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The Exception
A bestseller throughout Europe, THE EXCEPTION is a gripping dissection of the nature of evil and of the paranoia and obsessions that drive ordinary people to commit unthinkable acts.
Four women work together for a small nonprofit in Copenhagen that disseminates information on genocide. When two of them receive death threats, they immediately believe that they are being stalked by Mirko Zigic, a Serbian torturer and war criminal, whom they have recently profiled in their articles.
As the tensions mount among the women, their suspicions turn away from Zigic and toward each other. The threats increase and soon the office becomes a battlefield in which each of the women鈥檚 move is suspect. Their obsession turns into a witch hunt as they resort to bullying and victimization.
Yet these are people who daily analyze cases of appalling cruelty on a worldwide scale, and who are intimate with the psychology of evil. The cruelty which the women have described from a safe distance is now revealed in their own world. They discover that none of them is exactly the person she seems to be. And then they learn that Interpol has traced Mirko Zigic to Denmark.
THE EXCEPTION is a unique and intelligent thriller, heralding Christian Jungersen as a gifted storyteller and keen observer of the human psyche.
Four women work together for a small nonprofit in Copenhagen that disseminates information on genocide. When two of them receive death threats, they immediately believe that they are being stalked by Mirko Zigic, a Serbian torturer and war criminal, whom they have recently profiled in their articles.
As the tensions mount among the women, their suspicions turn away from Zigic and toward each other. The threats increase and soon the office becomes a battlefield in which each of the women鈥檚 move is suspect. Their obsession turns into a witch hunt as they resort to bullying and victimization.
Yet these are people who daily analyze cases of appalling cruelty on a worldwide scale, and who are intimate with the psychology of evil. The cruelty which the women have described from a safe distance is now revealed in their own world. They discover that none of them is exactly the person she seems to be. And then they learn that Interpol has traced Mirko Zigic to Denmark.
THE EXCEPTION is a unique and intelligent thriller, heralding Christian Jungersen as a gifted storyteller and keen observer of the human psyche.
512 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2004
61 people are currently reading
2,613 people want to read
About the author
Christian Jungersen
16听books89听followersChristian Jungersen is a Danish author now resident in Dublin, Ireland, and New York City. He is the author of three prize-winning and bestselling novels.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 280 reviews
May 23, 2021
i'm frequently torn, when rating books, between rating based on merit, or rating based on my enjoyment. this is probably a three-star book, merit-wise. and yet i got totally sucked into it and really enjoyed it, despite its flaws. it's a very well-paced thriller that requires a certain suspension of disbelief but it was intriguing enough that my desire to finish reading it has made my thanskgiving feast delayed by three hours, so...
February 11, 2021
K枚t眉l眉k do臒ar m谋 yoksa yarat谋l谋r m谋 ve ortalama bir insan do臒ru ko艧ullar alt谋nda bu 莽izgiyi ge莽meye ne kadar yak谋n?
Yazar, k枚t眉l眉臒眉n mikro ve makro 枚l莽ekli yap谋s谋n谋 hem soyk谋r谋m gibi ger莽ekten deh艧et verici bir konu 眉zerinden hem de ki艧ileraras谋 ili艧kiler gibi 莽ok daha k眉莽眉k olaylar 眉zerinden bizlere sunmu艧.
Ayn谋 ofiste 莽al谋艧an d枚rt kad谋n谋n birbirine uygulad谋臒谋 taciz ve manip眉lasyonlar谋 ve di臒er yandan soyk谋r谋m tarihinin korkun莽 ayr谋nt谋lar谋n谋 okumak sa臒lam sinir istiyor.
Son olarak o kadar 莽ok be臒endim ki t眉m 莽eviri ve yaz谋m hatalar谋n谋 g枚z ard谋 edip yazar谋n bir ba艧ka kitab谋n谋 daha hemen sipari艧 verdim:) keyifli okumalar.
Yazar, k枚t眉l眉臒眉n mikro ve makro 枚l莽ekli yap谋s谋n谋 hem soyk谋r谋m gibi ger莽ekten deh艧et verici bir konu 眉zerinden hem de ki艧ileraras谋 ili艧kiler gibi 莽ok daha k眉莽眉k olaylar 眉zerinden bizlere sunmu艧.
Ayn谋 ofiste 莽al谋艧an d枚rt kad谋n谋n birbirine uygulad谋臒谋 taciz ve manip眉lasyonlar谋 ve di臒er yandan soyk谋r谋m tarihinin korkun莽 ayr谋nt谋lar谋n谋 okumak sa臒lam sinir istiyor.
Son olarak o kadar 莽ok be臒endim ki t眉m 莽eviri ve yaz谋m hatalar谋n谋 g枚z ard谋 edip yazar谋n bir ba艧ka kitab谋n谋 daha hemen sipari艧 verdim:) keyifli okumalar.
November 11, 2021
A book about evil and bullying at the working place. But at the same time a book about so much more. Definitely worth a read!
March 31, 2022
Danimarkal谋 yazar Jungersen鈥檒e tan谋艧ma kitab谋m oldu 鈥樐皊tisna鈥�. Tek kelimeyle ba-y谋l-d谋m. Kopenhag鈥檇a soyk谋r谋m ara艧t谋rmalar谋 merkezinde 莽al谋艧an 4 kad谋n aras谋ndaki nefes kesen y眉ksek gerilimi, arka planda soyk谋r谋m tarihi e艧li臒inde okuyoruz. (Meseleye T眉rkiye鈥檔in de dahil edilmesi dikkat 莽eken bir detayd谋) 陌艧 hayat谋nda kar艧谋la艧谋lan negatif durumlar谋, mobbing鈥檌, k枚t眉c眉ll眉臒眉, bencillik ve bireyselli臒i, inan谋lmaz incelikli ve derin i艧lemesine hayran kald谋m, okurken psikolojik a莽谋dan yer yer zorlansam da bir o kadar keyif ald谋m. Karakterleri, gerilimi, kurgusu ve bilhassa sonu muazzamd谋. 700 sayfa olmas谋na ra臒men ak谋p gitti kitap. K枚t眉l眉k 眉zerine okudu臒um en etkileyici romanlardan biriydi. 脟eviride tercih edilen 鈥榶apt谋yd谋m鈥� gibi kullan谋mlar ve yaz谋m yanl谋艧lar谋n谋 saymazsak kusursuz bir metindi. 鈥淏u kitap galiba bende bir defteri kapatacak鈥� demi艧tim bir arkada艧谋ma, 枚yle de oldu; defter kapand谋, m眉thi艧 bir final oldu... Herkese tavsiye ederim.
January 6, 2016
What a book. The sort of book you walk away from disoriented. It isn't just physically heavy at 512 pages (though weightless on Kindle), it's also heavy in every other sense of the word. Such a deceptively simple story about inner strife of a small office spun into such a powerhouse of psychological suspense. Four women working in a center for information on genocide turn their lives into a Sartre style nightmare, subtly, slowly turning their office and personal lives into a psychological battlefield spiraling toward an inevitable tragedy. That's a basic summary and it oversimplifies the plot. The real genius of this book is in the juxtaposition of the evil on grand scale and one of a small contained environment. The macro and micro of evil in principle. Can a person overcome their pathologies as presupposed (predetermined) by various psychological standards and become an exception to the rules? Is evil born or created and how close is an average person to crossing that line under the right circumstances? Subject that has long fascinated me, one I studied, social psychology and all its implications, whether explaining something genuinely horrifying like genocide or a much smaller event such as interpersonal relationships. Jungersen took all the concepts, terms and research of social psychology and applied them so astutely, so cleverly to the book's protagonists and their actions...it's practically a textbook on the topic, although one with a suspense thriller motive thrown in. The book is told from four different perspectives of its heroines and at no point are you exactly sure of what's going on, because, of course, we can only know so much of another person and as the truth is slowly revealed, it stands a good chance of blowing your mind. This is why we read, isn't it? To be engaged, moved, surprised, entertained, educated, stunned even, to try to understand others. Well, this books offers all of it, although it isn't easy to get through, isn't always fun, far from light and might cause severe distrust of others or at least reconfigure your estimation of humankind. Fascinating book, a bestseller in Europe, well deserved of any praise. Absolutely worth the time and effort. Highly recommended.
August 30, 2007
(The much longer full review can be found at the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com].)
"Ignoring the small flash of doubt in yourself -- that is what evil is. Nobody thinks of himself as evil, but that deception is part of evil's nature. And you can't lie to yourself all the time. Once in awhile, there's that moment when you question if you are doing the right thing. And that's your only chance to choose what is good, to do the right thing. And the moment lasts maybe fifteen minutes every other month, maybe less."
