“Anders was often the only one not invited to come and stroke other children’s new puppies or kittens.”

SeierstadThey didn’t invite Anders Breivik to see their pets because they knew that he tortured his pet rats by poking them with pencils. One of Us: The Story of Anders Breivik and the Massacre in Norway provides layers of details about the man who killed 77 people in Norway in 2011, and who later bragged that he was the “biggest monster in Norway’s history since Quisling.” I believe the details make this book simultaneously a “masterpiece of reportage” and “a deeply painful book to experience.” This vivid, well-researched book may be the most unforgettable book I have read this year.

Asne Seierstad, One of Us: The Story of Anders Breivik and the Massacre in Norway (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2015), 35.

 

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