This novel begins in the first person narrative by stating that the narrator is a patient of mental hospital

The people that feel the need to insult an imaginary narrator are obviously threatened

Told from the perspective of Oskar Matzerath - an unreliable narrator because he is a traumatized patient in a mental institution - the story follows the strange life of a sophisticated three-year-old boy who refuses to grow up and fulfill his destiny as a grocer

Grass created the epitome of the unreliable narrator, yet the story he tells reveals fundamental truths about human nature: about love and betrayal, ecstasy and fear

On the outside, Oscar Matzerath, the narrator of THE TIN DRUM, appears as a special-needs (autistic, maybe) little person (midget) who processes his emotions by pounding on a tin drum

However, I cannot claim Oskar as "the ultimate unreliable narrator" is an unartful dodge on Grass' part, as I suspect it is for some other authors reluctant to make a literary choice, or who simply desire to appear deep by prodding the reading audience to discover depth for him/her.

Oskar was such an unreal personage that I found him impossible to trust as a narrator... with every beat of his drum he startled the already frightened theme of this book into a corner

And I have to say I liked this better than Irving's Owen Meaney, in large part because there isn't a boring nonentity as the narrator who spends half the book railing against the Reagan administration.

As in all coming-of-age novels, this youthful narrator has issues with his parents

As in all coming-of-age novels, this youthful narrator has issues with his parents

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.

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.

In any case, it's for our 9 y/o grandson who loves to make noise