There appeared to be a fucund period where I couldn't stop reading Gunter grass. This time is highlighted in my memory but eternal sunshine and febrile trips to Bloomington. I finished thsi one sitting in the Highlands, amazed at teh disocurse, the counterarguments, the sage handle on it all. What was truly breathtaking that the book was so germane 25 years after its publication. ( )

Stylistically, an interesting read, but GG isn't the Joyce of "Ulysses" or the Dos Passos of "USA". A high school teacher has to confront the conundrums of the liberal conscience while those around him try out various forms of extremism. The story can be confusing, but the irony is first rate. ( )

Kinda long and hard to follow, but about midway through the protagonist gets into a comical debate with a hotheaded student radical about how one should feel about little old German ladies eating coffee cake in cafes and in the course of it comes up with the best counter-argument to puritanical anti-consumerism that I have ever read. ( )

To be quite honest, although I remember reading this 30 years ago, I don't recall it well enough to make a reliable rating! ( )