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A review by davenash
Crabwalk by Günter Grass
4.0
It doesn't end. Never will it end.
The narrator was born on a sinking ship, came out at the same time it went down. Had no clue who his father was. Started in East Germany moved to the west but never amounted to much. Loser.
However, the novel is a winner. It plays with story telling and history / myth making. The story of the sinking is drawn from several sources and the author masterfully interweaves this and the side stories.
Its much more than a story of a sinking ship as the issues of paternity, environmental influences, generational struggle, density, guilt and atonement are examined.
So many connections are made to create a sense of destiny and repetition. It is one way of looking at the past, present, and future.
I found this was a very quick read. The narrator is supposed to be pulling this story together and ghost writing for an old prof whose written himself dry. A nice touch.
The narrator was born on a sinking ship, came out at the same time it went down. Had no clue who his father was. Started in East Germany moved to the west but never amounted to much. Loser.
However, the novel is a winner. It plays with story telling and history / myth making. The story of the sinking is drawn from several sources and the author masterfully interweaves this and the side stories.
Its much more than a story of a sinking ship as the issues of paternity, environmental influences, generational struggle, density, guilt and atonement are examined.
So many connections are made to create a sense of destiny and repetition. It is one way of looking at the past, present, and future.
I found this was a very quick read. The narrator is supposed to be pulling this story together and ghost writing for an old prof whose written himself dry. A nice touch.