The Exception: A Novel

by Christian Jungersen

book data

221 ratings, 3.75 average rating, 79 reviews (more data...)

rating	frequency	%
5		25%
4		41%
3		21%
2		4%
1		6%

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published

July 10th 2007 (first published 2004) by Nan A. Talese

binding

Hardcover, 512 pages

isbn

0385516290 (isbn13: 9780385516297)

description

A bestseller throughout Europe, THE EXCEPTION is a gripping dissection of the nature of evil and of the paranoia and obsessions that drive ordinary pe

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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 412)

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11/25/08

karen rated it:

(review of isbn 1400096650)

bookshelves: distant-lands, littry-fiction, table

Read in November, 2008

im 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. its a very well-paced thriller that requires a certain suspension of disbelief but is not terribly flawed. and my desire to finish reading it has made my thanskgiving feast delayed by three hours, so...

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7 comments

08/30/07

Jason Pettus rated it:

Read in August, 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 mom...more (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...(less)

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12/17/07

Jessica rated it:

bookshelves: borrowed-from-library, mysteries

Read in December, 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 th...more

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09/21/07

Tami Spence rated it:

Has a copy to sell/swap — Read in September, 2007

It was really hard to get into this book because I found the writing to be very uninteresting (which could partly be the translation). But the more I read, the more intrigued I became by the psychology of it. It picked up speed very gradually until suddenly I realized I was completely absorbed by it. The questions it brings up are fascinating and make it worth sticking with the more mundane sections.

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02/11/09

julie rated it:

Read in March, 2009

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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2 comments

08/10/08

Vicky rated it:

An unusual story with the elemets of a triller, intresting for people working in libraries, research or academia. Where is evil in our lives, who is evil, on how we see ourselves, there is a lot of thought-provoking material.

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12/04/08

Pam rated it:

I am not sure what bothers me more about this book - the topic, person to person abuse/mass genocide or the somewhat stilted translation. I think my background causes me to find the topic so abhorrent that I can't think clearly when I read about it. I am actually astonished that the characters in the book can research and write about genocide, torture, rape, etc. so dispassionately. Maybe Europeans like this book because so many of them have had some experience of the war crimes. I do give C...more

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04/14/09

Moxysox rated it:

bookshelves: abandoned-, danish, translations

I started with all good intentions: the recommendations were all high standard, but....
A long wind-up into the body of the book, and I was left wondering if this book was a rather lacerating look under the stones and rocks of the psyche, where wriggling things live. A bit over-done by now?

Either that or a long cool look at our bickerings and whiney distrust of anyone and anything. This term 'whiney' has absolutely nothing to do with the gender of the characters, but with the w...more

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11/02/08

Mardel Fehrenbach rated it:

Read in July, 2007

An excellent, fascinating, probably somewhat controversial, and certainly unnerving novel. Some of the clunkiness of the prose may be due to the translation. It is a gripping story of good and evil, of interpersonal politics, and how even being " a good person" and "doing the right thing" does not necessarily protect you from the evil within. Little evils often add up to something bigger, and the convoluted story line and petty office politics have enough realism to ring t...more

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08/15/08

Jim Coughenour rated it:

(review of isbn 1400096650)

bookshelves: crime4connoisseurs

Read in August, 2008

recommends it for: cheerful people

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 – 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 cart...more

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12/07/07

Kate rated it:

bookshelves: readingforschool

Read in December, 2007

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...more 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.(less)

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10/28/07

Ray rated it:

Read in March, 2008

Copenhagen, here I come! Crispbread, soft cheese, fruit, and yogurt for lunch with your co-workers on a snowy Danish day fighting genocide across the world? What a lovely picture, eh? Well throw in some split personalities, damaged egos, professional climbing, a Serb or two, and you got trouble!

This book was billed as a psychological thriller, but I am not sure that is a great fit description-wise. It was more about situational ethics, groupthink, and the varying perspectives mul...more

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07/21/07

David M. rated it:

bookshelves: ethics, fiction

Read in February, 2009

It’s got a lot going for it. You know early on that it is going to be making brutal office politics a microcosm reflecting elements of large-scale genocidal outrages. The office in question being a center for genocide studies allows for parallels to be drawn pretty explicitly.

This could get heavy-handed, but Christian Jungersen does a pretty good job keeping it interesting and poignant without drumming it in too harshly.

And the office politics bullying is done with a ...more

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07/05/07

Kiwiria rated it:

(review of isbn 8702052970)

bookshelves: 2007, 5-stars, not-owned, suspense

Read in January, 2007

It took me awhile to get properly into this book, as I started out not thinking the writing was very good... too much telling, too little showing, but I guess that was because it was necessary to get the back story into place, because Christian Jungersen quickly stopped explaining so much and got on with the plot. Once I did get into the book, I couldn't put it down. The descriptions of the bullying is amazing. The book is split up into parts, and each part is told from the view point of one of ...more

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11/15/08

Rebecca rated it:

Read in December, 2008

Christian Jungersen’s 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’s Pick, The Exceptio...more

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10/21/07

Lolakay rated it:

bookshelves: fiction

Read in September, 2007

Well, I was very excited to read The Exception, after seeing a review in the Times. But I was disappointed. It could have been a much better (and slimmer) novel had it just focused on the petty evils inflicted on officemates, but it was also a grand (and overblown) rumination on the nature of evil. It might have been good as one or the other. The pair was just bad. The writing was also very... Danish. I don't actually know Danish literature, but I'm trying to give the author the benefit of ...more

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04/06/09

Sue rated it:

(review of isbn 1400096650)

Read in April, 2009

Set in the office of a Danish organization that studies genocide, this novel is written from the viewpoints of four employees. Motivations for evil acts are explored on various levels. It is left to the reader to judge how reliable or self-serving are the thoughts of each character.

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08/20/08

Myla rated it:

bookshelves: around-the-world, fiction

Read in August, 2008

I'd like to give this one 3 and 1/2 stars, because although I found it both fascinating and disturbing, I'm not sure it was quite 4 stars. The Exception basically explores the concepts of good and evil and what triggers ordinary people to do atrocious things to each other. I found the book's setting (a nonprofit organization in Denmark that researches genocide) such an interesting choice for a psychological thriller about 4 women who abhor the brutality of war and genocide and think themselves a...more

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12/16/07

Mary Catherine rated it:

Read in December, 2007

An interesting look at evil on both a large and small scale.

When four women who work for a non-profit that provides genocide education receive death threats, they go from suspecting a Serbian war criminal to themselves. Paranoia sets in and suddenly everyone is a suspect.

The best scenes are the ones where we see the women together in the office. These supposed friends treat each other with such petty acts of meanness and malice that the reader sees that you don't have t...more

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03/21/09

Diane rated it:

Read in March, 2009

this book is a thriller with twists to the end and was hard to put down. the tension builds in every chapter as the paranoia escalates among these 4 women. It's amazing how parallel are the psychological environments of genocidal maniacs and workplaces.

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