Product Description

In this novel Grass examines a subject that has long been taboo - the sufferings of the Germans during World War II. He explores the sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff, the deadliest maritime disaster of all time, and the repercussions upon three generations of a German family.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #57805 in Books
• Published on: 2004-04-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 234 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
With Crabwalk, a book that has enjoyed tremendous success in Germany, Günter Grass proves yet again that he is one of the most formidable figures in modern European literature, and anyone who believes that the glory days of The Tin Drum are behind him will find this remarkable novel quite as ambitious and penetrating as its great predecessor (even if, at 234 pages, it's considerably more concise than his earlier masterpiece). Political engagement has always been the force that motivates Grass's books, and the legacy of the past as it affects the present remains the fulcrum of all his work. Needless to say, like all great writers, his work is universal; you do not need to be German to appreciate such books as The Flounder and this new novel.

Here Grass tackles a subject that still causes unease among his countrymen: the problems of the German nation during World War Two. The central incident of the book is the sinking in 1945 (by a Soviet submarine) of the Willem Gustloff, a ship that had been converted into a refugee carrier. The loss of life in this sinking was immense, and this incident in the Baltic Sea remains the worst of all maritime disasters. The narrative is carried by Paul, a survivor of the sinking, who is now a journalist living in Berlin; his mother, Tulla, gave birth to him in a lifeboat on the doomed ship. As Paul attempts to place the disaster in the context of life in Germany today, his mother finds herself unable to shake off the crushing resonance of the incident. The generational theme is carried further by Paul's young son Konrad, who has been seduced by far-right elements in Germany which are attempting to rewrite history.

This is Grass at his considerable best: a powerful, significant theme is handled trenchantly, while the multi-generational problems of his characters are balanced against a lucid picture of the society in which they live. And despite the seriousness of his subject, Grass remains immensely readable. His books may be shorter these days, but their impact is no less forceful for that. --Barry Forshaw

Review
Nobel Prize-winner Gunter Grass's latest novel presents a story that unflinchingly runs from Nazi Germany through the Second World War and the Soviet occupation of Eastern Germany to finish in the present day. The tale is based on real-life events: the shooting of a Nazi officer, Wilhelm Gustloff, by a Jewish gunman, and the subsequent naming of a 'Strength Through Joy' cruise ship after Gustloff. The ship was torpedoed by a Soviet submarine in 1945, with the loss of around 9,000 lives, women and children as well as military personnel - one of the greatest sea disasters. Tulla Pokreifke was one of the few survivors, and Paul, her son and the narrator of the novel, was born on a rescue boat amid the tragedy. To Tulla, the shipwreck and her survival of it are the most important events of her life, and she sees herself as a tragic heroine because of them; Paul despises her for this and tries to ignore the tale of the Wilhelm Gustloff, but his estranged son, Konrad, is captivated by the story and seems to be using it as justification for his far-right views. Paul, approaches his history in a crabwalk - that is, he appears to be going sideways, like a crab, but in fact is surreptitiously moving forwards - so that often the story seems to be going down dead ends that are offshoots of the main story. But he does move inexorably forwards to complete the complex, interwoven stories that form the core of the book: Gustloff and his assassin; the ship Wilhelm Gustloff; the Soviet submarine captain who sunk the ship; Paul, Tulla and Konrad; and finally Konrad and his Internet opponent. At the end of the book, it is the mirror-imaging of the stories that remains in the mind, their balance and completeness. Having shared Paul's frustration with Tulla throughout the book, afterwards you have some sympathy with her, for the present-day situation of Paul and his relationship with Konrad seems less convincing, less fully told, than the recounting of the sinking of the ship and images of the children drowning upside-down in life-jackets that were too big for them. (Kirkus UK)

Eileen Battersby, Irish Times, March 22, 2003
'Crabwalk is a sharp, punchy and profound novel about pain and truth, both public and private.'

