Lisbeth Salander -- Asocial Sprite Extraordinare

So when the storm blew through here Saturday evening, our U verse went away for a day or so and I had the perfect excuse to finish the final book in the Larsson trilogy. I wrote last week that I was doomed to the middle of the novel which was bogging me down with the ends and outs of the Swedish legal system. At last I made my way through that spell, and the intricate novel began to spin again. Lisbeth was able to use her exceptional intellect and computer savvy to solve a stalking case ( which seemed rather odd and unrelated to the novel's central conflict); Mikael teamed up with the good, double-secret Swedish police, who apparently are all about the Swedish Constitution and the novel has a keenly satisfying conclusion. This same denouement was sorely lacking in the middle novel. I don't know the last time I have read a thriller, with spies and hit men ... much less tackled three in a few months time. But I must say that Larsson's stories are compelling, his characters unique and engaging.... what better fun for a summer day.

I am going to shift gears in my next post and write a bit about the new Jennifer Weiner novel, Fly Away Home.

That Girl who has Tattoos, Kicks at Hornet's Nests and Plays with Fire

This trilogy by author Stieg Larsson is a thought-provoking and fast-paced cloak and dagger extravaganza. The first book I read in the series, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, caught me after 50 or so pages ( I read this one in actual paper form!) and as we spun around Sweden with Lisbeth Salander and her buddy journalist Mikael Blomkvist, I knew this duo would be hard to beat. Lisbeth is a punky, bi-sexual waif with superior intellect and fairly nonexistent social skills, but computer skills -- think hacker goddess -- that are unparalleled. She has a background clouded in mystery that you must get to the third book to unravel. Blomkvist is slower on the uptake with computers and puzzling the crime together, but his ability to assess people with a gut reaction makes him the perfect partner for Lisbeth. The three novels should be read in order, but I must confess, I am currently drowning in the third. I have been hanging at 52% read ( this one Kindled for summer travel) for more than a month. By the third novel, Lisbeth while still central must rely more on others for her defense, and the focus of the book becomes a corrupt government cover up scheme involving Russians and the Cold War.

I feel a bit handicapped by my lack of Swedish history and the way the Swedish government works. But the reason these three novels are so readable is not in the setting, although those are a delightful change for an American reading audience, but in the relationship between Blomkvist and Salander. They briefly become lovers early in the trilogy, but their solid foundation supersedes this physicality. Blomkvist feels protective of Lisbeth, whose childhood is Dickensian at best; she recognizes his steadfastness, even if her personality is so marginalized such steadfastness irritates her. She is scarred and damaged but proud and resourceful.

The writing in the novels is not elegant. Perhaps a translational issue is partly to blame here. But regardless, the plots are fascinating. The action is compelling, and even if Larsson --who died in 2004 -- did not live to see the success of his works, his prose undercuts the truth about humanity and the way the world seems to work. There is some discussion about an unfinished 4th novel for the series. I know if and when it comes out, I will have to see what Lisbeth has been up to.

I will finish this third book soon, and I am sure have a bit more to say about Lisbeth and Mikael.

Anthropology of an American Girl

Anthropology of an American Girl is another novel which I downloaded on Kindle without checking out the length -- 608 pages, now I know-- but still worth the time I invested. This novel was first self-published several years ago and then picked up and reissued this spring. Hamann's central character is Evie, a brilliant and introspective teeenage girl, whom the novel traces for nearly a decade, ending shortly after her graduation from college. This isn't a typical coming-of- age book , but a slow and deliberate journey through the mind of an adolescent girl who at times appears both self-absorbed and metaphor possessed. About to begin my 25th year of teaching high school girls, I have found much of Evie to be vividly accurate, so powerfully drawn, not just in description but in the actual way that I have seen girls debate their social position and muse about the ways of the adult world, just beyond their grasp. Plot here relies heavily on the two central male relationships Evie has, one to a troubled boy, Jack,who is a gifted and reclusive musician. Harrison, the older man whom Evie is spellbound by, becomes the focus of her growth, albeit pain riddled. Parents are either absent or slightly deranged or both in this novel; these young people make choices about drugs and sex and independence in a vacuum. The time this novel occurs, the late 1970s, is also evocative in the way rebellion and independence are fused and explored. Evie's struggle for love is painful if maybe a bit over the top. Evie's chronicles are well drawn, and Hamann has a debut novel that is impressive. Evie is not a female Holden Caufield, and that is OK with me.