The little lesson about life quoted above is something a lot of us (especially Americans) are starting to realize more and more; that the root of what we traditionally call "evil" lies not in the cartoonish villainy we've assigned over the decades to such groups as the Nazis and the Klan, but rather in the small everyday lapses in ethics all of us commit regularly, which when multiplied by millions is what leads to things like Hitler, Franco, Stalin, Bush, etc. "Evil" is when we see something happening that we know is ethically wrong, but turn a blind eye towards because it's easier to do so; evil is when we overreact, when we rush to judgment, when we affect a self-righteous tone, when we abuse whatever tiny little amount of power any of us might have in our particular lives. It is something we're all guilty of, that none of us ever think we're guilty of ourselves, but when multiplied by an entire society is what leads us into the grand messes of both the world and of history.
And perhaps the guiltiest parties of all, or so argues Danish novelist Christian Jungersen in his brilliant new book The Exception, are those who believe they could never be guilty in the first place -- radical liberals, for example, humanitarians, those from pacifist countries -- because it is these people precisely who are blundering through such small evil acts without ever acknowledging them, without recognizing them for what they are. it's a fascinating and controversial thing for someone in Jungersen's position to posit, which is what has made Jungersen a fascinating and controversial author in his native Denmark; for Denmark, you see, has a long and proud tradition of pacifism and humanitarianism, including being one of the only countries on the planet during the Nazi era to officially and publicly harbor Jews. As a result, or at least according to Jungersen, there is now a certain amount of "liberal haughtiness" inherent in the Danish national character...
"Ignoring the small flash of doubt in yourself -- that is what evil is. Nobody thinks of himself as evil, but that deception is part of evil's nature. And you can't lie to yourself all the time. Once in awhile, there's that moment when you question if you are doing the right thing. And that's your only chance to choose what is good, to do the right thing. And the moment lasts maybe fifteen minutes every other month, maybe less."
The little lesson about life quoted above is something a lot of us (especially Americans) are starting to realize more and more; that the root of what we traditionally call "evil" lies not in the cartoonish villainy we've assigned over the decades to such groups as the Nazis and the Klan, but rather in the small everyday lapses in ethics all of us commit regularly, which when multiplied by millions is what leads to things like Hitler, Franco, Stalin, Bush, etc. "Evil" is when we see something happening that we know is ethically wrong, but turn a blind eye towards because it's easier to do so; evil is when we overreact, when we rush to judgment, when we affect a self-righteous tone, when we abuse whatever tiny little amount of power any of us might have in our particular lives. It is something we're all guilty of, that none of us ever think we're guilty of ourselves, but when multiplied by an entire society is what leads us into the grand messes of both the world and of history.
And perhaps the guiltiest parties of all, or so argues Danish novelist Christian Jungersen in his brilliant new book The Exception, are those who believe they could never be guilty in the first place -- radical liberals, for example, humanitarians, those from pacifist countries -- because it is these people precisely who are blundering through such small evil acts without ever acknowledging them, without recognizing them for what they are. it's a fascinating and controversial thing for someone in Jungersen's position to posit, which is what has made Jungersen a fascinating and controversial author in his native Denmark; for Denmark, you see, has a long and proud tradition of pacifism and humanitarianism, including being one of the only countries on the planet during the Nazi era to officially and publicly harbor Jews. As a result, or at least according to Jungersen, there is now a certain amount of "liberal haughtiness" inherent in the Danish national character...
June 26, 2008
Note to author: Most women do not act like those really awful 13-year-olds you encountered in middle school. Get over it.
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I was assigned this book by my adviser for an independent study. All I had to do was read it - not write anything, and I was happy about that. However, now that I'm not required to do any more academic writing, and no one is really "listening," I feel compelled to put in my two cents. I know - ironic.
In short, I am NOT a fan of this book. The basic premise is interesting: looking at how the small, daily acts of evil people commit against each other relate to the huge atrocities of genocide. If the author had focused on that idea more directly, it might have been a fairly good book. Instead, he created four female characters who had nothing better to do than act extremely paranoid, catty, self-righteous, and/or victimized in order to illustrate his point. Based on his characterization, I have to assume he has some fairly misogynistic attitudes. Sure, he gives each woman reasons for doing what she's doing to the others, but that doesn't make any of them good people. The only significant (but still peripheral) male characters are fairly reasonable people, who do nothing other than stand in contrast to these four awful women. Well, there is one evil guy, but he's the Bad Guy, so what do you expect? All-in-all, not a good jumping-off point for me.
I think, somewhat like in The Crying of Lot 49, the author is trying to use the plot to provide the emotional experience of an intellectual argument. This argument is that quotidian evil acts sometimes incidentally converge to create the horrors of genocide. In parallel, the plot is the result of a few bad choices fitting together in just the wrong way, causing all hell to break loose. I get the argument about genocide, but it made the plot completely unlikely.
I guess, all told, it's an interesting intellectual exercise, but it all comes down to a fundamental difference in perspective between my adviser and me. He is interested in what motivates people to be evil, so as to prevent it. I am interested in what motivates people to be good, so as to promote it. Figure out what camp you're in, then take my review with a grain of salt.
-------
I was assigned this book by my adviser for an independent study. All I had to do was read it - not write anything, and I was happy about that. However, now that I'm not required to do any more academic writing, and no one is really "listening," I feel compelled to put in my two cents. I know - ironic.
In short, I am NOT a fan of this book. The basic premise is interesting: looking at how the small, daily acts of evil people commit against each other relate to the huge atrocities of genocide. If the author had focused on that idea more directly, it might have been a fairly good book. Instead, he created four female characters who had nothing better to do than act extremely paranoid, catty, self-righteous, and/or victimized in order to illustrate his point. Based on his characterization, I have to assume he has some fairly misogynistic attitudes. Sure, he gives each woman reasons for doing what she's doing to the others, but that doesn't make any of them good people. The only significant (but still peripheral) male characters are fairly reasonable people, who do nothing other than stand in contrast to these four awful women. Well, there is one evil guy, but he's the Bad Guy, so what do you expect? All-in-all, not a good jumping-off point for me.
I think, somewhat like in The Crying of Lot 49, the author is trying to use the plot to provide the emotional experience of an intellectual argument. This argument is that quotidian evil acts sometimes incidentally converge to create the horrors of genocide. In parallel, the plot is the result of a few bad choices fitting together in just the wrong way, causing all hell to break loose. I get the argument about genocide, but it made the plot completely unlikely.
I guess, all told, it's an interesting intellectual exercise, but it all comes down to a fundamental difference in perspective between my adviser and me. He is interested in what motivates people to be evil, so as to prevent it. I am interested in what motivates people to be good, so as to promote it. Figure out what camp you're in, then take my review with a grain of salt.
August 15, 2008
Normally, if a book hasn't engaged me in the first 50 pages, I'll set it aside. Life's too short for bad books. I don't know why, exactly, I made an exception for The Exception. The first 400 of its 500 pages embeds you in the inner life of four pathetic, slightly deranged women who all work in the same office 鈥� all of whom are obsessed with the tedious minutiae of their work life. Toward the end the story shifts into an awful parody of a late-night TV police serial, complete with hideous cartoon villains and improbable escapes.
The only thing I can say in its favor is its absurdly bleak set-up. The women work in a center dedicated to research on genocide. One even edits a journal called Genocide News (no kidding) and we're treated to pages of ponderous extracts. It's only fitting that after torturing the reader with their empty lives for 500 pages, none of them ends up with much of a life at all. I can only guess that the author has a very droll sense of humor indeed.
Recommended only if you have lots of aquavit on hand.
The only thing I can say in its favor is its absurdly bleak set-up. The women work in a center dedicated to research on genocide. One even edits a journal called Genocide News (no kidding) and we're treated to pages of ponderous extracts. It's only fitting that after torturing the reader with their empty lives for 500 pages, none of them ends up with much of a life at all. I can only guess that the author has a very droll sense of humor indeed.
Recommended only if you have lots of aquavit on hand.
September 14, 2020
Bu sene okumakta bitirmekte en zorland谋臒谋m kitap.
Hem hacmi hem de i莽eri臒i o kadar derin ki! Hakk谋n谋 vermedi臒imden 莽ok eminim, bir defa daha okunmay谋 hakediyor.
脰zellikle su莽lu psikolojisi, insanl谋k su莽lar谋, soyk谋r谋mlar 眉zerine bir merak谋n谋z varsa h艧莽 ka莽谋rmay谋n.
