703. The Safety Net

The Safety Net
Heinrich Boll
1979
Around 315 pages

Once again, we are saying goodbye to an author who has been with us for awhile, although I am certainly more ambivalent about bidding Boll adieu than I was with Murdoch or Calvino. Here's my official Boll ranking, for your records.

1. The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum
2. Billiards at Half Past Nine
3. The Safety Net
4. Group Portrait with a Lady

So we are not exactly leaving on a high, but this was still a decent entry. I think I am getting spoiled from the last few entries on this List. Fritz Tolm is an aging former art historian, now newspaper publisher, who is elected as head of the Association, which is a secretive power center in West Germany. Boll never feels comfortable in one point of view too long, and it can have the effect of making his novels too decentralized. 

I have a feeling Boll's life was way more exciting than his stories. But we are still parting on good terms with The Safety Net.

RATING: ***--

Interesting Facts:

In 1977, after the abduction of Hanns Martin Schleyer, 40 police searched Böll's house based on an anonymous tip they received that named Böll's son as an accomplice to the kidnappers. These claims turned out to be unfounded. The Christian Democrats placed Böll on a blacklist after this incident.

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