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This is the third Boll I have read and I have loved them all, but I think The Safety Net and The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum were more accessible. This book had the author researching what the protagonist was like by interviewing a wide variety of people who knew her. It was unclear to me what motivated the author, who was paying him and why he just didn't interview Leni himself. But the differing viewpoints, only some of which agreed, built up an intriguing portrait of an individual. Along the way Boll reveals his disdain for capitalism, war, profiteers and Nazism. I can understand why this novel was so popular in Germany because it portrays how ordinary people tried to cope with the insanity of Nazism, the barbarity of war and the inhumanity of former neighbours. It is exceptionally thoughtprovoking.