Asl谋nda kitap 4 y谋ld谋z da hakederdi fakat Ayr谋nt谋 yay谋nlar谋n谋n beni deh艧ete d眉艧眉ren bask谋 ve dizgi, redaksiyon hatalar谋 sebebiyle 2,5 tan 3 veriyorum.
Her bir paragraf 眉zerine durur d眉艧眉n眉r眉m, ara艧t谋r谋r谋m belki kendime sorar cevab谋 bulurum derseniz 谋srarla okuyun derim. Ama kesin s枚yleyebilirim ki herkese g枚re de臒il.
Keyifli okumalar!
Hem hacmi hem de i莽eri臒i o kadar derin ki! Hakk谋n谋 vermedi臒imden 莽ok eminim, bir defa daha okunmay谋 hakediyor.
脰zellikle su莽lu psikolojisi, insanl谋k su莽lar谋, soyk谋r谋mlar 眉zerine bir merak谋n谋z varsa h艧莽 ka莽谋rmay谋n.
Asl谋nda kitap 4 y谋ld谋z da hakederdi fakat Ayr谋nt谋 yay谋nlar谋n谋n beni deh艧ete d眉艧眉ren bask谋 ve dizgi, redaksiyon hatalar谋 sebebiyle 2,5 tan 3 veriyorum.
Her bir paragraf 眉zerine durur d眉艧眉n眉r眉m, ara艧t谋r谋r谋m belki kendime sorar cevab谋 bulurum derseniz 谋srarla okuyun derim. Ama kesin s枚yleyebilirim ki herkese g枚re de臒il.
Keyifli okumalar!
December 27, 2023
Soyk谋r谋m ara艧t谋ma merkezinde 莽al谋艧an d枚rt kad谋n merkezinde 艧ekillenen bir roman.
陌nsan谋n se莽imleriyle, 枚臒renmi艧likleriyle ya da zorlu bir durum kar艧谋s谋nda nas谋l s谋n谋rlar谋n谋 de臒i艧tirdi臒ine 艧ahit oluyoruz. En basit anlamdan en k枚t眉 anlama kadar.
Genel hatlar谋yla yava艧 yava艧 konunun geli艧mesi, yay谋lmas谋, olay 枚rg眉s眉n眉n tam yerinde da臒谋t谋l谋p bilgiye d枚nmesi, emin olamad谋臒谋m谋z o son derken ve bu k谋s谋mlarda s眉rekli bir se莽im yapmaya s眉r眉klemesinin ka莽谋n谋lmaz olarak hissedilmesiyle ger莽ekten 莽ok 莽ok g眉zeldi.
Benim bu y谋l okudu臒um en iyi kitaplardan ve san谋yorum okuyan birileriyle konu艧mas谋 ger莽ekten 莽ok keyifli olabilecek kitaplardan.
陌nsan谋n se莽imleriyle, 枚臒renmi艧likleriyle ya da zorlu bir durum kar艧谋s谋nda nas谋l s谋n谋rlar谋n谋 de臒i艧tirdi臒ine 艧ahit oluyoruz. En basit anlamdan en k枚t眉 anlama kadar.
Genel hatlar谋yla yava艧 yava艧 konunun geli艧mesi, yay谋lmas谋, olay 枚rg眉s眉n眉n tam yerinde da臒谋t谋l谋p bilgiye d枚nmesi, emin olamad谋臒谋m谋z o son derken ve bu k谋s谋mlarda s眉rekli bir se莽im yapmaya s眉r眉klemesinin ka莽谋n谋lmaz olarak hissedilmesiyle ger莽ekten 莽ok 莽ok g眉zeldi.
Benim bu y谋l okudu臒um en iyi kitaplardan ve san谋yorum okuyan birileriyle konu艧mas谋 ger莽ekten 莽ok keyifli olabilecek kitaplardan.
July 28, 2023
Ovo je jedan nikakav triler 拧to se ti膷e klasi膷nih trilerskih osobina. Razvu膷en, neuverljiv, neuzbudljiv, s jednodimenzionalnim, antipati膷nim junakinjama... Ipak ima interesantan osnovni zaplet - u nevladinoj organizaciji koja se bavi izu膷avanjem i arhiviranjem materijala o genocidima, zaposlene surovo maltretiraju koleginicu. Do膷arana kancelarijska atmosfera nam razotkriva 鈥渢oplu vodu鈥� - kako je zlo, avaj, rasprostanjeno i me膽u malim ljudima, a poreme膰eni umovi 膷esto se kriju upravo ispod demokratske/mirotvora膷ke/uljudne maske politike dobrih namera.
Pisac se temeljno pripremio tako da je roman solidno informativan na temu prirode genocida kao zlo膷ina i to mu je najve膰i plus. 膶italac se upu膰uje kako na razmi拧ljanje o razli膷itim aspektima ratnih zlo膷ina, tako i na korisnu sekundarnu literaturu o ovoj materija.
Narativno, mnogo se htelo. Knjiga je preduga膷ka, autorov ambiciozni pristup je ugu拧io radnju, te je epilog roman koji je 拧to se rapleta ti膷e - konfuzan, a ukupno i dosadan za 膷itanje.
Pisac se temeljno pripremio tako da je roman solidno informativan na temu prirode genocida kao zlo膷ina i to mu je najve膰i plus. 膶italac se upu膰uje kako na razmi拧ljanje o razli膷itim aspektima ratnih zlo膷ina, tako i na korisnu sekundarnu literaturu o ovoj materija.
Narativno, mnogo se htelo. Knjiga je preduga膷ka, autorov ambiciozni pristup je ugu拧io radnju, te je epilog roman koji je 拧to se rapleta ti膷e - konfuzan, a ukupno i dosadan za 膷itanje.
March 2, 2009
i wish i could give this book only a half a star, but that doesn't seem to be possible...it's unspeakably bad. and the only reason i would give it half a star is that it provoked me and i do believe that books should provoke us in some way.
there are two messages to this book:
1. all women are psychotic.
2. bullying in the workplace will get you everything you want.
this seems like it was written by a man who had a string of bad girlfriends who he wanted revenge upon, so he wrote them up as the four nastiest types he could conceive, all with a completely psychotic inner life (which he subjects us to in turn) going on under a surface that is otherwise quite normal. the most self-righteous, self-absorbed, most evil one of the lot is the one who gets everything her way in the end. there is no redemption and no good comes of reading this book.
run from it like the wind.
and on top of it, the english translation of it is absolute rubbish. but the book is no better in the original danish (i switched between the two the whole way and compared them in many places). life is too short for bad books...
there are two messages to this book:
1. all women are psychotic.
2. bullying in the workplace will get you everything you want.
this seems like it was written by a man who had a string of bad girlfriends who he wanted revenge upon, so he wrote them up as the four nastiest types he could conceive, all with a completely psychotic inner life (which he subjects us to in turn) going on under a surface that is otherwise quite normal. the most self-righteous, self-absorbed, most evil one of the lot is the one who gets everything her way in the end. there is no redemption and no good comes of reading this book.
run from it like the wind.
and on top of it, the english translation of it is absolute rubbish. but the book is no better in the original danish (i switched between the two the whole way and compared them in many places). life is too short for bad books...
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 8, 2023
3.5 stars. Engaging but I was still distracted by some of the leaps in logic these characters kept making. I know this was written in 2008, but getting a death threat via email and them immediately assuming someone is actually making a credible plan to kill you is wild to me.
April 19, 2024
Kopenhag鈥檇a Soyk谋r谋m Ara艧t谋rmalar谋 Merkezinde 莽al谋艧an d枚rt kad谋n: Iben, Malene, Anne-Lise ve Camilla. Bir g眉n, Iben, Malene ve Camilla isimsiz tehdit emailleri al谋rlar. Bununla ilgili polis soru艧turmas谋 ba艧lar. Merkezin yay谋nlar谋n谋 incelediklerinde uluslararas谋 sava艧 su莽lusu bir S谋rptan 艧眉phelenirler. Sonras谋nda kendi aralar谋nda ya艧ad谋klar谋 gerilim y眉z眉nden birbirlerinden 艧眉phelenmeye ba艧larlar. Bu arada birbirlerine yapt谋klar谋, 枚zellikle Anne-Lise鈥檡e uygulad谋klar谋 mobbing merkezdeki tansiyonu y眉kseltir.
