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

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

These are figurations of a man worth listening to though I do not mean to suggest that Grass and Oskar should be equivocated

Oskar is a man-child largely devoid of chronological progress: he was born fully mentally developed, and stopped physically developing after the age of 3.

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

The Tin Drum gives a portrait of a bizarre man in an insane asylum in Germany, who seems to have supernatural gifts to see through those around him.

This is a hard book to read for many reasons, but in large part because Oscar's narration is so playfully captivating, that you tend to forget that this odd, mercurial little man has lost almost everything.

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

The Onion Cellar is as flippant an interpretation of "German guilt" as I've ever read; yet it rings true, for that time as well as now.