"One of Us" was chosen as one of the Times 10 best books of 2015. It is written by Asne Seierstad, a Norwegian journalist whose previous best seller was "The Bookseller of Kabul." This time she has written about Anders Breivik, the notorious terrorist who killed 77 people in one day, July 22, 2011, following his life from birth to his conviction. This is such a horrendous story, one wonders why bother reading of it. I approached this book with two minds and would never have been able to get through it if Seierstad was not such a brilliant writer. I imagine it was a devastating book to write and perhaps the author's motive for writing is that which many readers, including myself, have for reading it; that is, an attempt to make sense of such senseless violence and to try to understand how Breivik became a killer. To this end, the title Seierstad chose was brilliant. Is he indeed one of us? How is it that Breivik grew so differently from the ideals of a country known for its tolerance and fairness; a country which is admired for its social programs and progress.
Anders Breivik was born in 1979. His childhood was not a happy one, he was abused at home, his mother was needy and depressed, and unable to provide a stable home for her children. His father abandoned the family. His half sister left home as soon as she could. Anders was never accepted at school. He attempted to be cool, and as a teen he tried to join a group of taggers who were graffiti artists. But, he always wanted to be the best, in his mind he was the best. He left school early and was unsuccessful at business. The older he got, the more he was prone to violent outbursts and moodiness. He used steroids and tried body building. He was dissatisfied with his looks and had his nose done. He wore makeup. Things just didn't work out for Anders, and at 27 he moved back to his mother's home. For the next five years he became a recluse, locking himself in his bedroom and spending as much as 17 hours a day playing violent video games. He became obsessed with a game called World of Warcraft, where he could fulfill his dreams of dominance. He logged into white supremacist websites and called himself a Knight Templar. He began a delusional crusade against women, Muslums, immigrants. He particularly took against the Labour Party which was Norway's governing party and its teenage counterpart, AVS.
An so we come to that infamous day where all Breivik's planning led to, the day he began by detonating a bomb outside the Prim Minister's office, killing eight. From there he drove and took a ferry to the island of Utoya where the young members of AVS were enjoying a camping holiday. Many of these students were the best and brightest of their generation. There Breivik coldly slaughtered 69 young teens. In the lead up to this horror, Seiestad tells the story of some of these youths, choosing a good cross section of backgrounds, their potential never to be realized..
One of the sadder aspects of all this was the incompetence of the police. Seierstad lays out all the lost opportunities the authorities had of following leads and ignoring evidence and information and the sightings called in. In one horrible instance, a group of police hid onshore right across from the island hearing gunshots and not even taking available boats to investigate while Breivik was calmly shooting one victim after another.
When Breivik turned himself in, the authorities gave him the fairest hearing and trial possible. He was treated with dignity despite his posturing and demands to preach his twisted philosophy. And finally he was convicted according to the laws of Norway. Interestingly Breivik recently surfaced again demanding a hearing claiming to being treated inhumanly in his isolation. Photos of the cell show it to be much like a college dorm room with separate bathroom facilities. The government maintains that his isolation is in a large part to keep his safe from other prisoners who have threatened to kill him.
I recommend this well written book for its fair and complete picture of a complex person who was either a political terrorist or a madman. Readers can decide whether they agree with the court or not. It is not an easy book to read because of its subject matter, but it is handled with care and fairness.
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