Bu d枚rt kad谋n谋n i莽 d眉nyalar谋 ve sorunlar谋yla, ald谋klar谋 tehditler birle艧ince ortaya psikolojik bir gerilim roman谋 莽谋km谋艧. Roman d枚rd眉n眉n bilin莽 d眉zeyinden anlat谋l谋yor ve her b枚l眉mde farkl谋 olas谋l谋klara y枚neliyor okuyucu. Sonuna kadar gerilim ve gizemin devam etti臒i g眉zel bir psikolojik roman. Danimarka鈥檇a bir sivil toplum 枚rg眉t眉nde mobbing varsa T眉rkiye鈥檇e kar ama莽l谋 organizasyonlarda nas谋l olmas谋n diyor insan. Bireysellik ve bencilli臒in insan谋 getirdi臒i nokta 莽ok 莽arp谋c谋.
S眉rpriz bir sonla ve sorularla b谋rak谋yor okuyucuyu, insan beyni ve psikolojisinin karma艧谋kl谋臒谋 konusunda.
Bu d枚rt kad谋n谋n i莽 d眉nyalar谋 ve sorunlar谋yla, ald谋klar谋 tehditler birle艧ince ortaya psikolojik bir gerilim roman谋 莽谋km谋艧. Roman d枚rd眉n眉n bilin莽 d眉zeyinden anlat谋l谋yor ve her b枚l眉mde farkl谋 olas谋l谋klara y枚neliyor okuyucu. Sonuna kadar gerilim ve gizemin devam etti臒i g眉zel bir psikolojik roman. Danimarka鈥檇a bir sivil toplum 枚rg眉t眉nde mobbing varsa T眉rkiye鈥檇e kar ama莽l谋 organizasyonlarda nas谋l olmas谋n diyor insan. Bireysellik ve bencilli臒in insan谋 getirdi臒i nokta 莽ok 莽arp谋c谋.
S眉rpriz bir sonla ve sorularla b谋rak谋yor okuyucuyu, insan beyni ve psikolojisinin karma艧谋kl谋臒谋 konusunda.
December 20, 2007
This is a top-notch, meaty psychological thriller that takes you inside a small office dedicated to research into genocide. There, the five office workers simultaneously dig into the very nature of evil as they study the most inhumane acts ever perpetrated, while they quietly destroy each other's lives with office politics and interpersonal bullying. Buried not-so-deep beneath the surface of even the seemingly closest friendships and politest collegiality apparently lurks seething resentments that rival those of genocidal maniacs.
At the Copenhagen office of the genocide research center, Iben and Malene, best friends, each receives an anonymous email death threat that they initially assume was sent by a Serbian war criminal they have published about. When the director's secretary also gets one, but not the much despised secretary, Anne-Lise, Iben and Malene begin to suspect that Anne-Lise is out to seek revenge for their teasing and ostracism.
Told alternately from the perspectives of the four women in the office, the story is both weighty and taut, with the reader becoming drawn into the increasingly paranoid and claustrophobic intimacy among them. Anyone who has ever worked in an office will recognize the way tiny gestures take on intense meaning in those confines. Even at the story's climax, when things become a little more standard-thriller, the truth can still go in a number of directions.
At the Copenhagen office of the genocide research center, Iben and Malene, best friends, each receives an anonymous email death threat that they initially assume was sent by a Serbian war criminal they have published about. When the director's secretary also gets one, but not the much despised secretary, Anne-Lise, Iben and Malene begin to suspect that Anne-Lise is out to seek revenge for their teasing and ostracism.
Told alternately from the perspectives of the four women in the office, the story is both weighty and taut, with the reader becoming drawn into the increasingly paranoid and claustrophobic intimacy among them. Anyone who has ever worked in an office will recognize the way tiny gestures take on intense meaning in those confines. Even at the story's climax, when things become a little more standard-thriller, the truth can still go in a number of directions.
October 24, 2010
Sometimes, characters in fully formed television worlds watch their own television, which is a device to comment on the events in the television show, and on the television show itself; you know, meta-TV. This book uses articles about genocide as the TV show inside the TV show, to comment on and help explain the actions in the novel, which is set in the fictional Danish Center for Information on Genocide.
The narrative is almost exclusively third-person limited, but it alternates between the employees of the DCIG, so you never feel like you have "all the facts," and the way Jungersen drops the reader in media res, you never feel like you know enough about "what happened before." As though there are "facts," it's ridiculous. It laughs at the idea of fact. Reading just the story as closely and analytically as you can, drawing sure conclusions is impossible. When you read one woman's section, her experiences make sense, even while you remember what the other women were thinking and feeling about the same events, and you don't know who is in the right.
Because I feel like The Exception wants you to choose. The genocide articles are worked smoothly into the narrative, and of course they're shocking and horrifying, but they also force you to consider the narrative in light of their various theses. What did this genocide demonstrate about human behavior? And then back you go into the story, and everyone is either acting weirder or perceiving everyone else as acting weirder; this concept could have been really instructive and precious, but it's quite sophisticated and intelligently done, I think.
I can't say much more without mentioning any plot points, and that'd be a terrible shame, not to get to read this cold. It's just so good, so strange and creepy, unlike anything I've read in a while. I can't recommend it highly enough. I want to wait a few months and read it again.
The narrative is almost exclusively third-person limited, but it alternates between the employees of the DCIG, so you never feel like you have "all the facts," and the way Jungersen drops the reader in media res, you never feel like you know enough about "what happened before." As though there are "facts," it's ridiculous. It laughs at the idea of fact. Reading just the story as closely and analytically as you can, drawing sure conclusions is impossible. When you read one woman's section, her experiences make sense, even while you remember what the other women were thinking and feeling about the same events, and you don't know who is in the right.
Because I feel like The Exception wants you to choose. The genocide articles are worked smoothly into the narrative, and of course they're shocking and horrifying, but they also force you to consider the narrative in light of their various theses. What did this genocide demonstrate about human behavior? And then back you go into the story, and everyone is either acting weirder or perceiving everyone else as acting weirder; this concept could have been really instructive and precious, but it's quite sophisticated and intelligently done, I think.
I can't say much more without mentioning any plot points, and that'd be a terrible shame, not to get to read this cold. It's just so good, so strange and creepy, unlike anything I've read in a while. I can't recommend it highly enough. I want to wait a few months and read it again.
January 18, 2025
陌nsan谋n karanl谋k taraflar谋 ile toplumlar谋n y谋k谋c谋 davran谋艧lar谋n谋n i莽 i莽e ge莽ti臒i s眉r眉kleyici bir kitap okumu艧 oldum.
Edebi y枚nden zay谋ft谋, hatta 莽o臒u yerdeki "geldiydim, gittiydim" y眉klemleri san谋yorum 莽evirmenin do臒al T眉rk莽esinden. Ama, konunun hat谋r谋na yazar谋n di臒er iki kitab谋ndaki kadar rahats谋z olmad谋m. Soyk谋r谋m merkezinde 莽al谋艧an d枚rt kad谋n谋n sava艧 su莽lar谋na sebep olan 艧iddetin kayna臒谋n谋 ara艧t谋r谋rken kendi aralar谋nda birbirlerine uygulad谋klar谋 mobbing 艧unu g枚steriyor ki: K眉莽眉k 枚l莽ekli bireysel 莽at谋艧malar ile b眉y眉k 枚l莽ekli toplumsal felaketler aras谋nda temelde bir fark yok; her ikisi de ayn谋 karanl谋k motivasyonlar谋n 眉r眉n眉.
Edebi y枚nden zay谋ft谋, hatta 莽o臒u yerdeki "geldiydim, gittiydim" y眉klemleri san谋yorum 莽evirmenin do臒al T眉rk莽esinden. Ama, konunun hat谋r谋na yazar谋n di臒er iki kitab谋ndaki kadar rahats谋z olmad谋m. Soyk谋r谋m merkezinde 莽al谋艧an d枚rt kad谋n谋n sava艧 su莽lar谋na sebep olan 艧iddetin kayna臒谋n谋 ara艧t谋r谋rken kendi aralar谋nda birbirlerine uygulad谋klar谋 mobbing 艧unu g枚steriyor ki: K眉莽眉k 枚l莽ekli bireysel 莽at谋艧malar ile b眉y眉k 枚l莽ekli toplumsal felaketler aras谋nda temelde bir fark yok; her ikisi de ayn谋 karanl谋k motivasyonlar谋n 眉r眉n眉.
February 6, 2012
I really struggled through this book. I wanted to like it, to get into the subject matter and what the author was trying to say.but there were a lot of problems with it. First, it was translated from Danish and that just didn't work. It was very choppy, without flow. I hope it was better in its original language. Second, there was a lot of repetition. A lot. Really. Third, and probably the worst defect is that the characters were, well, hideous. Women who are competent professionals, with incredibly responsible jobs, in a serious non-profit center focused on genocide research - who act like seventh-graders to each other and in their personal life. Written by a male, it really smacked of sexism in the way the characters were drawn. Fourth, there was a lot in the book that just didn't need to be there. And, finally, fifth - the plot just didn't come together for me and didn't make up for the other flaws. I give myself a A for perseverance for finishing it; a D for my time management skills while reading it.
