To compensate for his unusually large Adam`s apple
- source of both discomfort & distress
- fourteen year old Joachim Mahlke turns himself into athlete & ace diver. Soon he is known to his peers & his nation as ` The Great Mahlke`. But to his enemies, he remains a target. He is different & doomed in a country scarred by the war. Cat & Mouse was first published in 1961, two years after Gunter Grass` controversial & applauded masterpiece, The Tin Drum. Once again Grass turns his attention on Danzig. With a subtle blend of humour & power, Cat & Mouse ostensibly relates the rise of Mahlke from clown to hero. But Mahlke`s outlandish antics hide the darkness at the heart of a nation torn by Nazi violence, the war & its aftermath.