Customer Reviews

Brilliant re-telling of a forgotten disaster, but so much more . . .
Naval disaster, assassination, death, betrayal, hate-filled chat-rooms - these are not the usual content of novels by Gunther Grass but all feature in this clever interpretation of a historical event of 60 years ago. It would be easy to say that this book tells the story of the sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff, a Nazi cruise ship refitted for war time service, torpedoed by a Russian submarine while carrying escaping German refugees, a platoon of submarine trainees and many injured servicemen and women. The book does this of course, but its real purpose is to reflect on and analyse the impact of 20th German history on modern Germany. Grass uses many literary devices to achieve this, especially by setting the story in a modern-day context of websites and Internet chat-rooms where the old conflict between German Nationalism and Judaism is relived on a daily basis, with equivalent passion to the Nazi era.

As a history book the novel works magnificently. It is written in the first person by the son of a survivor of the tragedy, who may even have been born on the ship or soon afterwards. The voice of the narrator's mother allows Grass to present a colourful account of the tragedy with great impact. But before the ship goes down, Grass recounts the career of Wilhelm Gustloff, a Nazi propagandist and "martyr" shot for his beliefs in Switzerland by a young Jewish man. The first purpose-built "Strength Through Joy" cruise ship is named after Gustloff and spends a few years cruising round the Fjords of Norway and beyond with its cargo of German workers enjoying a holiday on this class-less vessel. Later the ship is converted to war-time use and Grass describes its ultimate fate after being hit by three Russian torpedoes. Even the life of the submarine captain is used by Grass to illustrate the historical context of this naval disaster, which Grass points out is barely remembered today unlike the equally devastating sinking of the Titanic.

Grass never allows the historical sections of the book to be dry and impersonal but constantly brings the events into the present by showing how his present-day characters are affected by them. The narrative is passionate and personal because the main characters feel so deeply about the events of 60 years ago and act out their own responses with devastating effect. This is not an easy read in some senses (the issues being so complex), but I found myself racing through it, because of Grass's skill in bringing the past into the present.

A brilliant book on a little known tragedy
This book describes the history of a ship and its influence on the history of a family. The ship is the Wilhelm Gustloff that was named after a Nazi who was killed in Davos, Switzerland in 1936. After its use as a cruise ship for the Nazi Kraft durch Freude movement, a floating hospital and a training ship, the Wilhelm Gustloff was torpedoed to the bottom of the sea on 30 January 1945 with on board between 6000 and 10000 (nobody knows the exact number) German refugees. On board is also the very pregnant Tulla Prokriefke, who goes into labour when the ship goes down. In the end her son Paul is born on board of a rescue boat.
Paul is divorced, mediocre journalist, who has, to say it mildly, a difficult relationship with his mother. One day he finds a site on the Internet that describes the ship that determined his life (his mother cannot talk about anything else). He finds that the site, with neonazi characteristics, is made by his son Konnie. And then the story goes almost inevitably to its dramatic conclusion.

The book is called Crabwalk because the story of the ship and the family are not told in chronological order, but by walking sideways. Still, the story goes forward, just like a crab walks. This is also because Paul tells the story of the Wilhelm Gustloff working with the information that he finds on the internetsite of his son.

This is a brilliantly written book, because one never gets lost between or within story lines despite the large number of considerable time leaps. Also, this book describes a little known ship tragedy (more than 5 times the number of deaths as the Titanic!) and gives an insight into the distorted minds of German neonazis. An excellent read.

Masterpiece of Titanic Proportions
The torpedoing of German converted cruise-ship 'Wilhelm Gustloff, overloaded with refugees, by a Soviet submarine during World War II is the single deadliest maritime disaster of all time, resulting in over nine thousand deaths. In 'Crabwalk' Gunter Grass scuttles over almost a century of history to examine events building up to this catastrophe, and its consequences on generations of a German family. In doing so, Grass creates a novel exploring the effects of Germany's Nazi past on contemporary German society that is at least the equal of Bernhard Schlink's highly acclaimed 'The Reader'. Particularly impressive is Grass's skillful use of the internet, and particularly chat rooms, as a vehicle both for conveying information on the disaster and developing the various strands of the story. 'Crabwalk' is an engrossing, compelling and thought-provoking read for those interested in the recurring impact of the past on the present.