The Tin Drum: Gunter Grass

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Maria Truczinski: Girl hired by Alfred to help run his store after Agnes dies and with whom Oskar has his first sexual experience. She becomes pregnant and marries Alfred, but both Alfred and Oskar believe that they are Maria's child's father. She remains Oskar's family throughout the post-war years. Oskar, pertanto, gestisce il suo stesso sdoppiamento e mentre spezza se stesso fa altrettanto con la dovuta concentrazione della lettura. But for some reason we don't hate him. He is a weird and amusing fellow. He's also an excellent story teller. Is he a mirror of the dark side in all of us?

He retains the stature of a child while living through the beginning of World War II, several love affairs, and the world of postwar Europe. Oskar considers himself to have two "presumptive fathers"—his mother's husband Alfred Matzerath, a member of the Nazi Party, and her cousin and lover Jan Bronski, a Danzig Pole who is executed for defending the Polish Post Office in Danzig during the German invasion of Poland. Oskar's mother having died, Alfred marries Maria, a woman who is secretly Oskar's first mistress. After marrying Alfred, Maria gives birth to Kurt, whom Oskar thereafter refers to as his son. But Oskar is disappointed to find that the baby persists in growing up, and will not join him in ceasing to grow at the age of three. Oskar Matzerath is an unreliable narrator, as his sanity, or insanity, never becomes clear. He tells the tale in first person, though he occasionally diverts to third person, sometimes within the same sentence. As an unreliable narrator, he may contradict himself within his autobiography, as with his varying accounts of, but not exclusively, the Defense of the Polish Post Office, his grandfather Koljaiczek's fate, his paternal status over Kurt, Maria's son, and many others. The audiobook is narrated by Robert Gladwell. He speaks clearly, although I did reduce the speed. The prose is meant to be savored and thought about. I have given the narration four stars. The pronunciation of some names are a bit off. This is not of much importance. Perhaps I should have given the narration five stars--it was easy to follow all the way through. This is helpful in those parts that are confusing when your mind is whirling, grasping to understand the author’s implied message. Oskar is clearly a villain. He commits multiple crimes, including many murders (direct and indirect), vandalism, theft, etc. He's vain, selfish, malicious, cruel and an accomplished liar. He's diabolically clever and comes out on top no matter what befalls him.He is best known for his first novel, The Tin Drum (1959), a key text in European magic realism. He named this style “broadened reality.” “Cat and Mouse” (1961) and Dog Years (1963) also succeeded in the period. These three novels make up his “Danzig trilogy.” GRRRRRR The Tin Drum ~~ this damn exasperating book. It’s one of the best written, most difficult, utterly amazing, truly frustrating books I’ve ever read. I don’t even know where to begin with this review. My German experience has been rather mixed: impressed by their technical, mechanical accomplishments: trains, autobahns, clean streets, I was disappointed by the icy attitude, the number of junkies encountered in Berlin and some crooks we have met there, albeit some of the fraudsters had come from former Yugoslavia…I think.

During the war, Oscar gain popularity as an artist who could break glasses through his voice (showing how much Germans loved being shouted at) while after war it is his drumming (the creative art) that gets prominence. The story here is thoroughly absorbing. The writing is of its own style—creative, unique, one-of-a-kind. Simply marvelous.

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The Kneehigh Theatre company performed an adaption of the novel in 2017 at the Everyman Theatre located in Liverpool. [7] The production features the story from Oskar's birth through the war, ending with Oskar marrying Maria. [ citation needed] In popular culture [ edit ] The Tin Drum has religious overtones, both Jewish and Christian. Oskar holds conversations with both Jesus and Satan throughout the book. His gang members call him "Jesus", and he refers to himself as "Satan" later in the book. [4] Critical reception [ edit ] The moment when Oskar shouts and breaks every glass and window on a wide range is a good hyperbole, but somehow makes for a very unpleasant, disgusting feeling…at least for this reader