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Jennifer Hofmann

The Standardization of Demoralization Procedures Hardcover – August 11, 2020

by Jennifer Hofmann (Author)

4.2 114 ratings

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In a world of spycraft, betrayals, and reversals, a Stasi officer is unraveled by the cruel system he served and by the revelation of a decades-old secret, in this “story that John le Carré might have written for The Twilight Zone” (Washington Post).

A BuzzFeed Best Book of 2020

On November 9, 1989, Bernd Zeiger, a Stasi officer in the twilight of his career, is deteriorating from a mysterious illness. Alarmed by the disappearance of Lara, a young waitress at his regular café with whom he is obsessed, he chases a series of clues throughout Berlin. The details of Lara’s vanishing trigger flashbacks to his entanglement with Johannes Held, a physicist who, twenty-five years earlier, infiltrated an American research institute dedicated to weaponizing the paranormal.

Now, on the day the Berlin Wall falls and Zeiger’s mind begins to crumble, his past transgressions have come back to haunt him. Who is the real Lara, what happened to her, and what is her connection to these events? As the surveiller becomes the surveilled, the mystery is both solved and deepened, with unexpected consequences.

Set in the final, turbulent days of the Cold War, The Standardization of Demoralization Procedures blends the high-wire espionage of John le Carré with the brilliant absurdist humor of Milan Kundera to evoke the dehumanizing forces that turned neighbor against neighbor and friend against friend. Jennifer Hofmann’s debut is an affecting, layered investigation of conscience and country.

Print length

272 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Little, Brown and Company
Publication date

August 11, 2020
Dimensions

6.5 x 1 x 9.75 inches
ISBN-10

0316426458
ISBN-13

978-0316426459
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From the Publisher

Editorial Reviews

Review

“A story that John le Carré might have written for ‘The Twilight Zone,’ the tale of a spy who comes in from the cold while his world turns inside out… It’s not easy to make such a bureaucratic monster sympathetic, but by plumbing Zeiger’s existential crisis, Hofmann manages to reach his essential humanity… A rare novel that encourages you to read as though your sanity depends on it.”―Ron Charles, Washington Post

“A gripping debut novel… Hofmann portrays [a] pervasive sense of syncope through rhythmic prose and powerful allusions to faith in an amoral world… she also establishes an effective tension between the German penchant for order and the sudden eruptions of chaos… Hofmann heightens this sense of entropy with evocative descriptions of people and places… [a sense of capsizing] reaches a pinnacle at the novel’s clever, dramatic end.”―Dalia Sofer, New York Times Book Review

“Expertly crafted… I loved every… unpredictable minute of it.” ―Arianna Rebolini, BuzzFeed

“Nothing is as it appears and nobody is to be trusted . . . A clever and constantly surprising novel.”―Kate Saunders, The Times

"Enrapturing... Hofmann constructs a beguiling tale of espionage... the novel hovers between genres like a subatomic particle between states. All the more impressive, Hoffman's exceptional debut never loses sight of the desires, mysteries, and small acts of rebellion that persist within dehumanizing systems."―Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"A remarkable first novel that reads like the work of a seasoned pro... Hofmann writes in assured prose of carefully chosen details that mark the best period fiction... she conjures up dark comedy in an understated, quirky satire of the Stasi's bureaucracy and cruelty and the paranoia that permeated East Germany."―Kirkus (starred review)

"Gorgeous, dark, and haunted... a masterpiece of restraint, insight, and style... There is an extraordinary clarity of perception in these pages and one is astonished time and again at Jennifer Hofmann's prodigious gifts... It is a singular feat for a book about subject matter this chilling to make the reader feel so deeply; and yet that is part of the work of timeless literature, which is what this incandescent novel surely will come to be regarded as."―Matthew Thomas, New York Times bestselling author of We Are Not Ourselves

"A beautiful and haunting novel that will linger in the minds of its readers... The Standardization of Demoralization Procedures challenges the reader to separate the fantastical from the merely bizarre. Is it the state or its citizens who are losing their minds? And how much repression can the human heart and soul withstand?"―David Bezmozgis, author of the National Jewish Book Award winner The Betrayers

"A masterful waltz... an endlessly captivating puzzle... Despite the seemingly doomed world in which the novel takes place, Hofmann manages to dazzle us with brilliant humor, unrivaled insight, and fragments of hope. She recalls the prose brilliance of Jenny Erpenbeck, the philosophical curiosity of Milan Kundera, and the passion for the charming and the odd of Haruki Murakami... The Standardization of Demoralization Procedures is a hilarious, humanist, gorgeously written treatise on the currents that stir the human soul under the direst circumstances... I read this book in almost a single breath, and it is easily the best novel I've encountered this year, brilliant and funny and profound, producing some of the most complex, fascinating characters I've ever known... an instant classic."―Jaroslav Kalfar, author of Spaceman of Bohemia, finalist for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, the Arthur C. Clarke Award, and the Dayton Literary Peace Prize

“Despite nourish trappings and some clever plot reversals, Hofmann’s novel is noteworthy not for its riff on the espionage-thriller genre, but for using a surreal historical moment to explore broader points about the collapse of ideals and the corrosiveness of secrecy.”―Brendan Driscoll, Booklist

About the Author

Jennifer Hofmann was born in Princeton, New Jersey, to an Austrian father and a Colombian mother, and grew up in Germany. She received her MFA from NYU and currently lives in Berlin. This is her first novel.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Little, Brown and Company (August 11, 2020)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 272 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0316426458
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0316426459
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.04 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.5 x 1 x 9.75 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,225,292 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,651 in Dark Humor
- #6,841 in Fiction Satire
- #52,344 in Suspense Thrillers

Customer Reviews:
4.2 114 ratings

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Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5

114 global ratings

5 star		48%
4 star		29%
3 star		13%
2 star		8%
1 star		1%

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Top reviews from the United States

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fahrender

A comic critique of a time not long past.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 28, 2020

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This is a brilliant book, full of dark humor and insight. One might compare Hofman to Kafka or Dubravka Ugresic and not be found guilty of hyperbole.

