Dog Years

Set in three parts, this novel moves from the 1920s to the 1950s, following the lives of Eduard Amsel, his blood brother Walter Matern, and Prinz, the black shepherd who is also the FÜhrer's favorite dog. Amsel builds lifelike, mechanically marching SA men, Matern practices a strange revenge on Nazi criminals, and Prinz deserts his master because even a dog can have enough. Exhibiting all the brilliance, inventiveness and narrative daring that Grass is famous for, this is a splendid evocation of an apocalyptic period and its startling aftermath.