Rating: 
Summary: What on Earth is this book talking about??!!
Review: Being a member of a local book club, I was given an Arabic print of this book to read. From the first paragraph, I could not comprehend a single word, so I blamed it all on the Arabic translator and bought an English one. Still, no luck. I felt quite stupid for not understanding a Nobel winner book! but after reading reviews here and there, I came to the conclusion that this novel can only be read in its native language, German. So if you cant read German, I dont suggest that you toture yourself with reading any other version of it.
Rating: 
Summary: Heroism
Review: Definitely worth reading. Within the story, Grass has raised the question of what heroism really means. There are different "heroes" in the story, and are called heroes for different reasons. He ridicules what heroism is considered to be, and indirectly asks; does this type of "heroism" deserve to be rewarded? Another aspect to the novella that struck me was the narration. Pilenz, the narrator, writes an perhaps almost confessional story about a period in his life that happened years ago. His memory, which fails him in some respects and serves him well in others, can perhaps not be trusted in regards to 'what really happened' and why. I think Grass's main point here is questioning what war-heroism really is, and the way it is/was considered is not necessarily "correct".
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Summary: The second part of the Danzig Trilogy holds up just as well
Review: I first read Cat and Mouse without the benefit of having read The Tin Drum beforehand, and I missed a lot. Cat and Mouse is the second book in Grass' Danzig Trilogy, three books that look at life in Danzig under the Nazi regime from three different points of view (the tales are told concurrently, and time can be fixed by seeing the same event from different points of view; for example, the picnic taken by the jazz trio and Schmuh in Book III of The Tin Drum shows up towards the end of Cat and Mouse, and Matern, one of the main characters of Dog Years, shows up in The Onion Cellar, where Oskar's jazz band is retained, in The Tin Drum). Cat and Mouse is actually a novella, originally a part of Dog Years that broke off and took on a life of its own; on the surface it is the tale of Joachim Mahlke, a high school student with a protruding adam's apple (the Mouse of the title), and his fascination with a sunken Polish minesweeper after he learns to swim at the age of thirteen. It is also the story of Pilenz, the narrator and Mahlke's best friend. The two spend their high school years in wartime Poland, reacting to various things, and that's about as much plot as this little slice of life needs. The interesting thing about Cat and Mouse is its complete difference in tone from the other two novels. Both The Tin Drum and (what I've read so far of) Dog Years have the same high-pitched, almost hysterical humor combined with a profound sense of teleology (not surprising given the apocalyptic nature of life in Danzig under the Nazis); Grass attempts to confront the horror with over-the-top slapstick, because only through that kind of comparison is it possible to make the reader understand. But while Cat and Mouse has its moments of the same kind of ribald humor, it is more dignified, in a sense, and closer to reality; enough so, at least, that when the book reaches its inevitable climax and denoument, one feels more genuine, or more human, reactions to the fates of Pilenz and Mahlke than one does to Oskar, the hero of The Tin Drum. Perhaps that is why it was segmented off from Dog Years; perhaps there was another reason. Whatever the case, it stands on its own and as an integral part of Grass' magnum opus.
Rating: 
Summary: Dead Grass
Review: I thought Grass' use of language rivaled Nabokov in sheer enjoyment of reading, but the story here wandered and was a little pointless. I was assigned this in a German film class, and enjoyed the film version of "The Tin Drum" much more.
Rating:
Summary: Guenter Grass's Cat and Mouse is the one to read
Review: It is true that Grass is always a sweet read and this book is no exception. Do not be confused by the incorrect synopsis which is about a cheap American thriller. Grass has not lowed his high standards. He has written a moving, informative tale of youth in war-time Poland. The story is short, but powerful. Well worth a couple hours of your time.
Rating: 
Summary: Growing Up in Nazi Germany
Review: Joachim Mahlke and his friend Plienz (who is the narrator of the story) grow up in wartime Danzig, the free city disputed between Germany and Poland over which World War II started. Maybe the most striking feature of the novella is that it shows how natural the war and Nazi rule appear to those adolescents, simply because it is the only world they know. The "Great" Joachim Mahlke is the dubious hero of the story. His most striking feature is his huge Adam's apple, about which he feels highly self-conscious. Maybe he is trying so hard to be a hero to make the others forget his deformity? Is that what makes him dive into the sunken Polish minesweeper to retrieve all kinds of objects? Is that why he steals an Iron Cross from a war hero? (The Iron Cross is a medal worn around the neck, so that it would hide Mahlke's Adam's apple). And is it finally, the reason why Mahlke is so keen on joining the army himself? After a short time he has destroyed so many Russian tanks that he is awarded the Iron Cross himself... This summary will give you only a faint idea of the book, for it cannot encapsulate the feeling of summer and of being young which Grass manages to include - without denying the dreadful things happening at the very same time. In a book of less than 200 pages Grass resurrects the Danzig of his own youth. If you haven't read any Grass yet, start at this one; it is perfect.
