Heinrich Boll
1974
Around 105 pages
The previous Heinrich Boll novel, Group Portrait of Lady, was good. But now that I've read this, I have the feeling it was simply practice for The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum. This entry is much tighter and more focused, with a much more compelling story.
The novel is presented as a confidential report, based on a variety of sources, about Katharina Blum. Katharina is a housekeeper whose life is turned upside down by the tabloids and an unlucky police investigation. Boll really has a swipe at the press here and did an excellent job capturing the political panic and sensationalism of the time period. So glad we are past all that now.
Katharina was a fascinating character worthy of study, which I didn't really feel in his previous "documentary." I always appreciate a novel with zero filler. I'll be curious to see if this is peak Boll, as he still has one more entry on this List.
RATING: ****-
Interesting Facts:
Interesting Facts:
The fictional tabloid paper, Die Zeitung (The Newspaper), is modeled on the actual German Bild-Zeitung.
Adapted into a film in 1975.
UP NEXT: Dusklands by J.M. Coetzee
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