Billiards at Half Past Nine Main Characters
With a setting based on the Nazi regime, the Billiards at Half Past Nine is a novel written by Heinrich Böll, under the original name Billard um halbzehn. This 1950s novel depicts a story of the Faehmel family’s architect, Robert Faehmel, while tackling common German political developments during a half a century period.
The novel uses flashbacks to help deliver the thoughts of different characters involved in the story while covering the most important idealism of most Germans during the Nazi and post-war regime.
The story mainly focuses on the life of Robert Faehmel as he goes about with his mysterious and precise interests which include playing billiards at a local hotel. A bellboy working on the said establishment serves as one of his few contacts with the outside world. The story progresses, and a series of characters emerge to help make the novel one of the best pieces of literature in the early century.
Billiards at Half Past Nine Character Analysis:
–Robert Faehmel
The main character in the story, Robert Faehmel, is an architect who lives a solitary life which mainly involves accurate and specific work routines and a daily billiard spree at the local Prince Heinrich Hotel. Not mainly a fan of war, Robert was known to destroy St. Anthony’s Abbey, a church constructed by the family patriarch HeinrichFaehmel, who is also a prominent architect during his prime.
After the war, Robert dedicates his life to bringing everything back to normal. He chooses his friends carefully and only lets a few people inside his private memories.
Henreich Faehmel
He is the prominent family patriarch who built the beautiful St. Anthony’s Abbey. His 80th birthday marks a series of events which molded how the family dedicated themselves to a life which strays away from the usual conventions and far from the oppressive society run by Nazis and other people in power.
Joseph