The Metamorphosis

Rating:
Summary: 2.5 months after reading it, I still don't know if I like it
Review: A note: I potentially give away a fairly important piece of the story (although I try to keep it as ambiguous as I can), so for those unfamiliar with this work, please be advised that you may want to bypass this review.

I wrote a paper on Kafka's Metamorphosis for a class that focused on "modern" short stories. As the title of this review indicates, I still cannot honestly say whether I like or dislike it.

First, a warning: if you cannot accept the main character -- by the end of the first sentence -- turning into a human-sized insect, with utterly no attempt at an explanation from its author as to why or how, then I can guarantee that you will not enjoy this story. It takes -- nay, demands -- a suspension of one's credulity in order to take anything of value from the piece. This is what Kafka asks of you from the very outset.

Secondly, if you're in a good mood -- or looking for a book to put you in such a state -- don't pick this one up. For whatever you take out of this story, it will not be joy or laughter. That is not to say The Metamorphosis is not without humor; it is indeed. Nonetheless, it is a bitter, sardonic sort of humor that, after expecting the reader to eliminate his skepticism, almost tauntingly asks, "Can you believe such a thing could happen to someone?"

Third, if you can accept the fact that the protagonist of the story is a BUG or insect of some kind (sorry, cannot recall the number of legs Gregor is said to have), you can gain a very different perspective on life. Gregor's inherent altruism -- the lengths he has gone to and goes to in order to make his family happy -- combined with the same family's almost complete renunciation/ignoring of him, leaves one with a deep sense of sympathy -- if nothing else -- for poor Greggie.

Kafka's work asks the question, "Can there be anything sadder than your family not wanting you?" The author, in my estimation, responds at the end with a resounding "Yes!" For not only does Gregor's family not want anything to do with him, by the end of the story, it could be argued that they are better off without him. Now the question becomes, "Can there be anything sadder than your family being better off -- and happier -- without you?" I daresay that most of us don't even consider this question, yet it's a sobering one that has the potential to send us all into a deep depression. That leads into the final point that Gregor's transformation is not in itself the central theme of the story. It's how one acts when confronted with unprecedented adversity, and how that adversity can lead to the most disheartening of consequences.

Love this work or hate it, if you can get past, as I said, the ridiculousness of Gregor's initial state of affairs, this somewhat short story will leave a lasting impression on you.

Rating:
Summary: Ludicrously absurd and absurdly simple
Review: Kafka has a strange way of doing things. He takes a ludicrously absurd yet absurdly simple plot, and writes an essay on existentialism and identity crisis around it.

When we meet Gregor Samsa one morning, he has been transformed into a monstrous vermin. This is the last of his worries, however, as he is more concerned about getting to work on time. Work, it seems, was the be all and end all of Gregor's life. We then learn that he is not tied to his job out of choice. He's the sole wage earner of his family. His father is too fat to work, his mother too ill, and his sister too young. Yet, no one appreciates what he does for the family. He is just a source of income for the family, nothing more.

Being a bug means that he is unable to work. He feels guilty for it. The breadwinner has suddenly turned into a burden. However, the family does not go bankrupt. They can look after themselves after all. All three of the human members have got jobs. Samsa's existence is meaningless now, that is for sure. But did it have any meaning before, if the family could now exist without his support?

Whilst pondering about the meaning of his existence, which is not a simple matter at the best of times, and definitely not when one is a rather large insect, Samsa has another issue to contend with: his identity. Is he a man, or is he nothing more than a dung beetle, as his made calls him. When he speaks, others here nothing but a sounds of an insect, yet he understands their speech perfectly. He likes rotten food, yet he is the only one who can appreciate his sister's violin playing.

Then, we realize that for Samsa, these two dilemmas are indeed linked. For Samsa sees a purpose in living as long as he can identify himself with the humans. He imagines that one day he will be able to become human again. He also feels that however repulsive he is, his sister, and his sister alone, has some sympathy for him. Why would she feed him and clean his room otherwise?

In the end, however, even his sister gives up on him. Samsa realizes he is nothing but a big bug. He loses his purpose his life, and he loses his life.

This book is a comical tragedy that discusses a gamut of issues that each and every person in the world would have to face on day. The brevity of the book, a mere 55 pages, bears testimony to the genius of Kafka.

I have no hesitation in recommending this timeless classic to anyone.

Rating:
Summary: A Strange and Complex Work of Literature
Review: Gregor Samsa, a normal, unassuming guy, wakes up one morning to find himself turned into a giant bug. And here we enter the mind of Franz Kafka. In not very many words, Kafka presents an extraordinarily complex work, that is not so much an aberration in the realm of classic literature, not so much an odd story, but a thought-provoking novella that poses many questions about existence, transformation, relationships, Jewish literature, feminism, and any other number of topics literary critics are all too happy to dissect. This is a very good story with no frills, just straightforward writing. You follow Gregor as he comes to terms with his new condition, a man trapped inside the body of a vermin. His family is appalled and bitterly rejects him, dehumanizing and abusing Gregor. They attempt to cope but never really succesed. A quiet, unassuming work that ends on an odd note that is both sad and joyous at the same time. Never has a work been examined more. And if you want to see what all the fuss having to do with a giant bug is about, read it and see for yourself.