Read
February 7, 2018Mixing fiction and nonfiction
This is an interesting, memorable book. It's about women who work in a genocide research center. They write reports on evil, genocide, and other subjects, and then we read what they've written, embedded in the novel. What matters in this book is the extremely unusual mixture of fiction and nonfiction. The facts in those reports are all real; I learned, for example, about theories of evil in the Third Reich beginning with Arendt and continuing to the present.
But then between the reports, the fictional researchers continue to do evil to one another. It's a very effective device.
I met Jungersen in Copenhagen; he said he wrote intuitively, and he had little to add. I don't believe artists who claim they are intuitive: it's an easy out when it comes to public relations. I hope he changes his attitude to his own work.
(The book ends weakly, with a chapter ripped from (or written for) a Hollywood screenplay.)
This is an interesting, memorable book. It's about women who work in a genocide research center. They write reports on evil, genocide, and other subjects, and then we read what they've written, embedded in the novel. What matters in this book is the extremely unusual mixture of fiction and nonfiction. The facts in those reports are all real; I learned, for example, about theories of evil in the Third Reich beginning with Arendt and continuing to the present.
But then between the reports, the fictional researchers continue to do evil to one another. It's a very effective device.
I met Jungersen in Copenhagen; he said he wrote intuitively, and he had little to add. I don't believe artists who claim they are intuitive: it's an easy out when it comes to public relations. I hope he changes his attitude to his own work.
(The book ends weakly, with a chapter ripped from (or written for) a Hollywood screenplay.)
September 26, 2007
Being as it's very educational for a novel, this book depressed the fuck out of me, and my view of humanity still has not fully recovered from reading it. The best parts were the sections on actual genocide, and the actual story and characters took awhile to engage me, but they eventually did. It's interesting to learn about the calm, stoic Danish people and their way of life, which evidently involves Scandinavian furniture, a terrible job market, being stalked by Serbian war criminals, and quietly torturing their havarti-munching coworkers.
August 12, 2009
First I could not put it down....now a day later I finished all 500 pages and can't stop thinking about it. A great read....not a comfortable read, but well worth it. Not an easy subject...but a very satisfying read. How many times do we think we are so "right" when our actions indicate otherwise?
December 14, 2008
Christian Jungersen鈥檚 The Exception is a gripping psychological thriller that dissects the perversions of human nature with a scalpel. Stitched into the narrative are studies on the nature of evil and accounts of real historical genocide, documenting patterns of savagery and entitlement that Jungersen then deftly reproduces in his characters. A recipient of the Danish Radio and Golden Laurels Prizes, nominee of literary awards throughout Europe, and New York Times Editor鈥檚 Pick, The Exception is a thought-provoking, tightly wound whodunit that lingers with the reader long after the book鈥檚 conclusion. Pity, then, that it鈥檚 also a clunky, sexist hackjob that, while getting the psychology of evil chillingly right, gets the psychiatry of its characters dangerously wrong.
The Exception centers on four women, coworkers at the nonprofit Danish Center for Information on Genocide, who begin to receive anonymous death threats. Their camaraderie soon devolves into a frenzy of accusations and scapegoating. Everyone is a suspect. Iben and Malene are best friends and romantic rivals. Anne-Lise is the office misfit who feels bullied by Iben and Malene. Camille shies away from the combustible office politics but has a torrid secret past that may implicate her in the threats.
Jungersen is at his best when jabbing at the hypocrisies of Western liberalism. He depicts the nonprofit world as one part hipster bacchanalia, two parts moral smugness鈥攁 keen and skewering observation that is conveyed with just the right amount of understatement. Early in the book, Iben finds herself speaking to a man who has abandoned his dream job, and its attendant financial insecurity, for a position in advertising. 鈥淗uman rights and art,鈥� he says, 鈥済reat stuff but there鈥檚 no money in it.鈥� Iben is incensed. She 鈥渏ump[s] in and defends traditional values, such as 鈥楳oney isn鈥檛 everything鈥� and 鈥榊ou can鈥檛 buy happiness,鈥欌€� forcing him to justify not his profession but the very concept of remunerative employment. 鈥淚n no time she realizes that this discussion is just a rerun of their old debates, as if they are all battle-worn politicians in the last days of an election campaign, able to predict their opponents鈥� arguments.鈥�
Iben isn鈥檛 the only one intoxicated by moral superiority. The novel is determined to dismantle all delusions of moral grandeur. The four main characters each lay claim to innocence, even as they rationalize committing acts of increasing cruelty against each other鈥攆rom petty lunchroom slights to outright assault. Meanwhile, their boss is engaged in a more systematic kind of duplicity, aligning himself with the country鈥檚 anti-immigration party in order to deny power to a rival board member, ultimately allowing the organization to become an instrument of the reactionary politics he claims to personally revile. There are also meaningful parallels between these characters and the Western world at large. When Iben 鈥渢ries to concentrate on what a group of Dutch experts has written about Muslims in the southern Russian states,鈥� her arrogance overlaps neatly with Western political arrogance鈥攁 Venn diagram of sanctimonies. The irony is delicious.
Interspersed throughout the novel are Iben鈥檚 fictional academic articles on the psychology of evil and the genocides in Bosnia and World War II Germany. Here we find Jungersen鈥檚 thesis: We鈥攁ll of us鈥攗ndermine our neighbors and our colleagues to acquire trivial advantages for ourselves, employing increasingly elaborate rationalizations to assure us of our rectitude. These acts are evil writ small, genocide in miniature. They are murder of the conscience, and with enough license, they become actual murder.
There is power in this argument, which explains The Exception鈥檚 enthusiastic reception. It raises important questions about the relationship between privilege and moral authority, and about the motives underlying liberal self-satisfaction. But this is also where the story begins to fall apart. A whodunit simply can鈥檛 end with every character equally culpable for the crime. So Jungersen undercuts his thesis with a twist ending that leaves one character as a literal martyr and another as a literal psychopath鈥攅mbodiments of good and evil if ever there were. The Exception aspires to a moral calculus, but it achieves only arithmetic.
Even worse, Jungersen arrives at this unsavory conclusion by grossly misrepresenting the nature of mental illness. In order to designate a villain, he conflates a wide range of psychiatric disorders, implicating his evildoer first with an anxiety disorder, then with a split personality, and finally with antisocial behavior鈥攁s though common psychiatric illnesses can just flower effortlessly into psychopathy. It is a lazy trick to tidy up an unwieldy story, one that promotes a dangerous and outdated equivalency between mental illness and evil.
Worse still, Jungersen鈥檚 women all become obnoxious female stereotypes. Iben and Malene鈥檚 romantic rivalry is a Betty-and-Veronica frenemy clich茅 that borders on offensive. Camilla throws herself headlong into bad relationships, propelled by both her reckless libido and her reckless desire to please. And Anne-Lise is simply a hysteric who, at one point, must be restrained by her husband: 鈥淎nne-Lise runs around as a rush of thoughts overwhelms her. Why should I have believed they could bear to live with me? I鈥檓 bursting with evil thoughts鈥 must hit my face as hard as I can. I deserve to be punished because I鈥檓 a horrible wife. I鈥檓 a bad, bad mother.鈥� Jungersen might have avoided this reductiveness if his writing wasn鈥檛 quite so childlike and expository. He (and his translator, Anna Paterson) use language as a tool of mere utility rather than art, and they treat The Exception as a novel of Big Ideas rather than one of nuanced storytelling.
I am saddened by the failure of Jungersen鈥檚 experiment (if the recipient of international accolades can be called a failure). His political philosophy is provocative but marred by inattention to story mechanics. Or alternatively, his story is an exhilarating psychological drama overburdened by politics. Either way, neither the ideas nor the story emerge intact. Iben, at one point, denounces 鈥渢he lack of political awareness in American literature.鈥� But when literature is done right, we shouldn鈥檛 see its political motives, much less be distracted by them. Subtlety is its own Big Idea.
The Exception centers on four women, coworkers at the nonprofit Danish Center for Information on Genocide, who begin to receive anonymous death threats. Their camaraderie soon devolves into a frenzy of accusations and scapegoating. Everyone is a suspect. Iben and Malene are best friends and romantic rivals. Anne-Lise is the office misfit who feels bullied by Iben and Malene. Camille shies away from the combustible office politics but has a torrid secret past that may implicate her in the threats.
