Now 25 years old, this "novel" came out in the heady days when Grass had a European or even world reputation, and was still riding high on the vast success of The Tin Drum. He was also a political figure, thanks to his vehement public campaign on behalf of Willy Brandt and the SDJ in the 1969 election (which, incidentally, they won).
According to a publisher's note, this formed the background of the present book, a fact which in itself scarcely explains the manic restlessness and frequent obscurity of the writing, or the lack of a central thread or obvious linking theme. Frankly, it seems to me that after The Tin Drum and Cat and Mouse, Grass's decline as a novelist was steep and that a kind of publicist and verbal performer increasingly took over. Certainly From the Diary of a Snail suggests that the material should have gone into some other form, or format; novel it is not.