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Summary: what a long, boring, and pointless story
Review: This story is the most boring, most pointless story I have ever read. I guess this is because Franz Kafka thought that life was boring and pointless. But still, it's stupid. He spends five pages telling about how little Gregor gets out of bed. Really, is that necessary? The only reason I would suggest it to anybody is if you haven't graduated high school yet. It is helpful to have at least read the story once in your lifetime, preferably before you leave high school, because you'll probably encounter discussions/assignments later on in college that deal with it. But it's a bad story, period.
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Summary: This is one of the greastest stories ever told
Review: And it also happens that this is the best edition of the text as well. It contains a running commentary and criticism with the aide of footnotes throughout the text. Highly recommended. Often cited as the greatest opening line of the 20th century.
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Summary: Thrilling
Review: Some professors may enjoy dissecting this book, making it appear to be one of the most complex in the history of literature, but basically this is a story that is as simple as a fairy tale and as exciting as a thriller: Salesman Gregor Samsa wakes up and finds himself changed into an enormous insect. Kafka tells the ensuing troubles with a perfectly straight face. In contrast to all those magic realists, he departs from what may happen any day in only one particular, which makes the story all the more haunting. Who has ever identified with an insect? The difficulties Gregor faces are told from his point of view: his family don't believe it's him, he cannot communicate, they try to get rid of him etc. This heartbreaking novella can be enjoyed even by twelve-year-olds. This is definitely the book you should start with if you want to have a go at Kafka.
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Summary: The Metamorphosis is Alright
Review: This novel, The Metamorphosis, in my eyes was boring and had no point in my view. I hate this novel and I rate it very low because it is very fictional and I do not think that changing that much would ever occur to mess up somebody's family that bad.
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Summary: One of the most significant allegories of modern literature
Review: Kafka's "The Metamorphosis" is one of the most complex titles in 20th century literature. Despite it's short length, it has a seemingly infinite number of levels on which it can be interpreted. Whether read as social condemnation, a symbolic autobiography, or anywhere inbetween, every reader can learn something not only about his world but about himself. In only a few pages, Kafka has epitomized the purpose of literature. Although definately not "escape literature," I highly recommend "The Metamorphosis" to anyone interested in stretching their mind while digging downward into the infinate depths of this novella's meaning.
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Summary: I'm so sure...
Review: Oh, yes, every day people wake up to find themselves turned into a cockroach and have to deal with living as one. I'm just real sure! That's the story of THE METAMORPHOSIS. The whole story is about Gregor as a cockroach...oooh aaah! Of course, when you read the notes, you'll understand why Kafka wrote this story, but it's still a little silly. Nuff said :)
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Summary: Endlessly moving
Review: Gregor Samsa awakes one day to find that he has turned into a giant cockroach: on the surface it is a simple tale, below the surface it is infinitely deep. As a symbol of alienation, Gregor evokes the richest archetypes of the collective unconscious. One can't help but feel an intimate empathic connection to Gregor. The ending is bitterly ironic. Not at all the dry, dull read one expects from "classic" literature. Metamorphosis is bursting with dark humor and rich pathos. Highest recommendation!
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Summary: A Bug's Life
Review: Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis takes on life through the eyes of a man, transformed into an insect. This intriguing tale of heartbreak and misery reveals a man's struggle with his newfound life. Unfortunately, life isn't quite as easy as he hoped it would be. Follow along and see the difficulties this man, Gregor Samsa, faces as he attempts to cope with his new form, from his family to his incredibly vital job, and learn what it's like to be a bug.
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Summary: Change is what we need
Review: This book is a triumph. Kafka has created, in his most famous piece, a work that is almost poetic in its prose and yet remains succinctly digestible. The metaphor is obvious, Gregor works and works to keep his incapable family in comfort with only the faintest dreams of seeking his own fulfilment. However, as we know he becomes the embodiment of his vocation transforming overnight into a giant insect. The scene is set from the first sentence of the book and as we struggle to decide whose cause to support, we are swept away in a delicately woven shroud of fantasy and reality, the family's struggle is painfully real, Gregor's change cannot be reasoned, yet it all becomes tangible. The family descends into chaos as Gregor loses his job and the family bear disgust for this creature, yet we later realise that every member of the family has been developing and growing without ever losing their stride. The genius of the book is that given the obvious metamorphosis, we fail to see until later in the book that the metamorphosis is a gradual process undergone by the family as a whole. They must work to support themselves, Mr Samsa once again can assert his position at the head of the household, Gregor's sister is becoming a woman. Those who are not part of the change are swiftly removed from influence, and we are left with a cacophony of voices, that somehow sing the same song. We are also left with the idea that his sister, somehow the sanest, most competent member of the remaining family could be seen perhaps as a queen bee to contradict the worker embodied by Gregor. He dreams only of sending her to the academy where she can learn to play the violin she loves, and he saves in secret to surprise her with this fantastic gift beyond his means that he is never able to give. From the start she weeps for Gregor before his plight is known, and soon takes responsibilty for him as she metamorphoses from a girl to a grown woman. As she becomes the queen she is left with the direction of Gregor's fate, and begins to see his plight in pragmatic rather that emotional terms. This is a fantastic book that demands to be read again and again. Each time another gradual metamorphosis reveals itself from the story. If you read between the lines, you still have to read between those lines, yet Metamorphosis is held together by the sheer completeness of the imagery. This book is remarkably deep for such a lightly written piece, and short at only 79 pages (in my edition), however it is verging on a work of art. It is a piece, not a story, and leaves you energised. It is testament to the genius of Kafka that he allegedly wrote this in one day. 5 stars coming your way, Franz!
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Summary: My Treatise on the Metamorphosis
Review: Overall, i consider, without a doubt, this book to be a literary milestone. A monolihic trophy of modern literature, an object to which many a novel is compared to. A book, which helps define the word Kafkaesque, is a unique voyage into the psyche of people who are shunned by their families or freinds due to a sudden mishap, much as what happened with Kafka and TB. For people who dont think that this novel is great, they have some good points. But look beyond the story itself and look at its impact, its individuality. This is a must read book, for even though its is mopish and depressing and frusrtaing with its lack of any explanations what-so-ever, it is worth the small time to read, for it is a short book. Well, there's my advice, adhead to it please.
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