The Tin Drum

A New Translation by Breon Mitchell

By: Günter Grass

Narrated by: Richard Powers

The Tin Drum deals with the rise of Nazism and with the war experience in the unique cultural setting of Danzig, by Nobel Prize-winning author Günter Grass.

To mark the 50th anniversary of the original publication of this runaway best seller, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, along with Grass' publishers all over the world, offer a new translation of this classic novel. Breon Mitchell, acclaimed translator and scholar, has drawn from many sources. The result is a translation that is faithful to Grass' style and rhythm, restores omissions, and reflects more fully the complexity of the original work. After 50 years, The Tin Drum has, if anything, gained in power and relevance.

©2009 Breon Mitchell (P)2009 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

This is a new translation of the classic novel, offered on the 50th anniversary of its original publication.

"Grass is one of the master fabulists of our age." (Times)

"The Tin Drum itself remains a very great novel, as daring and imaginative as Gabriel Garcia Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude or Toni Morrison's Beloved." (Washington Post)

"The Tin Drum will become one of the enduring literary works of the twentieth century." (Swedish Academy, awarding Günter Grass the Nobel Prize for Literature, 1999)

fabulous

This story is fantastic on so many levels. Itvis a really cool story with unbelievable twists and turns. It is a fantastic set of allegories and metaphors also. The reader is fantastic as well with a bonus of slight German accent.

The reading of the book was superb, the only reason I finished.

Really long and hard to stay with. But you do gain insight into life in Poland during WWII.

After 60 years it still draws one in

The earnestness of the unreliable narrator, the magic realism, the simultaneous depiction of the times softened by outrageous parody, all combine to form a story meant to make the reader reflect on memories that have been deeply buried.

Some of the best irony in literature

Many listeners will perhaps find this book tedious and lacking humour. However a careful listener who has previously found their own human condition not lacking in elements of the absurd will find laugh out loud moments at the most unexpected time. I would compare the subtlety of the irony to that of Don Quixote or The Divine Comedy.

Loved it but it was “thick” in many ways.

Complicated story line. Unfortunately in 2023 close reading is difficult. It’s such a fast-paced world. However I loved the descriptions, settings, and over texture. It was a quirky kind of fun read.