The Metamorphosis

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Summary: An amazingly odd and completely absurd view of humanity.
Review: This is defintitely a story that needs to be read twice. Such is the intricacy of Kafka's symbolism. Personally, I believe this is one of his greatest works.

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Summary: Strange, interesting, and orginal.
Review: I have to say; of all the books that I've read, Kafka's work is some of the most original and interesting. Not just because of the issues that are found underlying within the story, but the way it is presented. Gregor's transition from being able to support the family financially, to becoming unable to support himself is both comic and tragic. I've only read it twice, and still don't understand some of the social undertones in the story, which is why I plan on reading it more in the future. It's not exactly a free flowing river like "On the Road" by Kerouac; it is one of the things in life that needs to be examined over and over again to fully understand what's really happening. I'll bet some of the blatant responses dribbling from other "readers" about how slow and boring it is, haven't even bothered to give the book a second chance.

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Summary: A novel, that portrays the harshness of man-kind.
Review: Who ever says this book isn't worth reading, must not know how to read and proabably has no taste at all. Who every thinks the latter must be trying to eat crack, instead of smoke it. The novel was was a great, is a great, and will continue to be a great. Read it and learn from it. The characters help readers realize how people can change. This novel is a window in to Kafka's thoughts.

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Summary: Ain't No good..Gonna have to shoot it!!!
Review: If there were a 0 star rating that's exactly what I would have given this usless, worthless, example of wasted paper. I wouldn't read this work again if I were paid one million dollars. In my opinion, it sounded like it was written by someone on weed. I say he woke up trippin and saw himself as a bug and later decided to write about it.

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Summary: Absolutely Insane
Review: This book is by far the most bizzare book that I have ever read. Yet, it is at the same time very interesting. It presents a topic that is so surrealistic that it is neat. The meaning is quite difficult to comprehend, which is its only drawback. At the same time, it adds an errie element to the story.

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Summary: An amazing insight into bigotry, loss of power and asthetics
Review: Here is Kafka's most powerful work (along with the Trial). A young man who works hard to provide for his family, who are useless in themselves, awakes to find himself horribly changed. He can no longer be the provider for his family and the self-loathing that Kafka describes is so real as to be tangible. The families change of attitude toward his is frightening and vile but told to us with such comic genious as to make us laugh. Gregor Samsa is one of the few characters in Kafka's fiction where we are actually allowed deep inside his head and, even after such a terrible trauma, his compassion for the feelings of his family is touching. The change he underwent could have been anything causing incapacity, Kafka's choosing a change to this beetle like creature only adds to the power. I believe the story is summed up in the last few lines where the mother and father look at their daughter and love her for her beauty and figure.

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Summary: a new and interesting concept in literature for me.
Review: having not encountered a "kafka-esque" approach to reading before, i was entranced by the story line. it was difficult to fully comprehend all the symbolisms and parallels, but challenging literature is meant to be an enjoyable task. definetely, kafka has entered my will read this(and other) book over again, because i am sure that there is endless subjects and interpretations that i missed on the first excursion!

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Summary: Macabre
Review: This book lives inside me like a dark, unwholesome quasi-sexual dream. If you don't live out Kafka's novels, you never understand them. The graphic lucidity of the opening scene grips one, and the first paragraph is etched in my mind like a song. Kafka was so intent on getting this right that he drew pictures of the insect. Try play-acting the opening scene and imagining you are the insect...I believe Kafka did this. From the juxtaposition of Gregor's morbid "mouldy cheese eating ritual" to the final scene where his sister jumps in the air as a healthy blossoming girl, one is spellbound by Kafka's complete understanding of his self-hatred.

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Summary: excellent book
Review: this book is amazing. it tends to really make you think a great deal and evaluate your own book. i personally enjoyed it a great deal

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Summary: A statement for Social Reform
Review: Kafka's Metamorphosis is one of the most powerful books ever written. Kafka's profound story of the external transfiguration of Gregor Samsa not only puts forth questions of humanity's oscillatory behaviour, it also tells of Kafka's frustration of his industrialised world. Gregor Samsa is already a cockroach inside before his physical metamorphosis; it takes his devolution into barbaric simplicity for him to learn to become a man. Inversely, his family's former love and humanity is torn asunder when they find themselves cast into the commercial world. Kafka's statements on the conditions of his world make this book a must read. Yet what truly makes this a masterpiece is that so many messages are interwoven into Kafka's grotesquely comic tale of a man's mental metamorphosis; Kafka's writing was so far ahead of time that it surpasses ours.