The Box

Once upon a time there was a father who because he had grown old called together his sons and daughtersfour five six eight in numberand finally convinced them after long hesitation to do as he wished. Now they are sitting around a table and begin to talkIn a great literary experiment Nobel Prize winner Gnter Grass writes in the voices of his eight children as they record memories of their childhoods of growing up and of their father who was always at work on a new book always at the margins of their lives. Memories contradictory critical loving accusatorythey piece together an intimate picture of this most public of men a shadowy but loving figure. There is one constant though: Marie a family friend and photographer whose snapshots taken with an old-fashioned Agfa box camera provide the author with inspiration for his novels. But her images offer much more; they reveal a truth beyond the ordinary detail of life depict the future tell what might have been and grant the wishes in visual form of those photographed. Maries camera thus becomes a way for Grass to speak in the voices of his childrens hidden selvestheir dreams their disappointments their secret desires and fearsand to see his own life from unexpected perspectives.Recalling J. M. Coetzees Summertime and Umberto Ecos The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana The Box is an inspired and daring work of fiction. In its candor wit and earthiness it is Grass at his best.