The Balek Scales

"The Baleks owe me eighteen marks and thirty-two pfennigs."(898): the discovery of a young boy who changes the entire perspective of a town living and working in the shadow of a rich and powerful family, the Baleks von Bilgan. In The Balek Scales, by Heinrich Böll, a young boy unravels his town's dark secret. The Baleks von Bilgan, the aristocratic family that is the pulse of the village, have a scale rigged to pay …

…sadness, to anger. The different tones in the story dramatically helped my mental picture by setting a theme to go by. Heinrich Böll did an excellent job of expressing these themes. The words made the theme flow right into your head and it made the story an excellent reading experience. I would definitely read more of Böll's work, just because of the way this story was laid out and made an entertaining read.