DJs krimiblog

[The quotations as well as the email excerpt are translated from Danish into English by me]

First a short quotation from an email sent from Stieg Larsson to his Swedish Publisher: "I have tried to swim against the tide compared to ordinary crime novels. I wanted to create main characters who differ dramatically from the ordinary crime characters. My point of departure was what Pippi Longstocking would be like as an adult. Would she be called a sociopath because she looked upon society in a different way and did not have any social competences? She turned into Lisbeth Salander who has many masculine features."

Several non-Scandinavian reviewers have chosen to draw other (more or less apt) parallels between Lisbeth Salander and a number of literary figures, but in this post I am going to focus on the comparison with Pippi Longstocking, partly because of Stieg Larsson´s intentions, partly because it adds to the understanding of the two main characters, including the interrelationship between them, in my humble opinion.

Just like Mikael Blomkvist, Salander thoroughly dislikes being compared to a hero from a children´s book. "He [Mikael Blomkvist] hates the nickname as anyone can understand. Someone would get a black eye if I were called Pippi Longstocking on a contents bill."

Lisbeth Salander is in her mid-twenties, a slight, anorexic-looking girl with short, coal-black hair and several tattoos, who could easily pass for a teenage girl. Perhaps not quite like Pippi with her overlarge boots and red plaits sticking out at right angles, but certainly a conspicuous person. In spite of being a lone wolf, Salander has managed to gain a position as a highly qualified and imaginative private investigator for "Milton Security", however.

With regard to the family situation of the two, readers of Pippi see her as an orphan in the beginning (throughout the first book perhaps? - not quite sure). Later it turns out that she has a father who is a sea captain as well as a ´negro king´ (the politically correct term = a South Sea King) ruling a remote island. So Pippi lives on her own in a huge, ramshackle house together with her monkey, Mr Nilsson, and her horse, called Horse. We do not hear of Lisbeth Salander´s father in the first volume either, and her mother lives in a nursing home, so for all practical purposes she is also quite alone in the world.

Another essential point is their attitude to authorities. Pippi strongly resents interference from well-meaning grown-ups, she eats and sleeps at her own convenience, and her transient school career was as strenous for her teacher as for herself. As a matter of course an officious, female neighbour meddles, calling in the police to put Pippi in a children´s home, but Pippi simply employs her super-strength and physically shows them the door.

Lisbeth, who is not only judged by her appearance, but also displays a number of autistic features (a diagnosis which is also made by Mikael Blomkvist near the end of the book), never even finishes her secondary schooling in spite of obvious intellectual abilities. The teachers are unable to relate to her and fail to notice that she is being bullied systematically by larger and stronger classmates. Compared to Pippi, Lisbeth is a more realistic, literary figure, thus she is forced to give in to ´the system´ the first time round. Social services embrace her, label her ´mentally ill´ and leave her at the mercy of her guardian. A quotation from her journal, "introvert, socially inhibited, lack of empathy, egocentric, psychopathic and anti-social behaviour, lack of cooperation and learning abilities." The major part of these epithets apply to Pippi as well, and the powers that be are not prepared to acknowledge the fact that beneath the disorganized facade these two girls are quite capable of taking care of themselves and forming strong friendships with people they like.

Lisbeth Salander is not a flat character, however, she is in the proces of finding her own identity as a grown-up woman. Through her work for the security company, and her relationship with Mikael Blomkvist, she is developing fast in various directions. Basically, she is extremely suspicious of other people´s motives and it costs her a great effort to trust anyone. Once she has relented and opened the door to someone, she is extremely helpful and loyal, however. If a friend is in need, Salander saddles her motorbike and takes action without delay (often by means of her supernatural - or just autistic - hacking abilities).

The Pippi Longstocking figure is indispensable to the story because Mikael Blomkvist is the cautious, almost bourgeois gentleman who is not really a match for hardboiled villains who shoot first and ask questions later. Lisbeth Salander gladly breaks the rules (and a number of Swedish laws) when it comes to avenging crime against women, and she is not in the habit of waiting quietly for the police. Furthermore, she is indispensable because equality between the sexes is crucial to Stieg Larsson. When the cavalry is really called for in Larsson´s universe, it is the super strong girl who charges on her polka-dotted horse.
Small wonder that the trilogy has been called a feminist project by some reviewers.

To some of us reading crime fiction is just a sound and natural urge. Some readers have to be lured into the world of crime, however. So this is what I shall try to do.

Some people claim that crime fiction is not serious literature. (Granted, if you swallow enough of them you will get your share of light calories.) If you belong to this group, I have a challenge for you: try at least three of these books from the thriller/crime fiction shelf:

Barbara Vine, The Chimney Sweeper´s Boy
Kerstin Ekman, Blackwater
P.D. James, Shroud for a Nightingale
Stieg Larsson, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
Minette Walters, The Ice House
Colin Dexter, Last bus to Woodstock.
Andrew Taylor, An air that kills (or try “Fallen Angel”, his Roth-trilogy).
Wilkie Collins, The Woman in White
Leif Davidsen, Lime´s Photograph
Ruth Rendell, Simisola

And of course I expect you to post a comment when you have tried one.

