The Flounder by Gunter Grass

Kate provided, not unlike other archetypical tri-titted goddesses throughout history, provided a level of sustenance only to be expected from such a fulsome source. A group of slack and undeserving BBC non readers of “The Flounder” gathered to discuss the Gunter Grass work, and little discussion of any worth about the book took place. We just won’t go there on puns around “flounder”. Still, the work by this Nobel prize winning (1999) ex Nazi SS man certainly demonstrates his ability, even in a translated work, to slap together a sentence … although Leanne did pull me up on this point … still reading a few passages does at least confirm this aspect of the book's worth to me.


We simply struggled, indeed floundered, with the context and story itself, which involves something of a yuk factor.

It is interesting to read the Houston Book Club review.

Scores were

Kate 7
Mary 6
Mark 7.5
Total 6.5

Kevin – disgraced
Leane – disgraced
Dennis – disgraced

oh all right then, Mark, semi disgraced for not reading much of it.

Here is a synopsis from Amazon:

Based loosely on Grimm's The Fisherman and his Wife, this triumphant blend of folk tale and contemporary story takes place over the course of nine months, during which the wife of the narrator becomes pregnant and is regaled with tales of the various cooks the fisherman has met throughout his life. The emerging themes of the novel expose the periods when men made history and women's contributions went largely, in some cases gravely, unrecognized. Inventive, imaginitive and irreverent, this humorous, fundamentally brilliant novel highlights the value of modern-day myth and timeless legend.

Mark