The Casualty

By Heinrich Böll

Book Overview

These stories by Nobel Prize winner Heinrich B?ll, written between 1946 and 1952 but only published here in 1987, are stunning accounts of German soldiers in a war they did not want and the bleak aftermath of Germany in ruins. In this early work, B?ll's style is already powerful and evocative, engaging in the moral drama that will come to fruition in such later works as Billiards at Half-Past Nine , The Clown , Group Portrait with Lady , and The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum .

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0393305996
• ISBN13: 9780393305999
• Release Date: April 1989
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.58 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.4" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

A striking and terrifying view of war and its aftermath

These 22 short stories by Heinrich Böll are powerful and moving. Most of the stories are very short, "The Casualty" being the longest (40 pages in this edition). "Vive La France" gives a good description of the passing of time, and is a tense, atmospheric story. "Beside the River" is also especially good, the despair and hopelessness of the story is almost tangible, and the switching of narrators is well done. All in all, I was very impressed with these stories, and am surprised that they are not more widely read.