And Another Thing...

Before I can quite let go of the viral rage, I wanted to mention the clever way that virals work. By selecting men who were condemned to execution as the experimental subjects, the Army scientists create virals who were already embedded with rage and hatred and in a few cases, sheer lunacy. So when the virals stage a revolution against their captors, they work by invading the subconscious thoughts of the humans in close proximity. Humans begin having the dreams that the virals determine, largely reliving the crime that sent their human selves to death row in the first place. Now the reason that this matters so much, this unification with the will of the viral, is in its mirroring of religious devotion. Cronin makes the virals godlike and seems to question the very nature of conscious choice. Now that's a lot for a book about vampires gone wild.

Virals, Virals, everywhere

Before I write about the new Justin Cronin novel, The Passage, I must note two things: one, I am not a big fan of vampires. Sure I read all the Anne Rice saga, over 20 years ago, but even Rice has given up on those delights who inhabited New Orleans. I have not read any of the latest books or seen the films about Edward or Bella, and I am pretty OK with that. So for me, this vampire-infested, dystopian novel was a bit of a stretch. It is also a stretch for Cronin whose first two novels, amazing in themselves, feature ordinary folks, no one with the blood lust we see in The Passage.

Now onto my second admission, I read this sprawling novel on my Kindle. I suspect some of you are purists and cannot imagine a big, juicy novel read electronically. Well that is a blog post for another time. However, suffice it to say, that Kindle makes reading so easy that it is hard to resist. The problem is in the length. I had no idea the book was 800 pages when I began, and the more I read the more engrossed I became. So it took me days of page-turning frenzy to finish the novel. Don't worry, I won't spoil the plot. But Cronin has said that this is the first in a trilogy, and so in two years he expects another installment.

Now about the book: conceived in a dark future, mankind has fallen prey to a dozen vampires, called virals here, who the Army was trying to build into a super fighting brigade, when the creatures overturned their captors and wreaked havoc on the world. Spawning legions of their kind, the original twelve vampires represent some new world order of disciples. Even the man who will lead the battle against them, Peter, has Biblical overtones. "Upon this rock I shall build my church" Christic allusion Peter represents man. Another central character, Amy is a young girl who has the power to communicate with animals, as well as the virals. She even sees the humanity of these aggressive bloodsuckers. So indeed, a "little child will lead them." Other than the fast-paced plot, the level of detail and thought in this novel is extraordinary. Each facet of the new world is carefully outlined, from energy use to food supplies. Cronin makes this "Brave New World" more believable that many of even the finest dystopians. He fills in gaps and does so with such a deft hand that the reader inhabits the landscape.

Now, what Cronin seems to be predicting is not a world filled with literal vampires, but a world bereft of humanity. Barricades and segregation from The Other does not separate but alienate. Man needs community to survive; we see several manifestations of community in this book. Whether we see a small band of 6 struggling to reach others or a secluded outpost trying to survive, mankind must reach past its safety level. Heroes in this book are small or weak or geeky... they are rash in their actions often following their hearts, abandoning the rigor of seclusion. The best of this cast understands what sacrifice means and what humanity costs.

This book is a lot to digest. It is fresh and thought-provoking for our world with its vampires at the cinema and doomsday- sayers on the streetcorners. I hope you have the chance to settle in for a read of epic proportions. I have read that a film will be made -- don't settle for that. Read the book.

Changing gears, I am going to write about Anthropolgy of An American Girl by Hillary Thayer Hamann next.

And so it goes ...

As much as I hate to start my blogging life with a plagiarized reference, I think Vonnegut would acknowledge his line is amazingly accurate. I am undertaking this new form of writing as an attempt to leap into the 21century. I have been a reluctant participant in all this technology but now have decided to give it a whirl. The subjects I intend to blog about are books I have enjoyed and observations that go along with that. Maybe even a little bit of humor or not. Anyway,tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow.. (seem to be hung up on Vonnegut) I want to write about the new Justin Cronin book, The Passage. It was amazing and exhausting and I have got to think about its 800 pages one more day before I can find the words I need.