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by Günter Grass (Author)
Günter Grass has been wrestling with Germany's past for decades now, but no book since The Tin Drum has generated as much excitement as this engrossing account of the sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff. A German cruise ship turned refugee carrier, it was attacked by a Soviet submarine in January 1945. Some 9,000 people went down in the Baltic Sea, making it the deadliest maritime disaster of all time.
Born to an unwed mother on a lifeboat the night of the attack, Paul Pokriefke is a middle-aged journalist trying to piece together the tragic events. While his mother sees her whole existence in terms of that calamitous moment, Paul wishes their life could have been less touched by the past. For his teenage son, who dabbles in the dark, far-right corners of the Internet, the Gustloff embodies the denial of Germany's wartime suffering.
"Scuttling backward to move forward," Crabwalk is at once a captivating tale of a tragedy at sea and a fearless examination of the ways different generations of Germans now view their past.
Back Jacket
Gunter Grass once again dazzlingly analyzes Germany's past and present, while hinting soberly at its future.--The New York Times Book Review
In January 1945, a Soviet submarine attacked the Wilhelm Gustloff, a German cruise ship turned refugee carrier, sending some nine thousand people to their deaths in the Baltic Sea. Born to an unwed mother on a lifeboat the night of the attack, a middle-aged journalist is trying to piece together the tragic events. While his mother sees her whole existence in terms of that calamitous moment, he wishes their life could have been less touched by the past. But for his teenage son, who dabbles in the far-right corners of the Internet, the obscurity of the Gustloff's fate embodies the denial of Germany's wartime suffering.
Crabwalk is at once a captivating tale of a tragedy at sea and a critical meditation on Germany's struggle with its past.
Born in Danzig, Germany in 1927, Gunter Grass is the widely acclaimed author of plays, essays, poems, and numerous novels. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1999.
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