Too Far Afield [Paperback]

Grass is not an easy man to read; however, that said, Grass and his works speak for themselves quite clearly. Ever ready with the surreal in his works ("The Tin Drum," "Cat and Mouse," to name two), Grass' grasp of the intensity, the confusion, the excitement, the euphoria, the intense dislike between the two Germanys is in top form in his latest work. Wuttke and Hoftaller, who are in their seventies, work for an agency set up to privatize the former East Germany in Berlin in the fall of 1989. Their thoughts are the vehicle for this book's story line and Grass has poignantly captured the moments.

Having lived in Germany before and after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the ensuing reunification, I find "Too Far Afield" even more relevant. And the book is not meant to put you to sleep with all its poignancy and nostalgia, and Grass once again explores the relationship of Germany with its often-troubled past to the present. There are surprising turns, clever humor, and excellent characterization that make the book a worthwhile undertaking. (Billyjhobbs@tyler.net)

Grass is not an easy man to read; however, that said, Grass and his works speak for themselves quite clearly. Ever ready with the surreal in his works ("The Tin Drum," "Cat and Mouse," to name two), Grass' grasp of the intensity, the confusion, the excitement, the euphoria, the intense dislike between the two Germanys is in top form in his latest work. Wuttke and Hoftaller, who are in their seventies, work for an agency set up to privatize the former East Germany in Berlin in the fall of 1989. Their thoughts are the vehicle for this book's story line and Grass has poignantly captured the moments.

Having lived in Germany before and after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the ensuing reunification, I find "Too Far Afield" even more relevant. And the book is not meant to put you to sleep with all its poignancy and nostalgia, and Grass once again explores the relationship of Germany with its often-troubled past to the present. There are surprising turns, clever humor, and excellent characterization that make the book a worthwhile undertaking.

Mr. Grass's point is simply that human nature and our histories play a powerful role in shaping our present and future lives. In Too Far Afield, he magnificently captures the enormous influences that culture, nation, religion and family practices play in reinforcing our human nature and histories. Of the three books, I felt like Too Far Afield was the only one that captured the human condition in its broadest sense, rather than just the German human condition.

Although I majored in European history in college, I don't think I ever quite got the point about how 19th century influences came together to have such a large impact on people who lived in East Germany prior to the reunification. Too Far Afield put the mosaic of those influences together for me for the first time.

The story is an unbelievably intricate one. After finishing the book, I couldn't see how the points could have been made as powerfully without all of the material. You will feel like the book dawdles in many places. Please realize that Mr. Grass is trying to set you up to draw the wrong conclusions as you react to the surface reality, so that his story can serve as a counterpunch to your gut reactions. In that subtle way, he strengthens his message that life is vastly different than what you believed when you started the book.

The book has many interesting characters, but all exist to tell the story of Theo Wuttke. Wuttke is every person in the story. He has been drawn to the rich cultural tradition of Germany's great writer, Fontane (referred to as "The Immortal"), and is inspired to want to experience the freedom and variety of the West. Historical accidents impinge on those yearnings. The East German bureaucracy keeps him in line, acting very much as its predecessor, the Nazi bureaucracy, and its predecessor, the Prussian bureaucracy did. The governmental constraints work because Wuttke has sinned, and does not want those sins exposed . . . or his children harmed. So he turns out to be a captive of his past and his nonexistent former nation, even as the dawn of freedom arrives with the reunification. Wuttke ultimately finds redemption as the indirect result of his attempts to do good in the past.

The story is told through extensive use of internal monologues and indirect references to the past. Be patient. Those indirect references are eventually brought together in an astonishingly cogent way.

Although the tone of much of the book is quite grey and seemingly hopeless, Mr. Grass does a marvelous job of employing satire and irony to comment upon seemingly unpromising situations. I found myself laughing aloud in many places in the book. I'm sure that anyone who knows Germany better than I do will find the book even funnier. No one can miss or fail to appreciate the humor involved in the marriage of Wuttke's daughter to a prosperous West German business man . . . an obvious metaphor for the reunification itself. Although the book is ostensibly about the reunification, please be sure to see the reunification as a metaphor for our need to reconnect with our true selves and the rest of humanity.

Please do be aware that this book is a challenging read. Be sure to read and refer to the brief chronology at the beginning of the book. It's a wonderful introduction into the historical elements that Mr. Grass chooses to weave together. I found it helpful to go through the book in 40-50 page chunks. Whenever I began to find my mind wandering away from the story, I would stop for the day. Also, Wuttke has two sides. One is a file courier operating in a large bureaucracy where he snatches moments of freedom on the ancient elevator (the "Paternoster"). The other is as Fonty, the erudite cultural aficionado of Fontane. He is referred to in both ways in the story . . . but it's the same man acting in different ways with others.

As I finished the book, I began to question how my own culture and personal history influence me in choosing some paths (and ignoring others). I came away with a stronger sense of who I am, versus who others hope that I am. That's a great gift. Thank you, Mr. Grass!