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The Tin Drum
The Tin Drum
Author: Gunter Grass, Breon Mitchell (Translator)
The Tin Drum, one of the great novels of the twentieth century, was published in Ralph Manheim's outstanding translation in 1959. It became a runaway bestseller and catapulted its young author to the forefront of world literature. — To mark the fiftieth anniversary of the original publication, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, along with Gr...  more »
ISBN-13: 9780151014163
ISBN-10: 0151014167
Publication Date: 10/8/2009
Pages: 592
Rating:
  • Currently 4/5 Stars.
 1

4 stars, based on 1 rating
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Book Type: Hardcover
Other Versions: Paperback, Audio Cassette
Members Wishing: 1
Reviews: Member | Amazon | Write a Review

Top Member Book Reviews

reviewed The Tin Drum on + 22 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
Good book but sad. About war in Europe and how different people cope.
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reviewed The Tin Drum on + 20 more book reviews
an interesting book, for certain. being a translation it was a little bit hard for me to get into the writing style at first, but definitally an interesting and worthwile book
reviewed The Tin Drum on + 419 more book reviews
It is said that great works of literature depend on character development, not so much on the plot and the story itself. Well, this is a case in point. The whole book is sustained by the central character of Oskar, a wicked, depressed, desperate man seeing how his world crumbles apart and he has to build a life for himslef. As another reviewer aptly put it, he is the lonely voice crying in the wilderness. Oskar is a very solitary man with a great disadvantage, one that by sheer willpower he turns every time into an advantage, a means for surviving in a careless, cold world. Oskar never gives up, never surrenders, he finds a way to survive after every setback, and terrifying setbacks he experiences.

I think this book had to be written in the form of magical realism, because the pure realism would have been insufferable: the tragedies that occur are beyond telling them.

Not an easy read, it is most rewarding, for it paints a wide picture of the human experience, precisely what great literature is about.
reviewed The Tin Drum on + 2 more book reviews
best book i've read this year
reviewed The Tin Drum on + 175 more book reviews
ONE OF THE GREATEST LITERARY ADVENTURES OF OUR TIME


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