Jungersen is at his best when jabbing at the hypocrisies of Western liberalism. He depicts the nonprofit world as one part hipster bacchanalia, two parts moral smugness鈥攁 keen and skewering observation that is conveyed with just the right amount of understatement. Early in the book, Iben finds herself speaking to a man who has abandoned his dream job, and its attendant financial insecurity, for a position in advertising. 鈥淗uman rights and art,鈥� he says, 鈥済reat stuff but there鈥檚 no money in it.鈥� Iben is incensed. She 鈥渏ump[s] in and defends traditional values, such as 鈥楳oney isn鈥檛 everything鈥� and 鈥榊ou can鈥檛 buy happiness,鈥欌€� forcing him to justify not his profession but the very concept of remunerative employment. 鈥淚n no time she realizes that this discussion is just a rerun of their old debates, as if they are all battle-worn politicians in the last days of an election campaign, able to predict their opponents鈥� arguments.鈥�
Iben isn鈥檛 the only one intoxicated by moral superiority. The novel is determined to dismantle all delusions of moral grandeur. The four main characters each lay claim to innocence, even as they rationalize committing acts of increasing cruelty against each other鈥攆rom petty lunchroom slights to outright assault. Meanwhile, their boss is engaged in a more systematic kind of duplicity, aligning himself with the country鈥檚 anti-immigration party in order to deny power to a rival board member, ultimately allowing the organization to become an instrument of the reactionary politics he claims to personally revile. There are also meaningful parallels between these characters and the Western world at large. When Iben 鈥渢ries to concentrate on what a group of Dutch experts has written about Muslims in the southern Russian states,鈥� her arrogance overlaps neatly with Western political arrogance鈥攁 Venn diagram of sanctimonies. The irony is delicious.
Interspersed throughout the novel are Iben鈥檚 fictional academic articles on the psychology of evil and the genocides in Bosnia and World War II Germany. Here we find Jungersen鈥檚 thesis: We鈥攁ll of us鈥攗ndermine our neighbors and our colleagues to acquire trivial advantages for ourselves, employing increasingly elaborate rationalizations to assure us of our rectitude. These acts are evil writ small, genocide in miniature. They are murder of the conscience, and with enough license, they become actual murder.
There is power in this argument, which explains The Exception鈥檚 enthusiastic reception. It raises important questions about the relationship between privilege and moral authority, and about the motives underlying liberal self-satisfaction. But this is also where the story begins to fall apart. A whodunit simply can鈥檛 end with every character equally culpable for the crime. So Jungersen undercuts his thesis with a twist ending that leaves one character as a literal martyr and another as a literal psychopath鈥攅mbodiments of good and evil if ever there were. The Exception aspires to a moral calculus, but it achieves only arithmetic.
Even worse, Jungersen arrives at this unsavory conclusion by grossly misrepresenting the nature of mental illness. In order to designate a villain, he conflates a wide range of psychiatric disorders, implicating his evildoer first with an anxiety disorder, then with a split personality, and finally with antisocial behavior鈥攁s though common psychiatric illnesses can just flower effortlessly into psychopathy. It is a lazy trick to tidy up an unwieldy story, one that promotes a dangerous and outdated equivalency between mental illness and evil.
Worse still, Jungersen鈥檚 women all become obnoxious female stereotypes. Iben and Malene鈥檚 romantic rivalry is a Betty-and-Veronica frenemy clich茅 that borders on offensive. Camilla throws herself headlong into bad relationships, propelled by both her reckless libido and her reckless desire to please. And Anne-Lise is simply a hysteric who, at one point, must be restrained by her husband: 鈥淎nne-Lise runs around as a rush of thoughts overwhelms her. Why should I have believed they could bear to live with me? I鈥檓 bursting with evil thoughts鈥 must hit my face as hard as I can. I deserve to be punished because I鈥檓 a horrible wife. I鈥檓 a bad, bad mother.鈥� Jungersen might have avoided this reductiveness if his writing wasn鈥檛 quite so childlike and expository. He (and his translator, Anna Paterson) use language as a tool of mere utility rather than art, and they treat The Exception as a novel of Big Ideas rather than one of nuanced storytelling.
I am saddened by the failure of Jungersen鈥檚 experiment (if the recipient of international accolades can be called a failure). His political philosophy is provocative but marred by inattention to story mechanics. Or alternatively, his story is an exhilarating psychological drama overburdened by politics. Either way, neither the ideas nor the story emerge intact. Iben, at one point, denounces 鈥渢he lack of political awareness in American literature.鈥� But when literature is done right, we shouldn鈥檛 see its political motives, much less be distracted by them. Subtlety is its own Big Idea.
November 14, 2019
Opin paljon sosiaalipsykologiasta ja pahuuden psykologiasta -- toivottavasti lukemaani voi luottaa! Lomassa hyv盲 ja vet盲v盲 tarina, mutta lopulta nelj盲n naisen toimistodraama on turhan keskeisess盲 roolissa..
March 17, 2015
For me personally, this is a 5 star book, though it is not a book I would recommend to just anyone. Subject matter can at times be harsh.
I would lump this in a Secret History/The Likeness/Natsuo Kirino's Out category. The category of a "normal" or good person doing evil things and how that manifests within them. This was a very slow book to start and patience will win out. There are some very tense parts of the book and at times I felt there were some very Hitchcock like moments. The slow simmer builds and reaches a full boil that has left me now after finishing putting the sequence of events/reality of events together. The articles within on genocide are at times hard to read due to their harshness, but at other times very interesting in their psychology, and they definitely run parallel to the main story. I am expecting this to be optioned for a movie and will hope that it is a foreign film (at least first, ala the Stieg Larsson books). I expect I will re-read this, in whole or part, to see it through new eyes. This one will stay with me for a while.
I would lump this in a Secret History/The Likeness/Natsuo Kirino's Out category. The category of a "normal" or good person doing evil things and how that manifests within them. This was a very slow book to start and patience will win out. There are some very tense parts of the book and at times I felt there were some very Hitchcock like moments. The slow simmer builds and reaches a full boil that has left me now after finishing putting the sequence of events/reality of events together. The articles within on genocide are at times hard to read due to their harshness, but at other times very interesting in their psychology, and they definitely run parallel to the main story. I am expecting this to be optioned for a movie and will hope that it is a foreign film (at least first, ala the Stieg Larsson books). I expect I will re-read this, in whole or part, to see it through new eyes. This one will stay with me for a while.
January 27, 2008
Anytime I try to describe this, it comes off sounding boring or depressing. While it's not a light book, and I wouldn't describe it as a page-turner, either, it was gripping and I could easily read it for an hour or two at a time, only putting it down and turning off the light when my eyes started to hurt. It was, bizarrely, a perfect accompaniment to the library management class I'm taking - but please don't interpret that as meaning it's boring. The management class is dull, but not this book. Really interesting things with multiple viewpoints, interweaving fact with fiction, and the way groups of people behave and distort reality.
May 29, 2011
I found this book to be quite riveting and thought provoking. Set in Denmark, it explores the relationship between four women who work at the Danish Center for Information on Genocide. When two of the women receive death threats the office is thrown into turmoil. The subject matter was quite dark but by shifting the narrative among the various character's points of view the suspense was sustained throughout the entire 500 pages.
April 21, 2019
Heartily recommend this. A Scandinavian thriller about four women who work at an NGO that studies genocide, using the language/concepts from that field to explore the conflict, which ranges from office drama to murder to genocide.
November 9, 2024
鈥楿ndtagelsen, der bekr忙fter reglen鈥� er en tilgang, der laver en bin忙r opdeling, som blot ikke er ligeligt fordelt. Jeg havde en fremragende l忙seoplevelse af en psykologisk refleksions-thriller, som udforsker undtagelser i flertal, men ogs氓 nuancer som udvider kontinuummet fra bin忙rt til mange-facetteret. Ydermere springer den i perspektiver fra den ene person til den n忙ste og g酶r dermed de mange-facetterede kontinuum鈥檈r endda tre-dimensionelle.
Dejligt komplekst modsat fattigt forenklende. Ogs氓 sv忙rt overskueligt, men m氓ske m氓let ikke beh酶ver v忙re fuld overskuelighed og afklaring - hvilket de forskellige perspektivers (personers) afslutninger i bogen ogs氓 meget fint understreger. Gode billeder p氓 menneskelige omst忙ndigheder.
