Asne Seierstad’s One of Us: The Story of a Massacre and its Aftermath is justly acclaimed, harrowing but always clear-sighted. Was Breivik responsible? Given the enormity of what he did, it’s not surprising that the two groups of psychiatrists appointed by the court differed in their conclusions: the first found him to be psychotic and therefore not responsible for his actions; the second that he had a dissocial personality disorder and was responsible. But the book convinces me that, as the court decided, Breivik was accountable.
Seierstad reports that a prison psychologist, Eirik Johannessen, had frequent sessions with Breivik during his trial and saw no evidence that he was psychotic; he was, for example, able ‘to see himself from the outside’ and moderate his behaviour in the courtroom. Rather, Johannessen concluded that:
‘Breivik’s ideas were an expression of extreme right-wing views, and the way in which he presented them could be accounted for by his inflated self-image’
(Asne Seierstad, One of Us: The Story of a Massacre and its Aftermath, trans. Sarah Death, London: Virago, 2015, p. 474)
Breivik was a liar and a failure, not mad. But there are better ideas for the world. What Seierstad does so well is to show us the people who died at Utoya in 2011, their vitality and their hopes.
Looking, Thinking, Falling Over 