The Exception

From the reviews I had read about this book, I thought it would be a thriller. It was something much more intense. I would suggest reading it before reading my review. I don’t give any spoilers, but the book’s greatest impact is the way the author takes banality to a frightening high.The Exception by Christian Jungerson completely freaked me out. I remember reading reviews about this book,...more

From the reviews I had read about this book, I thought it would be a thriller. It was something much more intense. I would suggest reading it before reading my review. I don’t give any spoilers, but the book’s greatest impact is the way the author takes banality to a frightening high.The Exception by Christian Jungerson completely freaked me out. I remember reading reviews about this book, but I thought it would be a thriller and not a terrifying psychological exploration. In the small office of the Danish Center for Information on Genocide, four women, Iben, Malene, Camilla and the new librarian, Anne-Lise, play out a vicious game of office politics. But think of the worse workplace political situation you have ever had, and then multiply a hundred times and include experts in genocide and the psychology of evil. You would get this book. As I started reading, I thought to myself that this is some crazy office shit, but it just gets worse. Each chapter is written from one of the woman’s points of view, and the reader has no idea who is reliable, although Anne-Lise appears to bear the brunt of the cruelty. Allegiances change as the possibility of violence escalates. Weaved into the book is the work of the Center (e.g., the conflicts taking place in the former Yugoslavia) and Iben’s essays on the psychology of evil. The characters in the book had no idea how much their behavior mirrored the perpetrators of depravity. This is an amazing story from a brilliant writer.   hide