Rating:
Summary: At once hilarious and heartbreaking, a true masterpiece
Review: Kafka was a troubled man. You can tell by reading one of his books, which feels a lot like perusing someone else's diary, wandering into territory where you aren't entirely welcome but you don't care because the environment is so compelling and mysterious. In Metamorphosis, the main character, Gregor Samsa, turns into a giant insect and is subsequently shunned by his family, a tragedy that, while inexplicably surreal on the surface, makes a genuine impact because of Kafka's likely personal connection to the character (note the similarity between the names Kafka and Samsa). In writing about a man who feels isolated from the world and rejected by those he loves, he ultimately writes about himself, and the result is a doubly depressing but nonetheless incredible book well worth anyone's time.

Metamorphosis is tragic, but it also has moments of sheer comic brilliance. It is one of the few pieces I've read that actually made me laugh out loud when no one else was around. Yet even as I laughed at one ridiculous situation or another, there was a sadness to it that wouldn't let go of me, an underlying despondence that kept me perpetually close to tears. When a book affects you that much, there's something beautiful about it.

Beautiful it is, and this is a terrific version, complete with myriad literary criticisms and miscellaneous articles in the back (the "novel" itself is only something like 60 pages) covering a wide range of pertinent topics. Some of the essays are interesting, some are ridiculous; many of them make great classroom discussions (such as the interpretation that equates the notorious apple-projectile with a certain male body part). Great fun, great fun.

Seriously, this is an amazing book--not boring, as many classics are--that you could easily read in two or three hours. Heck, I did, and it turned out to be one of my all-time favorites. Trust me. This is good.

Rating:
Summary: An Incredible Book
Review: The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka is a phenomenal read. The symbolism in the book will exercise your mind and cause you to look within yourself to see if you are doomed to the life of an insect as Gregor was. It asks you to look around you and see if the people you love view you in the same way that you view yourself. The language Kafka uses is incredible, giving vivid images as if you were dreaming rather than reading.

Rating:
Summary: A Classic!
Review: One of my favorite stories of what it means to be human. It is rather melancholy, but yet so true at the same time. I recomend to anyone interested in Existentialism or just in man's journey as a human being.

Rating:
Summary: Heartbreaking.
Review: There are no better words for it. The literary equivalent to the life of the elephant man. The tightrope Kafka walks is to tug both at our sympathy for humanity and the animalistic world. The story is about so many things -- sacrifice, fate, lust, pain, the meaning of life, the meaning of soul -- that to sum it up here is hard.

There are certain sorts that will be put off by the subject matter of a big bug. Read past it. This is the portrait of failure, shame and despair beyond any other portrait. There is little that could ever be worse, than to be as sweet as you ever could be, as human as you ever were, and yet completely inhuman.

Rating:
Summary: 582nd interpretation
Review: Metamorphosis is one of the most famous works in 20th C literature, and possibly has the most memorable opening lines in the history of story telling, - 'As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning after disturbing dreams, he found himself transformed in his bed into an enormous insect'. The standard interpretation of this allegorical tale is that Gregor's transformation from hard working travelling salesman, providing for his family, to a grotesque useless insect that provokes disgust and pity and ultimately rejection by his family, represents physical disability, and society's treatment of it. I can see this in the story, but I read Kafka as essentially portraying his nightmare of the barrier between the public and personal inner world being removed. The private mental life, with its sensitive and raw secrets, its ugly and embarrasing little features, the desires and instincts that we strive to keep hidden, and/or are forced to repress. The bug is the embodiment of the ugly and raw inside turned out, exposed for all the world to see. Particularly nightmarish for Gregor (kafka) is the fact that those who see are those he loves and whose rejecton he fears most of all - his family.

Rating:
Summary: The Ending sux
Review: Ok, the book was alright. I liked the beginning. I saved the last two pages for the next day. After I read it, OMG. What a horriable ending. How could the author do that. Did the author not know what to do with it? They just decided to slap any old ending in the book. It didn't fit one bit. I would reccomend the book to people yes. It is a great book. But DON'T read the last two pages. They don't make any difference!

Rating:
Summary: Important existentialist work
Review: Kafka's The Metamorphosis stands as one of the most important existentialist literary works ever written.

The novella follows Gregor Samsa, a lonely and somewhat pathetic salesman who lives at home supporting his family. Inexplicably, Samsa awakens one morning to find that he has transformed into an insect. In typical existentialist fashion, Samsa's physical transformation is accompanied by a dramatic psychological transformation, as Samsa's mother and father utterly reject their newly transformed son. Even Samsa's previously sympathetic and caring sister changes her ways, eventually seeking to destroy the monstrous insect that her brother has become.

This novella is meant to be thoroughly depressing and succeeds very well, though there remains a tinge of comedic elements throughout the book. There is purposefully very little explanation as to why and how Samsa's transformation took place, and Kafka allows the reader to come to his/her own conclusions about the deeper meaning of his work.

This is a fast read and an enjoyable one at that. People vehemently opposed to the existentialist philosophy may find this book frustrating and overly depressing, but it is worth reading nevertheless. Ultimately, I think each of us has a little Gregor Samsa in us, and all readers will be able to identify with Samsa's plight.