by Stieg Larsson, 2006
narrated by Simon Vance
Lisbeth Salander gets a boob job!
Okay, that’s not the exactly the center of the plot of the second book in the Millennium series, and yet…it kind of is? To put it bluntly, I was disappointed in this installment, as the mystery was nowhere near as intriguing as in the previous book, but the female objectification was every bit as potent. We spend an inordinate amount of time in the beginning part of the novel discussing Lisbeth’s new perky breasts. For a woman who is supposed to be badass in every way, reducing her to pair of fake boobs is disheartening. Not only is Mikael Blomkvist ever the male fantasy (more on that in a moment), so too is Lisbeth. I found all the fretting about her physical appearance unrealistic and out of character, and the hand-wringing over the her sexuality (Does she sleep with women? Is she a lesbian? Is she bi? Who cares?) to be off-putting. Perhaps because this book was written over ten years ago, when an LGBTQ character merely needed to exist to render a story out-of-the-box, its inability to accept Lisbeth as a fully functioning, sexually fluid woman seems incredibly dated and tiresome.
And how is Blomkvist doing? Well, he’s still sleeping with every woman he meets because he’s just that irresistible! Not only is he now bedding former damsel-in-distress Harriet Vanger, he is also continuing his years-long affair with his business partner Erika Berger. Erika maintains an open marriage because Blomkvist is just so good that she can’t give him up, and her husband is super understanding of this obvious 10/10 stud. I would not normally harsh on a person’s choice to practice non-monogamy, but in Blomkvist’s instance, his sexual prowess is built up to the point of ridiculous. Meanwhile, Lisbeth can’t bear to be around him – can’t even communicate with him! – because she wuuuvs him and can’t bear to see him with other women, despite the fact that their relationship was never built on the idea of exclusivity. It’s all a bunch of authorial hooey, if you ask me.
If it’s any question, I did not like this book. I haven’t even mentioned the central murder mystery because I just didn’t care. There are some surprise reveals here and we learn more about Lisbeth’s past and how she came to be committed to a mental institution and assigned a legal guardian, and I suppose there are some interesting facts to learn about the human trafficking that is at the heart of this thriller, but I was far more put off by the police’s assumption that Lisbeth was the perpetrator of the murders in question because she had a turbulent childhood and, on more than one occasion, hurt others to protect herself. Apparently, if you’re female and you enact violent revenge against those who have deeply wronged you, you’re a horrendous monster. If you’re male, well, you’re Batman. (Tell me I’m wrong.)
So, I think I’m out for this series. Listening to this was more of an exercise in exasperation than it was in riveted suspense. I held out because I was pleasantly surprised by the first book, but this one relied on all manner of female/male sexual stereotypes with no real mystery to it. No, we don’t know who killed the victims at first, but it’s incredibly obvious that it wasn’t Lisbeth and I resented Larsson wasting time trying to make us believe she was a viable suspect. (This would only be a spoiler if you’ve never read or seen a mystery in your entire life.)
I tried. I read before I judged, but my verdict on this series is a huge “no.”
