Christoph Hein Willenbrock (Breaking Up) Suhrkamp Verlag, July 2000, 320pp. Do we have a clue to the character of this novel's hero in the very echoes evoked by his name? Willen/brechen: somebody whose will has been broken; Villen/brechen: one who breaks into posh people's homes. Willenbrock, once an engineer in the German Democratic Republic and now a secondhand car dealer in post-unification Berlin, combines traces of both these ideas. In one respect, he is a typical victim of a mid-life crisis, as the seduction technique at which he has been so adept becomes undermined by his sense of insecurity and he becomes convinced, on very little evidence, that his affectionate wife Susanne is the one who is having an affair. But the nub of this tale, told from Willenbrock's point of view only, goes much deeper. In strictly national terms it concerns the impact of capitalism on a former GDR citizen who had very personal reasons for hating the former regime. More widely it touches on the capitalist way of life as a whole. Capitalism means private property. Private property must be protected. But protection - and protection rackets - are never far away from violence. The events of the novel are dominated by crime. Cars are stolen from Willenbrock's used-car lot. The garage's night watchman is assaulted and his dog killed. Willenbrock himself is attacked in his country house on the north coast of what was East Germany by two Russians - who are caught but, much to his outrage, merely deported. Finally he obtains a gun and uses it on an intruder - an incident that has no follow-up, but does nothing to allay his fears. In short, every attempt he makes to defend his newly acquired capitalist property makes him paradoxically more insecure. This novel can be compared to Ian McEwan in its psychological honesty and to Michael Frayn in its humour. In both these respects it far transcends its narrower bounds as a contribution to a very German debate about national stereotypes.