Essayet 鈥淥ndskabens Psykologi II鈥� fungerede undervejs for mig framragende rammes忙ttende, med de fire perspektiver:
1. Handlinger skaber holdninger: Kognitiv dissonans
2. Roller skaber mennesker: Stanford F忙ngsel Fors酶get
3. Grupper bygget p氓 n忙sten ingenting: 鈥極s og dem鈥�-kategorisering
4. Ofret er selv ude om det: Virkeligheden tilpasses vores behov for mening
(鈥淜ognitiv dissonans er en personlig tilstand karakteriseret ved mentalt ubehag, som opst氓r, n氓r der er uoverensstemmelse mellem ens viden og 酶nsker for, hvordan man gerne vil handle p氓 den ene side, og s氓 ens faktiske handlinger p氓 den anden side.鈥�
)
Handlinger skaber holdninger: Kognitiv dissonans
鈥淜un de personer der havde l酶jet for et meget lille bel酶b, f酶lte et pres mod at 忙ndre deres holdning for at f氓 sammenh忙ng mellem handling og holdning. De oplevede den ubehagelige tilstand af indre uoverensstemmelser der er et kernebegreb i socialpsykologien og som hedder 鈥榢ognitiv dissonans鈥�. (鈥�) Denne holdnings忙ndring er ikke udvendig og p氓taget. Holdningen s忙tter sig fast som personens oprigtige mening. Konklusionen er: Handlinger der i sig selv tilsyneladende kun g酶r begr忙nset skade, f酶rer til psykologiske forandringer. Og de forandringer g酶r st酶rre og mere 酶del忙ggende handlinger mulige.鈥� s. 352
Roller skaber mennesker: Stanford F忙ngsel Fors酶get
鈥淚 1971 ville socialpsykologen Phillip G. Zimbardo og hans kolleger ved Stanford University unders酶ge hvad der psykologisk sker med mennesker der sidder i f忙ngsel eller arbejder i f忙ngsel. (鈥�) Dette fors酶g er, ligesom Milgrams lydighedsfors酶g, blevet et af de klassiske og ber酶mte fors酶g i socialpsykologien. Siden er det vist i mange andre sammenh忙nge hvordan 鈥榬ollen鈥� og 鈥榮elvet鈥� let glider sammen. Mennesker bliver ofte det rollen kr忙ver af dem, og som nye mennesker finder de en mening og sammenh忙ng i det de foretager sig.鈥� s. 355
Grupper bygget p氓 n忙sten ingenting: 鈥極s og dem鈥�-kategorisering
鈥淒et er eksperimentelt vist utallige gange at vi t忙nker i 鈥極s og dem鈥�-t忙nkning. Der g忙lder forskellige regler for 鈥榦s鈥� i vores gruppe og 鈥榙em鈥� i den anden gruppe. Grunden til at vi t忙nker s氓dan, er enkel: Alle mennesker er n酶dt til at forholde sig til en uendelig kompliceret og uoverskuelig verden. For at forenkle den og hurtigt frasortere irrelevante informationer rubricerer vi mennesker i kategorier. Denne kategorisering er en del af den menneskelige m氓de at t忙nke p氓. Den er n酶dvendig for os, og ingen af os kan undslippe den.鈥� s. 356
鈥淪ocialpsykologien har imidlertid vist nogle gennemg氓ende forvr忙ngninger i den m氓de vores 鈥極s og dem鈥�-t忙nkning fungerer: Vi overdriver lighederne mellem medlemmer af vores egen gruppe, vi overdriver ensartetheden blandt medlemmer af andre grupper, vi overdriver forskellene imellem grupperne, og normalt bryder vi os mere om medlemmer af vores egen gruppe end medlemmer af andre grupper.鈥� s. 357
Ofret er selv ude om det: Virkeligheden tilpasses vores behov for mening
鈥淰i ved alle at gode mennesker ogs氓 rammes af forf忙rdelige lidelser, men langt de fleste af os fors酶ger alligevel at holde fast i h氓bet om en grundl忙ggende retf忙rdig verden. Der skal v忙re noget godt vi kan sende vores b酶rn ud i. Utallige unders酶gelser viser hvordan det h氓b, og en ubevidst str忙ben efter mening og sammenh忙ng i vores informationer, f氓r mennesker til at fordreje virkeligheden s氓 den passer med opfattelsen af en velordnet verden. (鈥�) Denne psykologiske mekanisme betyder at vi er tilb酶jelige til at presse virkeligheden meget langt for at kunne tro et menneske der er ramt af en stor ulykke, selv har v忙ret ude om det der er sket. (鈥�) Vi er alle tilb酶jelige til at danne vores virkelighedsbilleder som de tyske civile der af engelske soldater kort efter krigen blev tvunget til at spadsere gennem en kz-lejr. En af dem sagde: 鈥� Sikke forf忙rdelige forbrydere der m氓 have v忙ret her n氓r de f氓r s氓dan en straf鈥�.鈥� s. 358
Dejligt komplekst modsat fattigt forenklende. Ogs氓 sv忙rt overskueligt, men m氓ske m氓let ikke beh酶ver v忙re fuld overskuelighed og afklaring - hvilket de forskellige perspektivers (personers) afslutninger i bogen ogs氓 meget fint understreger. Gode billeder p氓 menneskelige omst忙ndigheder.
Essayet 鈥淥ndskabens Psykologi II鈥� fungerede undervejs for mig framragende rammes忙ttende, med de fire perspektiver:
1. Handlinger skaber holdninger: Kognitiv dissonans
2. Roller skaber mennesker: Stanford F忙ngsel Fors酶get
3. Grupper bygget p氓 n忙sten ingenting: 鈥極s og dem鈥�-kategorisering
4. Ofret er selv ude om det: Virkeligheden tilpasses vores behov for mening
(鈥淜ognitiv dissonans er en personlig tilstand karakteriseret ved mentalt ubehag, som opst氓r, n氓r der er uoverensstemmelse mellem ens viden og 酶nsker for, hvordan man gerne vil handle p氓 den ene side, og s氓 ens faktiske handlinger p氓 den anden side.鈥�
)
Handlinger skaber holdninger: Kognitiv dissonans
鈥淜un de personer der havde l酶jet for et meget lille bel酶b, f酶lte et pres mod at 忙ndre deres holdning for at f氓 sammenh忙ng mellem handling og holdning. De oplevede den ubehagelige tilstand af indre uoverensstemmelser der er et kernebegreb i socialpsykologien og som hedder 鈥榢ognitiv dissonans鈥�. (鈥�) Denne holdnings忙ndring er ikke udvendig og p氓taget. Holdningen s忙tter sig fast som personens oprigtige mening. Konklusionen er: Handlinger der i sig selv tilsyneladende kun g酶r begr忙nset skade, f酶rer til psykologiske forandringer. Og de forandringer g酶r st酶rre og mere 酶del忙ggende handlinger mulige.鈥� s. 352
Roller skaber mennesker: Stanford F忙ngsel Fors酶get
鈥淚 1971 ville socialpsykologen Phillip G. Zimbardo og hans kolleger ved Stanford University unders酶ge hvad der psykologisk sker med mennesker der sidder i f忙ngsel eller arbejder i f忙ngsel. (鈥�) Dette fors酶g er, ligesom Milgrams lydighedsfors酶g, blevet et af de klassiske og ber酶mte fors酶g i socialpsykologien. Siden er det vist i mange andre sammenh忙nge hvordan 鈥榬ollen鈥� og 鈥榮elvet鈥� let glider sammen. Mennesker bliver ofte det rollen kr忙ver af dem, og som nye mennesker finder de en mening og sammenh忙ng i det de foretager sig.鈥� s. 355
Grupper bygget p氓 n忙sten ingenting: 鈥極s og dem鈥�-kategorisering
鈥淒et er eksperimentelt vist utallige gange at vi t忙nker i 鈥極s og dem鈥�-t忙nkning. Der g忙lder forskellige regler for 鈥榦s鈥� i vores gruppe og 鈥榙em鈥� i den anden gruppe. Grunden til at vi t忙nker s氓dan, er enkel: Alle mennesker er n酶dt til at forholde sig til en uendelig kompliceret og uoverskuelig verden. For at forenkle den og hurtigt frasortere irrelevante informationer rubricerer vi mennesker i kategorier. Denne kategorisering er en del af den menneskelige m氓de at t忙nke p氓. Den er n酶dvendig for os, og ingen af os kan undslippe den.鈥� s. 356
鈥淪ocialpsykologien har imidlertid vist nogle gennemg氓ende forvr忙ngninger i den m氓de vores 鈥極s og dem鈥�-t忙nkning fungerer: Vi overdriver lighederne mellem medlemmer af vores egen gruppe, vi overdriver ensartetheden blandt medlemmer af andre grupper, vi overdriver forskellene imellem grupperne, og normalt bryder vi os mere om medlemmer af vores egen gruppe end medlemmer af andre grupper.鈥� s. 357
Ofret er selv ude om det: Virkeligheden tilpasses vores behov for mening
鈥淰i ved alle at gode mennesker ogs氓 rammes af forf忙rdelige lidelser, men langt de fleste af os fors酶ger alligevel at holde fast i h氓bet om en grundl忙ggende retf忙rdig verden. Der skal v忙re noget godt vi kan sende vores b酶rn ud i. Utallige unders酶gelser viser hvordan det h氓b, og en ubevidst str忙ben efter mening og sammenh忙ng i vores informationer, f氓r mennesker til at fordreje virkeligheden s氓 den passer med opfattelsen af en velordnet verden. (鈥�) Denne psykologiske mekanisme betyder at vi er tilb酶jelige til at presse virkeligheden meget langt for at kunne tro et menneske der er ramt af en stor ulykke, selv har v忙ret ude om det der er sket. (鈥�) Vi er alle tilb酶jelige til at danne vores virkelighedsbilleder som de tyske civile der af engelske soldater kort efter krigen blev tvunget til at spadsere gennem en kz-lejr. En af dem sagde: 鈥� Sikke forf忙rdelige forbrydere der m氓 have v忙ret her n氓r de f氓r s氓dan en straf鈥�.鈥� s. 358
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July 2, 2021Ik heb geen flauw idee wat ik van dit boek moet vinden...
