 What do you even write after reading something like this. As the main character says at some point Thomsen: “I used to be numb; now I’m raw.” Here's the New Yorker's review from ten years ago, written by Joyce Carol Oates I read it - with some misgiving, considering the subject matter – because I wanted to read it before the movie. As a narrative it really moved and I believe I learned something new, if in the details, perhaps, though of course the Big Why always eludes. So instead of critiquing the movie, I'll critique the critique - I think JCO misses the main insight - how do we normalize the unspeakable? How can we live our family lives, and go on doing our day-to-day mundanities, eating, sleeping, celebrating holidays, engaging small talk and having affairs, when the very air we breathe smells like the stench of dead bodies? With everything we know and learned and asked and read about the Holocaust, that's a question that hasn't been asked - as far as I know. What about the kids, the wife, the veneer of normalacy over genocide? In the end, maybe the answer is, we can normalize any sort of insanity, given time. And so it's best to stop it when it's still small. Here's the movie trailer, which I will get back to you on. I miss Martin Amis.
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