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pessimistically_optimist's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
greta2's review against another edition
4.0
Abgehackt, präzise und schnell. So liest sich Katz und Maus: Knapp und auf die direkteste Weise übermittelt Günter Grass bildreich dem Leser das Jungsein in Deutschland während des Zweiten Weltkrieges. Der Geist der jungen, im Krieg umwickelten Menschen ist im jeden Wort spürbar. Für mich besonders auffallend und interessant war die Frustration und endliche Resignation des in seinen Versuchen der gesellschaftlichen Bestätigung und des persönlichen Glückfindens gescheiterten Außenseiters. Mehr mit den Mitteln der Satire und des Humors als mit irgendetwas anderem entpuppt Grass die Tragik des Ganzen, die Schuldgefühle Pilenz´ und Mahlkes Minderheitskomplex auf die genialste Weise. Ein kleines, aber schweres und umfangreiches Werk, das auf jeden Fall gelesen werden sollte.
_jassie_'s review against another edition
5.0
“And now it is up to me, who called your mouse to the attention of this cat and all cats, to write. Even if we were both invented I should have to write. Over and over again the fellow who invented us because it’s his business to invent people obliges me to take your Adam’s apple in my hand and carry it to the soot that saw it win or lose. And so, to begin with, I make the mouse bob up and down above the screwdriver, I fling a multitude of replete sea gulls into the fitful northeast wind, high over Mahlke’s head , call the weather summery and persistently fair… make Mahlke’s skin, from which water is still running in rivulets, take on a texture somewhere between fine and coarse-grained.” p.8
Having just finished the Plague, I thought the relationship with the narrator was interesting and special. Though the book is about Mahlke, you learn about the almost shadow-like narrator as well. He’s fascinated with Mahlke, but as they age you can sense a fatigue with life and the brightness of the young boys fades. The book doesn’t quite fade, but there’s an empty sadness toward the end. I think the writing becomes less beautiful and more frantic, which further connects you the the narrator’s feelings. I just wish I read the Tin Drum first.
Having just finished the Plague, I thought the relationship with the narrator was interesting and special. Though the book is about Mahlke, you learn about the almost shadow-like narrator as well. He’s fascinated with Mahlke, but as they age you can sense a fatigue with life and the brightness of the young boys fades. The book doesn’t quite fade, but there’s an empty sadness toward the end. I think the writing becomes less beautiful and more frantic, which further connects you the the narrator’s feelings. I just wish I read the Tin Drum first.
joleen__rei's review against another edition
challenging
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
daja57's review against another edition
5.0
The book is set during world war 2, in a coastal town in Germany, among schoolboys. The narrator hero-worships his friend and fellow Roman Catholic Joachim Mahlke; the great Mahlke, he calls him. When Mahlke learns to swim he joins the schoolfriends on the partly sunken barge, he dives, staying under longer than anyone else, bringing up treasures from the wreck. Mahlke, slightly older than the others, and significantly better-endowed, is a proper hero, always a step ahead the rest of them in mischief, seemingly unvulnerable due to the protection of the Virgin Mary whom he adores. And when he goes to war ...?
The mouse is Mahlke's prominent Adam's apple; it seems to symbolise his masculinity. The cat attacks it at the start of the book. And perhaps the metaphor is that little mice always get caught by the big cats in the end.
The style is discursive. Sometimes Mahlke is referred to in the third-person, and sometimes in the second person (or is that only when the narrator is addressing the mouse?). The narrative has a more or less straightforward chronology, although there are flash-forwards and repeated hints of what is about to happen (repeatedly baited hooks). There are fascinating descriptions, such as "the screwdriver did dance steps over his quaking collarbones." (Ch 1) Here is a longer extract from towards the end, to illustrate the style:
So then I rowed back. But before rowing back, I threw the can opener in the direction of the dredger, but didn't hit it.
So then I threw away the can opener and rowed back, returned old man Kreft's boat, had to pay an extra thirty pfennigs, and said: 'Maybe I'll be back again this evening. Maybe I'll want the boat again.'
So then I threw away, rowed back, returned, paid extra, said I'd be, sat down in the train and rode, as they say, home.
The mouse is Mahlke's prominent Adam's apple; it seems to symbolise his masculinity. The cat attacks it at the start of the book. And perhaps the metaphor is that little mice always get caught by the big cats in the end.
The style is discursive. Sometimes Mahlke is referred to in the third-person, and sometimes in the second person (or is that only when the narrator is addressing the mouse?). The narrative has a more or less straightforward chronology, although there are flash-forwards and repeated hints of what is about to happen (repeatedly baited hooks). There are fascinating descriptions, such as "the screwdriver did dance steps over his quaking collarbones." (Ch 1) Here is a longer extract from towards the end, to illustrate the style:
So then I rowed back. But before rowing back, I threw the can opener in the direction of the dredger, but didn't hit it.
So then I threw away the can opener and rowed back, returned old man Kreft's boat, had to pay an extra thirty pfennigs, and said: 'Maybe I'll be back again this evening. Maybe I'll want the boat again.'
So then I threw away, rowed back, returned, paid extra, said I'd be, sat down in the train and rode, as they say, home.
elkyo's review against another edition
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
jess_mango's review against another edition
3.0
This is the first book that I've read by Günter Grass. The central character in this book is Joachim Mahlke, who we first meet as a teenager. He stands out from his peers due to an overly prominent Adam's Apple. (the mouse) His peers and society in general (the cat) are constantly "chasing" him...teasing, etc. The novel is narrated by one of Mahlke's peers Pilenz who tells the story from his memory so things are often told in a foggy-sort of way. As such, he's an unreliable narrator.
The novel brings us up through the time of WWII. At it's heart, this novel is about the impact of the war and the looming threat of it over society and young men coming of age knowing they will most likely be sent to the front lines.
I rate this somewhere between 3 and 3.5 stars.
The novel brings us up through the time of WWII. At it's heart, this novel is about the impact of the war and the looming threat of it over society and young men coming of age knowing they will most likely be sent to the front lines.
I rate this somewhere between 3 and 3.5 stars.
chris_tyson's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
thymussilvestris's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
pilgrimbookstore89's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.75