Vond ik het slecht? Nee. Maar ik heb ook geen drang gehad om door te lezen. Aan de ene kant weet je vanaf het begin wat er aan de hand is en wat er zal gaan gebeuren, aan de andere kant blijft het tot het einde onduidelijk wat de situatie precies is. En t贸ch denk ik dat het boek juist daardoor me bij gaat blijven. Eindoordeel: 馃し馃徏鈥嶁檧锔�
Vond ik het slecht? Nee. Maar ik heb ook geen drang gehad om door te lezen. Aan de ene kant weet je vanaf het begin wat er aan de hand is en wat er zal gaan gebeuren, aan de andere kant blijft het tot het einde onduidelijk wat de situatie precies is. En t贸ch denk ik dat het boek juist daardoor me bij gaat blijven. Eindoordeel: 馃し馃徏鈥嶁檧锔�
September 21, 2010
Christian Jungersen's book has been much talked about here in Denmark. It seems like everybody has read it and most people have loved it as well. I finally got around to reading it, and while I was well entertained while reading it, it wasn't as good as I expected it to be.
Undtagelsen (The Exception) is about four women working together at the Danish Centre for Genocide Information. The two youngest women, Iben and Malene, are old friends and they are in charge of the office, leaving the two older woman, Camilla and Anne Lise, to fend for themselves. This results in Anne Lise being bullied and when Iben and Malene - and later on Camilla - receives emails with death threats, things escalates in the small office.
I really loved the concept of this book and how Jungersen compares the small level bullying in work places with larger scale bullying which genocide in a way can be at least compared too - we don't like you because you're different. I liked the real facts about genocides and was really intrigued by the discussions of what evil is and how people can commit the most horrific acts while being pressured by a group or influenced by a powerful leader and afterwards can carry on ordinary mundane lives without ever thinking about these things again. How a loving school teacher can kill his pupils and their parents because they are from another ethnic group and then after the war is over, he goes back to teaching the surviving kids.
Jungersen has some interesting perspectives on how we change our views to correspond with the situations we find ourselves in. How every time a person saluted Hitler, for instance, that person became more and more accepting of his thoughts and ideas because you're not only showing others how you are like them; you are also showing yourself. This point is so very important because we do that all the time - if I have a job where everybody else have very strong and negative feelings about immigration, then I'll tone down my own positive feelings and over time, my feelings will become less and less positive. So it's a warning to everyone to consider who you surround yourself with because over time, the wrong crowd can influence you and distort your values.
I also really liked how he tells the story from the point of view of the four women (although Camilla doesn't get much of a say until very late in the book). It shows how different people see the same situation and how paranoia slowly (quickly!) builds and people suddenly suspect anything another person do.
But some things in this book didn't work for me. At times, the paranoia of these women just didn't feel real - it felt exaggerated. Girlfriends trust each other more than the two girlfriends at the center of this book do. It did at time feel like a man's attempt to describe women's world. Now I've heard lots of men talk about how women are to each other and I'm sad to say, not all of it is wrong. I've worked in an office with just a male boss and the women could be cruel to each other - I've seen one co-worker stand behind another and make stabbing movements with no one interfering (not feeling proud of that one). But these women just didn't ring completely true to me.
Also, I had some problems with the plot at times. The spyware Rasmus (Malene's boyfriend) makes to find out who mailed the death threats and which get involved in a very important plot point at a late point in the book, did seem a bit far fetched to me - or not the spyware itself, but what it did and caused to happen.
In some ways, it's also very easy to have your characters talk a lot about split personalities because then you can have them do everything at a later point without them being aware of it... It's kind of a Deux ex Machina plot device - although I do realise that it's a far more valid device. Maybe it's just because it didn't work completely in this book that I get reminded of this.
Finally - I like the title. The title makes me think and question my interpretation of this book because it has kind of a Usual Suspects ending - who is Kaiser Soze? Who is the exception? I like this somewhat open ending - although I suspect it's because I think too much that I think it has an open ending ...!
In the end, this is an interesting book with a concept and an idea that could have been executed better but it's still definitely worth a read.
Undtagelsen (The Exception) is about four women working together at the Danish Centre for Genocide Information. The two youngest women, Iben and Malene, are old friends and they are in charge of the office, leaving the two older woman, Camilla and Anne Lise, to fend for themselves. This results in Anne Lise being bullied and when Iben and Malene - and later on Camilla - receives emails with death threats, things escalates in the small office.
I really loved the concept of this book and how Jungersen compares the small level bullying in work places with larger scale bullying which genocide in a way can be at least compared too - we don't like you because you're different. I liked the real facts about genocides and was really intrigued by the discussions of what evil is and how people can commit the most horrific acts while being pressured by a group or influenced by a powerful leader and afterwards can carry on ordinary mundane lives without ever thinking about these things again. How a loving school teacher can kill his pupils and their parents because they are from another ethnic group and then after the war is over, he goes back to teaching the surviving kids.
Jungersen has some interesting perspectives on how we change our views to correspond with the situations we find ourselves in. How every time a person saluted Hitler, for instance, that person became more and more accepting of his thoughts and ideas because you're not only showing others how you are like them; you are also showing yourself. This point is so very important because we do that all the time - if I have a job where everybody else have very strong and negative feelings about immigration, then I'll tone down my own positive feelings and over time, my feelings will become less and less positive. So it's a warning to everyone to consider who you surround yourself with because over time, the wrong crowd can influence you and distort your values.
I also really liked how he tells the story from the point of view of the four women (although Camilla doesn't get much of a say until very late in the book). It shows how different people see the same situation and how paranoia slowly (quickly!) builds and people suddenly suspect anything another person do.
But some things in this book didn't work for me. At times, the paranoia of these women just didn't feel real - it felt exaggerated. Girlfriends trust each other more than the two girlfriends at the center of this book do. It did at time feel like a man's attempt to describe women's world. Now I've heard lots of men talk about how women are to each other and I'm sad to say, not all of it is wrong. I've worked in an office with just a male boss and the women could be cruel to each other - I've seen one co-worker stand behind another and make stabbing movements with no one interfering (not feeling proud of that one). But these women just didn't ring completely true to me.
Also, I had some problems with the plot at times. The spyware Rasmus (Malene's boyfriend) makes to find out who mailed the death threats and which get involved in a very important plot point at a late point in the book, did seem a bit far fetched to me - or not the spyware itself, but what it did and caused to happen.
In some ways, it's also very easy to have your characters talk a lot about split personalities because then you can have them do everything at a later point without them being aware of it... It's kind of a Deux ex Machina plot device - although I do realise that it's a far more valid device. Maybe it's just because it didn't work completely in this book that I get reminded of this.
Finally - I like the title. The title makes me think and question my interpretation of this book because it has kind of a Usual Suspects ending - who is Kaiser Soze? Who is the exception? I like this somewhat open ending - although I suspect it's because I think too much that I think it has an open ending ...!
In the end, this is an interesting book with a concept and an idea that could have been executed better but it's still definitely worth a read.
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