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I have soured on extensive dialogue in novels; we get enough of it in drama, film, television, and life. Why can’t narrative be primarily narrative? (See my dialogue-free novel, Sandra Ives, Thomas Ives). But if you’re going to do dialogue, you might as well go all the way, as Heinrich Böll does in this "Novel in Dialogues and Soliloquies."

The first half is truly excellent. The dialogues and soliloquies of this closet drama are intelligent as they are entertaining. The second half is not quite as entertaining, despite and because there is some plot. The problem is that the number of characters greatly increases, and I found them and the details less interesting. But all in all, it’s a fine closet drama and last work by a fine writer.