Warum hab ich mir das angetan? Ich weiß es nicht. Doch kann ich nun sagen, dass ich es gelesen habe. Für meinen Geschmack in einem zu umständlichen Deutsch geschrieben, dass oft der Sinn verloren geht. Viele der Sätze zu verschachtelt.
Für mich nicht unbedingt ein lesenswertes, zu empfehlendes Buch. Einmal und nie wieder. ( )

Very strange book, links Tin Drum and Dog Years in this very character driven way.
The story is probably an encapsulation of the whole 'Danzig Trilogy' in a way only Grass could do. I think reading this one last was a good choice. ( )

Rather disappointing after The Tin Drum. About some boys in wartime Poland, who in general seem little affected by it. Now I'm not sure whether to read #3 of the trilogy. ( )

'Cat and Mouse' is a fascinating short novel by the German Gunter Grass, following the early life of the narrator, his friends, and Mahlke, a boy with such a massive Adam's apple that the narrator likens it to a mouse. The story mostly takes place in and around the Oliwa district of Gdansk - then called Danzig, of course - as the world lurches towards the Second World War. The sense of place is magnificently realised, and the relationships between the principle characters are well explored, but I did feel that towards the end the story ran out of steam somewhat. ( )

Read for 1001, BOTM October 2019. This is the second book in the Danzig Trilogy but other than a couple of cameo appearance of the little drummer, it is not necessary to have read The Tin Drum first in my opinion. I enjoyed this one so much more than the first book. The story is about The Great Mahlke as he is eventually labeled by his adolescent peer. Mahlke is an awkward youth with an enormously large Adam's apple. The story opens with the description of a cat pouncing on Mahlke's Adam apple. The story is told by an unreliable, unnamed narrator, until the 8th chapter when we finally are given the name Pilenz. The boys spend their days swimming out to a sunken boat and sit on the ships bridge which rises a little above water and represents the destructiveness of war. The title, Cat and Mouse, can be taken as a metaphor of war, society, and victim or it can be a description of the relationship of our narrator (the observer) and Mahlke the performer. Is Pilenz the cat who stalks Mahlke, the mouse. Is Pilenz writing a confession or is this a game of Cat and Mouse?

The story is a coming of age story of adolescent boys at a time where they are facing war after they are no longer school boys. There is some crudity and sexual themes but then, isn't adolescent boys full of crudity and sexual talk? A story of boyhood and adolescence in WWII Danzig.

Symbols and motifs abound. The Adam's apple and the objects that are hung around his neck; screwdriver, virgin Mary necklace, pom poms, mufflers, Iron Cross.

The atmosphere is one of impending crisis. The reader is drawn along, knowing no good will be the conclusion to the study of Mahlke by this Pilenz. ( )