The Tin Drum
German novelist, 1927–2015.
The Tin Drum is a 1959 novel by Günter Grass, translated from German.
On 4 of the 11 lists it was eligible for.
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At a glance
- Author
- Günter Grass
- First published
- 1959
- Length
- 608 pages (UK paperback)
- Original language
- Translated from German
- Genre
- Literary fiction, War and conflict, Picaresque, Magical realism
- Series
- Book 1 of The Danzig trilogy
Is The Tin Drum worth reading?
4 of the 11 best-of lists it could have made include it, among them 100 novels everyone should read (The Telegraph) and Bokklubben World Library (Norwegian Book Clubs).
| List | Place | Original |
|---|---|---|
| 100 novels everyone should read (The Telegraph, 2009) | No. 56 | See the list |
| Bokklubben World Library (Norwegian Book Clubs, 2002) | Listed | See the list |
| Readers' top 100 novels (The Guardian, 2026) | No. 63 | See the list |
| The 100 greatest novels of all time (The Observer, 2003) | Listed | See the list |
Best edition of The Tin Drum
The edition we link to is the Vintage Classics paperback (2010), 608 pages, translated by Breon Mitchell.
- Publisher
- Vintage Classics (paperback, 2010)
- Pages
- 608
- Translator
- Breon Mitchell
- ISBN
- 9780099540656
How critics and readers rate The Tin Drum
Critics rate it most highly: it earned 44% of the points available on critics' lists, against 15% on readers' and booksellers' lists.
Share of the available points it earned on each kind of list it was eligible for. How the scores work
Books like The Tin Drum
If you liked The Tin Drum, try The Grapes of Wrath, To Kill a Mockingbird or Ulysses.
