Lisbeth or Mikael?

[Rachel-K]

Do you think of Lisbeth or Mikael as the novel's "main character"? Can you explain why you think so?

[IBIS]

Do you think of Lisbeth or Mikael as the novel's "main character"? Can you explain why you think so?

The fact that you asked this question makes me wonder... initially I thought it was Mikael, but since you ask the question, I may have to rethink that.... can there be more than 1 main character in a book?

IBIS

[Melissa_W Moderator]

At the start of the novel, I thought Mikael was more the main character but as I read further on Lisbeth started to take more prominence.  It seems they both share the weight of the book.  The narration is third person omniscient and it doesn't privilege either character over the other; the reader is privy to the motivations for both Lisbeth and Mikael.  The novel is Mikael's story to begin with but along the way Lisbeth finds herself (and she's pretty cool); the title also very clearly favors Lisbeth.

Perhaps it is Lisbeth's story - the whole Millenium trilogy, that is.  When do we get the other two?

[debbook]

I think they could both be main characters, but she is definitely the more interesting one. I would be more disappointed if she were not in the sequels than if he weren't. But I liked the part where they were together. Interesting team!

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rkubie wrote:
Do you think of Lisbeth or Mikael as the novel's "main character"? Can you explain why you think so?

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[debbaker]

Like everyone else I am not sure either. At the beginning it seemed like it was Mikael.

[lovesjournaling]

If memory serves, the story is told mainly in Mikael's voice. He could not have solved the mystery without Lisbeth's story, though, and the author gives her credit in the title and leaves us wondering and worrying about her at the end. I think the author deliberately chose to have two main characters. His story is strongest when their lives intersect. Of course this is only one reader's opinion. What's yours?

Lovesjournaling

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