Product Description

The first novel by the Nobel prize winner, never previously published. Written at the end of the Second World War it describes the death and destruction faced by the people of a city ravaged by war.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1622383 in Books
• Published on: 1995-08-17
• Original language: German
• Binding: Paperback
• 184 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Boll's first novel, unpublished until after his death, tells a story of decay and redemption in post World War II Germany.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
The late Nobel Prize winner's first novel, now published for the first time, is a significant example of German Heimkehrer literature, which describes the return of soldiers and prisoners of war to their homes after World War II and their problematic reintegration into a society facing the choice of repeating the mistakes of a discredited past or constructing a new, more just society. Particularly moving in its descriptions of the simple struggle for existence in a devastated German city in 1945, the novel explores a surprisingly full range of the mature writer's major themes. The plot centers around Hans, who, seeking a morally defensible life of love and commitment, is seemingly destined to live on the periphery of an economically recovering society. He is contrasted with Fischer, a wealthy and morally empty art connoisseur, who acquires increasing riches and influence with the aid of the hierarchy of the Catholic church. A fine beginning from a great writer; recommended for most collections.
--Michael T. O'Pecko, Towson State Univ., Md.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Nobel Laureate B{"}oll's first novel has now been published for the first time, nearly a decade after his death. It's easy to see why it was rejected in 1951: its depiction of Germany smashed and damned at the close of World War II is staggering in its intensity and evocation of despair and shock. No one would have wanted to read it then. To read it now, however, is to reaffirm the horror and insanity of the war and to recognize the miracle of survival and recovery. It is also an occasion for renewing our appreciation for B{"}oll's genius for setting scenes of tremendous emotional dimension and creating characters of great psychological vividness. His hero is a young man named Hans who, in the novel's brief overture, finds out he's been drafted. Time quickly shifts to the bitter end of the war. Hans is starving, homeless, and delirious, but as he struggles to stay alive in this shimmering void of hunger and defeat, he discovers that he's still capable of love. The world may be dust and ruin, and angels may be silent, but the heart still speaks. It seems that we're finally ready to listen. Donna Seaman