- oversat fra norsk, Flaggermusmannen -
Mange danske læsere kender helt sikkert Jo Nesbø og hans hovedperson, Harry Hole indgående, men Nesbøs første roman er vist ikke så udbredt som de senere bogklubudgaver.

Harry Hole rejser til Australien for at hjælpe med at opklare mordet på en norsk kvinde (eller fordi hans overordnede gerne vil have ham lidt af vejen?), men snart tyder det på, at politiet står overfor en seriemorder, som udvælger sig unge, blonde kvinder.
Ud over krimihandlingen lægger Nesbø en række legender og historier samt anden information om det australske samfund ind i bogen (somme tider lidt docerende), sammen med historien om, hvordan Harry er blevet den han er.

Og bare rolig, allerede i debutbogen er ´alt ved det gamle´. Harry er den velkendte, stærkt engagerede politimand, som kæmper med sin egen samvittighed, sin til tider flyvske intuition og sin trang til alkohol, denne gang i tæt parløb med sin nye, australske kollega, aborigineren Andrew Kensington.

Ikke helt på højde med Nesbøs senere bøger, men absolut en debut af høj kvalitet.

Jo Nesbø, The Bat Man (1997)
Several crime fiction lovers know Jo Nesbø and his main character, Harry Hole already, but his debut may not be as widely-read as his later books.

Harry Hole travels to Australia to assist the police in the murder of a Norwegian woman (or perhaps his superiors want him out of the way?). Soon it seems that the police are faced with a serial killer, however, a man who chooses young, very blonde women.
Nesbø also includes a number of Aboriginal legends and some Australian history together with Harry´s life story.

And already in this début we meet the ´good old´ Harry Hole, the engaged policeman who battles with his own conscience, his wild intuition and his craving for alcohol - this time in close cooperation with his new partner, the Aboriginal Andrew Kensington.

Not quite as good as Nesbø´s later books, but certainly a fine début.

- not translated into English -

Hovedpersonen Carl Mørck, med det symbolske efternavn: den fraskilte, udbrændte, traumatiserede, desillusionerede type som allerede har set alt for mange ofre og ikke længere er i stand til at tilpassse sig. Ifølge en kollega er Mørck “ugidelig, tvær, knotten, kværulerende, tarvelig over for sine kolleger...”
Kort sagt, nogenlunde samme elskelige type som Martin Beck, Harry Hole, John Rebus og alle de andre.

Carl Mørcks lille hjælper, den ambitiøse indvandrer Hafez el-Assad, må siges at være mere af en nyskabelse. “Noget af en type, ham Hafez el-Assad”, som drabschefen siger.
Læs selv mere; jeg vil ikke ødelægge nogens første møde med Assad ; -)

Plot: Merete Lynggaard, kvindeligt folketingsmedlem, forsvinder sporløst. Carl Mørcks nyoprettede halvanden-mands Q-gruppe havner på sagen, samtidig med at læseren lærer Merete Lynggaard at kende via en række tilbageblik. Handlingen er udmærket udtænkt, til trods for at forbrydelserne er mere avancerede end egentligt realistiske (men hvem gider også læse social-realisme), og det går meget godt med at holde spændingen oppe.

Alt i alt en lovende krimidebut, og jeg ser især frem til at møde Carl Mørck og Hafez el-Assad igen i Adler-Olsens “Fasandræberne” (Politikens Forlag 2008)

- oversat fra islandsk (Krosstré 2005) - not translated into English -
Forfatteren til denne debut-krimi zapper rundt mellem usammenhængende afsnit hvor læseren møder et virvar af underlige mennesker i rodede forhold på kryds og tværs, samt en japansk lejemorder, såmænd, med tilnavnet ´Porcelænsdrengen´.
Og politiarbejdet? Politiet finder en fyrreårig mand hårdt såret efter et mystisk fald fra skrænten udenfor hans eget sommerhus. Men finder de på at foretage bare en elementær undersøgelse af huset? Nej, hvorfor skulle de dog det, når mandens unge søn er i nærheden: “Ved lynhurtigt at efterprøve alle muligheder fik han på forbavsende kort tid konstrueret et muligt begivenhedsforløb sådan som det måtte have udspillet sig om natten.” Og så går action-helten ellers i aktion for at redde familiens ære!

Er bogen spændende? Middel, allerhøjst (slutningen overrasker lidt, men for sent)
Er handlingen sandsynlig? Nej, nærmere Monty Pythonsk.
Er personerne troværdige? Nej, alt for irrationelle og underlige.
Er sproget godt? Nej (skyldes måske til dels oversættelsen?)

Stefánsson prøver vist at holde læseren fangen med en masse sex, småkriminalitet & andre irrelevante bihistorier undervejs, á la dette indslag om treogtyveårige Ingi Geir, der ikke vil vaske sine hænder før aftensmaden: “Han nød at røre ved maden med den hånd han havde brugt til at onanere med hele dagen.” Tænk engang!

Kan tilslutte mig Senturas anmelder: layoutet er nærmest det bedste ved bogen