Group Portrait with Lady was Boll's most impressive fictional creation and clearly the largest in scope. Reminiscent of the expansive narrative tradition of Tolstoy, incorporating numerous characters, intricate plot development, and broad thematic purpose, the novel combines an effective blend of sentiment and satire. As in much of his fiction, Boll also echoes the philosophical conviction of both Brecht and Camus, emphasizing contemporary alienation, the documentary mode of communication, and the universal although ultimately hopeless struggle between good and evil. Of additional importance in relation to Group Portrait with Lady is Boll's intelligent and sensitive treatment of women, compared by some to the fiction of John Updike.

Invariably, however, Boll was most concerned with attempting to capture in the form of the novel the German experience of the twentieth century, and conceivably in conjunction with The Tin Drum by Gunter Grass, Group Portrait with Lady survives...