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Summary: World War II boyhood
Review: Mahlke was asleep in the grass. The narrator was on a ball team and had a tooth ache. The caretaker's black cat was present and jumped at Mahlke's neck, his Adam's apple. The crematorium between the United Cemeteries and the Engineering School was operating. Shortly after the outbreak of war Joachim Mahlke turned fourteen. Mahlke was an only child. His father was dead. Mahlke had an English screw driver. He lived in Osterzeile. In front of his house there was ceramic frog. His room was in the attic. He and the boys raised a phonograph from a sunken Polish vessel, a mine sweeper. The boys built a raft to haul it ashore. The naval battle in the Gulf of Danzig had lasted a month. A big tall character, a Latvian, turned up in their class in 1941. His first name was Karel. Karel drew Mahlke full face. Mahlke became infatuated with serious music. He whistled tunes dedicated to the virgin. He bullied the boys. A lieutenant commander spoke at their school. Pilenz, the narrator, dubbed Mahlke the Great Mahlke. Mahlke was expelled and transferred to the Horst Wessel School. He received a special wartime diploma, as did many of the others, and was drafted into the Reich Special Labor Service. Sergeant Mahlke returned to the school to give a talk. An atmosphere of deprivation and adventure is portrayed given the wartime conditions.
Rating:
Summary: World War II boyhood
Review: Mahlke was asleep in the grass. The narrator was on a ball team and had a tooth ache. The caretaker's black cat was present and jumped at Mahlke's neck, his Adam's apple. The crematorium between the United Cemeteries and the Engineering School was operating. Shortly after the outbreak of war Joachim Mahlke turned fourteen. Mahlke was an only child. His father was dead. Mahlke had an English screw driver. He lived in Osterzeile. In front of his house there was ceramic frog. His room was in the attic. He and the boys raised a phonograph from a sunken Polish vessel, a mine sweeper. The boys built a raft to haul it ashore. The naval battle in the Gulf of Danzig had lasted a month. A big tall character, a Latvian, turned up in their class in 1941. His first name was Karel. Karel drew Mahlke full face. Mahlke became infatuated with serious music. He whistled tunes dedicated to the virgin. He bullied the boys. A lieutenant commander spoke at their school. Pilenz, the narrator, dubbed Mahlke the Great Mahlke. Mahlke was expelled and transferred to the Horst Wessel School. He received a special wartime diploma, as did many of the others, and was drafted into the Reich Special Labor Service. Sergeant Mahlke returned to the school to give a talk. An atmosphere of deprivation and adventure is portrayed given the wartime conditions.
Rating:
Summary: Why is it I always end up liking books I read in school?
Review: Okay, I'll admit freely: "Katz und Maus" was required reading in school, which obviously biased me against it immediately. What's worse, it was German postwar literature, which never fails to be depressing and downbeat. I knew I was in for a greuling read.
And then, suddenly, it wasn't. In fact, I started liking it from the first line, and carried on until the end, which I'd give away if I said wasn't an end, so I'll let you read it yourself. The story is complicated and non-linear. It is told from a first person narrative, the exact reliability of which is consatantly brought into question, either by the fog of the years or deliberate misconstruction due to feelings of guilt, the narrator never seems too sure about what happened, often offering several different versions of the same story at the same time, and even going so far as to admit his own fictitiousness. The story that serves as a Leitmotiv, as well as title of the book, is the cat that attacked Mahlke's adam's apple, and exactly how it got there. What I found most striking about the book on first glance was the descriptions of the places and characters that the novella is centered on. At the same time, you have a feeling that it's merely a part of a greater whole. It fits in with the other two books in the so-called Danzig Trilogy seamlessly, yet still sets itself apart. I have another confession to make: I attend a German high school, and so I read it in German. In my opinion, though what I've read of the excerpts seems like a decent translation, Günter Grass is an author who uses the German language to its full extent, emplying every manner of grammatical and syntactical tricks to underline the story. These, unfotunately, are completely lost in the translation. If you understand German decently, I would strongly encourage you to seek out an original language text.
Rating:
Summary: Why is it I always end up liking books I read in school?
Review: Okay, I'll admit freely: "Katz und Maus" was required reading in school, which obviously biased me against it immediately. What's worse, it was German postwar literature, which never fails to be depressing and downbeat. I knew I was in for a greuling read.
And then, suddenly, it wasn't. In fact, I started liking it from the first line, and carried on until the end, which I'd give away if I said wasn't an end, so I'll let you read it yourself. The story is complicated and non-linear. It is told from a first person narrative, the exact reliability of which is consatantly brought into question, either by the fog of the years or deliberate misconstruction due to feelings of guilt, the narrator never seems too sure about what happened, often offering several different versions of the same story at the same time, and even going so far as to admit his own fictitiousness. The story that serves as a Leitmotiv, as well as title of the book, is the cat that attacked Mahlke's adam's apple, and exactly how it got there. What I found most striking about the book on first glance was the descriptions of the places and characters that the novella is centered on. At the same time, you have a feeling that it's merely a part of a greater whole. It fits in with the other two books in the so-called Danzig Trilogy seamlessly, yet still sets itself apart. I have another confession to make: I attend a German high school, and so I read it in German. In my opinion, though what I've read of the excerpts seems like a decent translation, Günter Grass is an author who uses the German language to its full extent, emplying every manner of grammatical and syntactical tricks to underline the story. These, unfotunately, are completely lost in the translation. If you understand German decently, I would strongly encourage you to seek out an original language text.
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