Oskar is one of the grand creations of modern literature: a mentally disturbed man whose story can't be trusted, but who clearly suffered through tragic events that would drive anyone mad, and who arrived at a more insightful understanding of life than most "sane" people will ever know

Gunther Grass portrays two events brilliantly, Kristallnacht, killing of innocent Jews and confiscating their property and the second, bold resistance by citizens against all odds to fight the Nazi occupation

Superstition, supernatural event constanly leek into the real world (thus this book is often called a magical realism piece).

What will stay with me the longest are the amazing descriptions of fictional people and events:

Then there are some extraordinary passages about Oskar's observations, while all this horror is going on, about a line of ants going about their business -- perhaps putting into perspective, in the grand scheme of things, even the most horrific events of human history.

Moreover, the story is so intense, so moving, in a sense so miraculous, the reader wants to believe it, even knowing that it comes from a delusional man who describes physically impossible events

It's an exaggeration, but not much of one, to say that this book is just a series of weird events, one occurring after the other

Grass offers his readers so much more, than the superficial events that transpire on the page