short walk through tall gray grass.  In the end, though, I found her story compelling enough still to go with it for a while and see what happened.   I'm glad for that.

But that's not the story of TGWPWF.  'Fire' had unbelievable pace.  Salander is soon the prime suspect in a murder investigation and on the run as a wanted killer.  That whole arc, most of the book, really, drives the story like dogs off the leash chasing a cougar all over Sweden.  Bloomqvist, who is back on top at his magazine, Millennium, believes his friend was framed.  The Police are on her heels, but she's smart enough to elude them.  Pieces fall into place that reveal what the series of books is really all about: Lisbeth Salander.


Book 3: TGWKTHN 'Nest' wraps-up Salander's story and squares most everything away for her.  One thing I don't like about last books in a series is that I know the author is tying everything together, so that we can see what the story was all about.  But to Larsson's credit, he folds new layers and arcs into the narrative.  He holds the reader's interest while nearing the end with each rapid turn of the page.


Back to business, though.  You can go down a list and check off the loose ends.  What surprised me about 'Nest' was Bloomqvist's sister and what a capable litigator she turns out to be, one who wasn't taken seriously by the major players of the prosecution.  As the trial goes on, Bloomqvist and his team at Millenium dedicate a whole issue to the story of Lisbeth Salander.  Bloomqvist is not a fan of the government's handling of his friend, but he works with them and other officials at the highest level to flush out the rogue police agency and make things right for Lisbeth Salander.

Long story short: girl's dad is a spy, corrupt officials make girl's life a living hell, girl grows up and gets her life back.  Between all that is a really good story.  But it's a dark journey for Lisbeth Salander and the reader.

Next up ... Part II: Dexter Morgan.

Reader's digest

Reading was the last thing I wanted to do when I was growing up. To crack open a book meant to sit still for more than five minutes. I could read; I just didn't like it much. Books were plain and simple torture. To not be active with my feet and hands, or outside with my imagination, was a dreadful interruption to the rhythmic pace of being a boy. I would rather ride my bike, play baseball, shoot Germans and Japs, play war, build forts for cowboys and Indians, play cops and robbers, or daydream on my back in a field behind my house sporting a long blade of grass between my teeth as I pondered majestic, white clouds and blue sky, and the many white trails of jet airplanes speeding out of sight.

It was a good life; a boy's life. Reading had no place in it, riding shotgun, stifling an energetic, adventurous existence.

My overachieving, book-devouring older sister got the ice cream cones and shiny stars on her summer chart every year as yours truly resisted the drudgery of reading, and went without the trivial rewards: stickers and ice cream. Big whoop.

One summer day, I heard sobbing from her bedroom. She'd been reading Where the Red Fern Grows, by Wilson Rawls. Old Dan must've bought it, after a skirmish with a Mountain Lion. Through tears and blubbering despair she set about to tell the whole story to her little brother -- as was her style, and still is. The book cover looked boring. It wasn't soon after the weeping and shortness of breath in her voice gave way to the familiar sound of an untimely book report. It seemed a good time to leave. So, I stranded her on the spot, all alone with her tears, to the sound of loud bawling, more so than before.

My lack of enthusiasm for the written word lead to my lack of enthusiasm in the classroom. But that's another story altogether.

Regret is all that is left now; a reminder for all the years I spent fighting a simple pleasure in life: the joy of letting a story wash over you and hold your mind hostage for a short time. Maybe adventure is ripe for the taking when you're young -- for some like me. But now, in the monotony of grown up life, adventure eludes us all.

Crack open a book let your mind take you places you never imagined.

My appetite for reading is healthy enough now. I count 20 book titles below that I've enjoyed in 2010, and recommend all of them. A lot of fiction, and a few serious books too. I hope to read 40 books in 2011.

