The Tin Drum

Günter Grass 1959

Devastation Rating

Emotionally Ruined
war historical literary fiction philosophical

Our Take

Oskar Matzerath stops growing at three and witnesses the rise of the Nazis from his uniquely low vantage point. Grass writes horror as grotesque carnival and the effect is the most honest German account of what collaboration and cowardice looked like from inside. The tin drum beats and everyone dances and no one asks why.

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