The Rat, like Grass's other novels, is rigorously organized. It has twelve chapters, each beginning with a summarizing paragraph that details the episodes in the several stories and motifs that unfold in that particular chapter. Fictional artifice in its most exhibitionist sense has never been more overt in Grass's fiction. He pointedly tells the reader about his negotiations with his characters, attempting to control them to act his story out. About a quarter of the narrative is provided by the She-Rat, with the rest consisting of narration by Grass and the stories of Oskar, Damroka, and the Grimm brothers' fairy-tale characters. There is no conventional suspense in the novel. We know that the novel will end where it began because it deliberately blurs its "present," despite its particularity about dates of birthdays and historical events. Withheld is the simple declaration that the nuclear catastrophe described has actually happened...