Abused as a child and wrongfully institutionalized, Salander engages in dysfunctional, even autistic, behavior that might just reflect an understandable skepticism about human goodness and potential. She exists off the grid, really — having as little to do with people and institutions as possible and following an avenging ethical code of her own devising...<snip> She can hack into anything.
Salander obviously owes something to Pippi Longstocking, the strong-willed character of Astrid Lindgren’s children’s books. But there is also something of Larsson himself in the character <snip>. They shared a diet consisting almost entirely of coffee and fast food, fanatical research habits and a single-minded, steadfast sense of justice and fairness.
