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3.78 AVERAGE
3.78 AVERAGE
Oskar’s the winner: in which Günter Grass lures the reader with an apparently simple tale of dwarfism, musical dysphoria, incest, Nazism, murder, Oedipal longings, and madness, before spinning into something far more complex. The “imitation of Christ” is also as near to the spawn of Satan a you can get this side of Rosemary’s Baby, and the plot, as such, resembles EastEnders at its most torrid. Breon Mitchell’s 2009 translation, undertaken with Grass’s direct involvement, conveys the rich musicality of the language, and the sprawling madness of the a story which is epic in its dimensions, quite ludicrous at times, and unputdownable, in the sense that you’d break a bone in your foot if you dropped it. The small scenes will linger, long after the whole has faded in the mind’s eye. It’s been an incredible journey and one which, if I’m honest, I’m happy is over, but Oskar the mad-not mad narrator, whilst he may be an unreliable witness, is alive alive-o...
I heard someone say once that they have a hundred page rule, where if they can make it 100 pages into a book and are still not enjoying it or getting anything from it they can put it down. I made it ~270 pages. What I read was fun, it’s a bizarre book with strange plot points, and it has some fascinatingly beautiful prose. It could have been interesting! But it’s just too long and there’s not enough happening to keep me coming back. It took too long to describe too little.
This meandering style could be good or bad depending on what you’re looking for. There were parts I was enamored with, but for the majority of the (long!) time it took me to read what I did, I felt like I was listening to someone who liked the sound of their own voice tell a very unimportant story.
This meandering style could be good or bad depending on what you’re looking for. There were parts I was enamored with, but for the majority of the (long!) time it took me to read what I did, I felt like I was listening to someone who liked the sound of their own voice tell a very unimportant story.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
After 546 pages I still don’t really know what is going on. Quite the tough read to follow and I’m curious how much more difficult it is based on the translation you have. It’s a shame because I really wanted to like it.
An unrelenting war symphony. Satirical, brutal, genius.
I first read this book either in my late teens or early 20s. Either way, I think I was too young to be able to appreciate a book like this where nothing really happens, certainly nothing in a thrilling manner. However, upon this latest read, I definitely enjoyed the subtle humor throughout this book. It's also a very dark book in many ways, but it's told in such a, "Oh, by the way, this terrible thing happened.", that you don't really pickup on how awful parts of it are unless you're really paying attention to what's being said.
This book is very much in the vein of "absurdism" ie, post-modernism. Our protagonist, Oskar, is an unreliable narrator at best. He tells us that he was born with his full intellectual capacity and can remember everything from birth on. He also says that at age 3, he intentionally quit growing so that he would not have to become an adult. We are told essentially Oskars entire history beginning with his grandmother all the way until Oskar's 30th birthday, which encompasses from ~1900-1950.
For me, one of the most appalling things about this book were several instances of rape, including committed by Oskar. In each of the cases, the women are portrayed as being ok with it, which seems a bit unrealistic. But, all in all, I found this book to be quite funny at times and I think the writing is top-notch.
This book is very much in the vein of "absurdism" ie, post-modernism. Our protagonist, Oskar, is an unreliable narrator at best. He tells us that he was born with his full intellectual capacity and can remember everything from birth on. He also says that at age 3, he intentionally quit growing so that he would not have to become an adult. We are told essentially Oskars entire history beginning with his grandmother all the way until Oskar's 30th birthday, which encompasses from ~1900-1950.
For me, one of the most appalling things about this book were several instances of rape, including committed by Oskar. In each of the cases, the women are portrayed as being ok with it, which seems a bit unrealistic. But, all in all, I found this book to be quite funny at times and I think the writing is top-notch.
Funny I missed rating and reviewing this jewel. This is the lodestar, the mandrake root, the intrepid ooze making friends in the lukewarm pools of primeval poetry. This was the point of departure. A hallowed book I finished in a laundromat. I almost can't remember my reading life before wee Oskar. Eels, fizz, post offices, onions and Dusters have littered my imagination seemingly forever. I wanted to read the new translation and likely will someday. My memories of my own grandmother now smell like butter.
An extraordinary book, but I had to switch to the audio version to ensure I got through it. There are a lot of characters as the story meanders through Oskar’s bizarre, remarkable life, and while I wouldn’t necessarily call it difficult, it was easy to zone out. No way to give it less than a four, though. The eel fishing scene may have been the grossest thing I’ve ever read outside the horror genre.