In order:

Stephen Hunter
-47th Samurai
-Havana
-Nights of Thunder

Malcolm Gladwell
-The Tipping Point
-Blink
-The Outliers
-What the Dog Saw (audio)

Stieg Larsson
-The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
-The Girl who Played with Fire
-The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest

Stephen Hunter
-iSniper

Stephen Coonts
-The Disciple

Daniel Suarez
-The Daemon
-Freedom TM

Justin Halpern
-Sh*t My Dad Says

Chip & Dan Heath
-Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard

Robert Jordan
-The Eye of the World (Wheel of Time series)
-The Great Hunt
-The Dragon Reborn
-The Shadow Rising

Robert Leckie
-Helmet for My Pillow

What did you enjoy reading in 2010?

An excerpt from a book I'm reading

Stephen Hunter is one of my favorite authors. I've spent years following a particular story or have invested a lot of time following compelling characters. But every once in a while, a gem of great writing jumps off the fictional pages of a book and smacks real world arrogance in the mouth.

..... from Stephen Hunter's I, Sniper: a Bob Lee Swagger Novel, December 2009, Simon & Shuster

----------------------------------------------------------

"Here's what I'm asking: why can't we do something? Do we just have to take it? Can't we find our reporter? Who'll tell our side and make Nick look good?"

"You're so young, Starling. You must actually believe in justice or something fantastic like that."

"I do."

"Let me tell you what's going on, and why this one is so touchy. We are fighting the narrative. You do not fight the narrative. The narrative will destroy you. The narrative is all powerful. The narrative rules. It rules us, it rules Washington, it rules everything. Now ask me, 'What is the narrative?'"

"What is the narrative?"

"The narrative is the set of assumptions the press believes in, possibly without even knowing that it believes in them. It's so powerful because it's unconscious. It's not like they get together every morning and decide 'These are the lies we tell today.' No, that would be too crude and honest. Rather, it's a set of casual, nonrigorous assumptions about a reality they've never really experienced that's arranged in such a way as to reinforce their best and most ideal presumptions about themselves and their importance to the system and the way they've chose to live their lives. It's a way of arranging things a certain way that they all believe in without ever really addressing carefully. It permeates their whole culture. They know, for example, that Bush is a moron and Obama a saint. They know communism was a phony threat cooked up by right-wing cranks as a way to leverage power to the executive. They know Saddam didn't have weapons of mass destruction, the response to Katrina was fucked up, torture never works, and mad Vietman sniper Carl Hitchcock* (fictional character) killed the saintly peace demonstrators. Cheney's a devil, Biden's a genius. Soft power good, hard power bad. Forgiveness excellent, punishment counterproductive, capital punishment a sin. See, Nick's fighting the narrative. He's going against the story, and the story was somewhat suspiciously concocted exactly to their prejudices, just as Jayson Blair's made-up stories and Dan Rather's Air National Guard documents were. And the narrative is the bedrock of their culture, the keystone of their faith, the altar of their church. The don't even know they're true believers, because in theory they despise the true believer in anything. But they will absolutely de-frackin'-stroy anybody who makes them question all that, and Nick had the temerity to do so, even if he didn't quite realize it at the time. That's why, led by brother Banjax* (fictional character) and whoever is slipping him data, they have to destroy Nick. I don't know who or what's behind it, but I do know this: they have all the cards, and if you play in that game, they will destroy you too."

"Why can't we simply destroy the narrative?"

"Starling, it's everywhere. It's all things. It's permanent. It's beyond. It's beneath. It's above. It's in the air, the music, the furniture, the DNA, the blood, if these assholes had blood."

"I say, 'Destroy the narrative.'"

"I say, 'You will yourself be destroyed.'"

She achieved a particularly cute and fetchingly petulant look, so totally charming that he fell in love with her until he remembered he had a wife and three kids.

"So you think it's hopeless?" she asked.

"Starling -- Agent Chandler, Jean, Jean, that's it, right? Jean, listen, you do not want to get involved with these birds. They are smart and in their way they are ruthless; they will smile at you and charm you and look you in the eye, and for something they believe is the Truth, they will cut out your heart and let you bleed out in the sun..... "

----------------------------------------------------------

Good stuff. And a press guy too. In addition to being one hell of an author of fiction, Hunter was a newspaper guy by trade, having retired as chief film critic of the Washington Post. He won a Pulitzer Prize in 2003 for Distinguished Criticism.