3 people found this helpful

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Ad Astra

A mind-blowing and fascinating new novel!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 14, 2020

Verified Purchase

This is the most mind-blowing and fascinating novel I have encountered in many years! It is so captivating and delightful that I could not stop reading after I received it two days ago. Superficially viewed it is a suspension spy thriller centered around the final day of the totalitarian state of East Germany in East Berlin. Its main character is Bernd Zeiger, a long-time operative of the feared secret police Stasi who searches for a young woman who mysteriously disappeared. But this novel goes far beyond this and reaches much deeper, on many levels. In a masterfully developed plot using flashbacks, it describes the intertwined lives of Bernd Zeiger and of some of his acquaintances and victims. In particular, of a physicist who worked on secret paranormal experiments in the US, who was tortured and locked in a psychiatric ward because he would not divulge his knowledge. It exposes the unsurmountable tension between a state purporting to possess the absolute truth and authority over its citizens and the individual’s natural desire for freedom and veracity. It also shows the dishonesty of system collaborators who would betray their best friends when deemed necessary. In the end all this falls back on Bernd Zeiger when the system reaches its end. This novel touches in a very impressive and sophisticated way fundamental questions of human character and existence which are independent of the background of the story. The numerous detailed observations, sometimes absurd and often highly humorous and the brilliant language produce a continuous intellectual reading pleasure. This novel is a unique literary jewel with many surprising facets to discover. I have already started to do so by reading it again.
I recommend this book very highly!

5 people found this helpful

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Doris Salud

A wounderful book

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 16, 2020

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I normally don’t write reviews but this book deserves one. Why? Because I lived through some of the history that has been described in this book in the most cruel and real manner. Spy book, oh yes, one of the most brutal surveillance state that humanity has seen. The spying of your so-called friends. You were never sure when the secret police Stasi would be at your door accusing you for something you haven never done. The title, what an accurate title “The Standardization of Demoralization Procedures”. At that time everything was planned and controlled, everything had a prescribed procedure. The author has also been able to express the thoughts of so many who worked for the system, those who regret it, those that still believe in that system and those that just lived from day to day without thinking, just surviving and hoping that the Stasi will never knock at their door. This novel kept me in suspense with so many twists and the end…. well there is a fabulous twist. You will will be intrigued reading this book and feel the mindset of the people living in a totalitarian regime.

5 people found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

Disappointed in a subject that interests me

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 15, 2020

Verified Purchase

I’m an avid reader and this book took a long time to read.

One person found this helpful

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Lennox

Can’t put it down

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 25, 2020

Verified Purchase

Masterfully written and imposible to put down. Hofmann is Le Carre gripping Cold War East Berlin meets Gabriel Garcia Marques’ surreal and sublime verbal illustrations of the happenings of a dammed human in a damned place. Brilliant!

2 people found this helpful

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David Williams

good book, good timing

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 17, 2021

Verified Purchase

present for a German friend

3 people found this helpful

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Andrew Ritchie

Spectacular

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 28, 2021

Verified Purchase

The best book I’ve read in ages. A darkly funny, incredibly gripping novel that never stopped surprising me. Must read.

2 people found this helpful

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D E Dowall

Brilliant Kafkaesque novel

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 22, 2020

Verified Purchase

A dark dive into life into the cold-war Berlin Stasi world. Hofmann is a fantastic stylist.

3 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Vlad Thelad

Captivatingly interesting

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on August 28, 2020

Verified Purchase

It has long been said that when asked for your opinion about something, a good noncommittal answer is to say “it’s interesting.” However, this is a book, a first novel by a young author, which I found above all to be truly and captivatingly interesting. The choice of setting, geographically, culturally, and timewise, is in itself intriguing. The characters have veritable depth, when they could have easily been rendered as caricatures. Yet, perhaps the most distinctive element of the novel is the use of the language. This is a writer with a definitive voice of her own, where her use of similes, metaphors, descriptors and adjectives captures the very essence of the story she is telling. This is not easily complacent writing. It is mature, thought through, and carefully crafted to the greatest effect. What an interesting result this book is.

Ray Hiltz

Brilliant first novel by Jennifer Hofmann

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on September 10, 2020

Verified Purchase

It seems lately that I've been reading a lot of first novels and being awestruck at the quality and maturity of the writing. Like all good things, it takes a little time to acclimatize ourselves to the characters (in this case not many) and style of writing.
In the case of the former, all the characters are fleshed out, not only in the description but in their dialogue and inner voices.
The action takes place around the fall of the Berlin wall. Life on the east side of the wall is captured so well you can feel the grayness as if you were walking on the movie set of The Third Man.

The writing stopped me in my tracks at times to digest the impact of a description or a thought. Highly recommended.

Amazon Customer

Gaslighting at it`s finest.

Reviewed in Germany 🇩🇪 on September 4, 2020

Verified Purchase

A wonderful, insightful description of life in Germany...now.

One person found this helpful

See all reviews

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