As a book club assignment I had to read The Tin Drum by Gunter Grass. This is a very complex book written in the years shortly after World War II. More than a half a century latter we begin to understand the art of the form this book is written. Trough a self-admittedly childish and selfish character the author speaks about things omost of his contemporaries choose to keep quit about. Without emotional attachment to anything or anyone except his tin drum little Oscar is one of the most unsympathetic characters I ever read about. Put in some grotesque and WWII in the background and what I got was a complicated read that gave me trouble.
This book is a a little bit on the chubby side with its 600+ pages. All the time I was reading it I was troubled by what I read. The themes were rather sureal and actually quite brutal in their honesty of assesing the human condition. I was annoyed and disliked the book since I couldn’t find one thing in it to like and hold on to. The unreliable narrator of the book I had issues with.
The author recieved The Nobel Prize in 1999. and died earlier this year so my book club decided we should read this book in honor of him. There is even a film version of the book and parts of it were filmed in my country!
I tried reading it and got to one third of the book. I understand the quality and ingenious ways in which author broached the subject. I even appreciate the layers and elements that are left open to interpretation.
But!
I had to admit defeat since I had no energy to read this book trough. I’m letting it go…
