Tuesday, May 29, 2007

The Tin Drum - post III

Because today was a bank holiday I had no work and as a result no commute so reading has not been easy and I have waited until everyone has gone to bed to get some pages of Tin Drum under my belt. The reading will start again tomorrow in earnest but these few pages at least keep it ticking over and make it possible to complete the book this week.

Bullet points between pages 101 – 125

* Oskar meets a dwarf who decided to stop growing when he reached the age of ten and he warns him never to be in front of a rostrum but on it or behind it because a time is coming of torch light parades and speeches

* Sure enough Oskar’s father joins the party and Oskar starts to attend rallies but he hides underneath the rostrum and using his drum infects the bands above with waltzes and swing and disrupts the meetings

* He then moves on to experimenting with turning people into thieves by using his voice to smash shop windows and then in the shadows watch as normal people, including his mother’s lover, succumb to temptation

More tomorrow…