About this title: In this extraordinary memoir, Nobel Prize-winning author Gunter Grass remembers his early life, from his boyhood in a cramped two-room apartment in Danzig through the late 1950s, when "The Tin Drum "was published. During the Second World War, Grass volunteered for the submarine corps at the age of fifteen but was rejected; two years later, in 1944 ...
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Description: Good. Former Library book. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Like New. May be shiny, in some instances dust jackets are not included, no missing pages, no damage to binding, may have a remainder mark. read more
Description: Very good. Very minimal damage to the cover (no holes or tears, only minimal scuff marks), in some instances dust jackets are not included, no missing pages, minimal to no highlighting/under. read more
Description: Like New. 2007-Hardcover-May contain minor shelf-wear. Otherwise, volume un-read and in "As-New" condition. -Used-Like New-Hall Street Books proudly ships from Brooklyn, NY. All orders are processed and shipped within 24 hours, M-F. 100% money back No-Worry guarantee with expedited delivery and delivery confirmation available. read more
"Except for the Tin Drum, I usually have a problem with Grass as I find many of his books unreadable. But this is different as it's his autobiography which concentrates on the war and post war period. It is the one that caused all the fuss as he revealed for the first time that he had been in the SS. Why he hid this is a mystery, as he was 17 at the time and never saw any action. But it was clearly something which caused him embarrasment and has, unfairly, tarnished his reputation as a scourge of Germany's Nazi past"
"Grass did a good job of presenting himself as human. He confronts his own blindness, selfishness, and vanities, as well as delivering a very readable account of his development as an artist. He treats the events of his life as learning experiences which seems to me to be a perfectly defensible approach, even to something as morally difficult as his participation in the Nazi state and military. I never got the sense that he was attempting to mitigate his own, or German guilt. He discusses the relationships between his life and his works which I also thought was interesting and valuable. I haven't read any of his other pieces though so mileage may vary on that front. The writing was a little uneven, and there is much discussion of German authors that I have no connection with, but overall was nourishing."
"A memoir of childhood driven and contoured by war, the sentiment of guilt as it arose from underneath the foils of life - "the onion" - and a more realistic view of world war II in Danzig and Germany.
Beyond being a biographical story it also portrays very well the image and human conditions of germans being surrounded by times of war, prisoners of war, and the after life. It is a different view of proportions and dimensions not imagined and felt and not the least it is a beautiful incursion of life. Certainly a read worth traveling..."
"This guy's a friggin' genius. Though I feel that the true beauty of Grass' writing is lost in translation, this is a great book, if you have the energy to get through it--fascinating autobiography about a man who was a championed anti-war advocate with a less-than-sparkling past."
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