The Tin Drum by Gunter Grass. [Photo/Agencies]

Title: The Tin Drum

Author: Gunter Grass

Country: Germany

Published: 1959

The story revolves around the life of Oskar Matzerath. Though talented with an adult's mentality, he decides never to grow up after witnessing the darker side of human nature. He retains the state of a child while living through the beginning of World War II, witnessing adultery and postwar Europe. Through all this, Oskar is accompanied by a deeply-treasured toy tin drum, which he received as a present for his third birthday, which he plays, sometimes vigorously, to express his feelings.

During the war, Oskar joins a troupe of performing dwarfs to entertain the Germans at the front lines. After the war, he returns home and makes a name for himself with his talents in drumming, until one day, he allows himself to be falsely convicted of murder and to be confined to an insane asylum, where he works on his memoir.

The Tin Drum was adapted into a film in 1979, and won the Palme d'Or in the same year and Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film the following year.