End of a Mission

An extremely funny book, it has a quiet, wry sense of humor. But, like all good satires, there is an underlying seriousness. In this book, the underlying themes deal with the relationship between the state and the individual. As always, Boll's characters are powerfully human and fully realized, and the events are told with a touch that remains light without trivializing.

This is not Heinrich Boll's best book, but it is certainly well worth reading. The story centers around a court case, in which a man and his father are being tried for burning an army jeep. The case is kept very low-profile, and the accuseds are not concerned at all by the charges, which seem suspiciously minor. Boll's finely drawn characters and dialogue make the story eminently palatable, as he asks the reader subtle questions about art and its place in the state.