Rating: 
Summary: A descent into hell
Review: "Amerika" looks like it was written by someone who not only had never been to America but did not even care to know what it's really like. But Kafka's style is all about transforming the real into the surreal, tainting reality and disturbing our sense of order and structure. Even in the book's very first paragraph, when a ship carrying the protagonist, Karl Rossmann, approaches New York, the Statue of Liberty is depicted as holding in her raised hand not a torch symbolizing a beacon to welcome immigrants, but a sword, ominously threatening aggression. Similarly, when later in the book New York and Boston are described as being separated by the Hudson River, one wonders whether Kafka was sincerely ignorant of American geography or deliberately distorting it to create a dreamlike effect. Karl, a German-speaking teenager from Prague, has been sent to America by his parents to evade charges of paternity by a maidservant he has impregnated. He is to learn English and complete his education while living with his uncle Jakob, owner of a shipping business. Soon he is invited to the mansion of one of uncle's friends, where he is assaulted by this man's daughter and loses himself within the enormous house's labyrinth of dark corridors. This is a typical Kafka touch -- enshrouding a normal situation with an eerie atmosphere and a sense of foreboding. After Karl is expelled by his uncle over an unintended act of disrespect, he takes to the road and hooks up with two rough drifters named Delamarche and Robinson. They proceed to bully and steal from him and eventually cause him to lose his job as a hotel elevator operator, and, when all three end up living in an apartment with an imperious fat woman named Brunelda, Karl even becomes their prisoner and slave. These situations of helplessness and unfairness are evidence of more of Kafka's stylistic attributes -- paranoia and persecution fantasy -- which are employed to more morbid effect in "The Trial." Like much of Kafka's work, "Amerika" is uncompleted, and we are left with a potentially intriguing fragment in which Karl, having somehow escaped his state of captivity, gets a job with a roadshow organization called the Theatre of Oklahoma, which promises (but ultimately cheats us out of) further bizarre adventures into the heartland of America. Kafka seems to imagine American showmanship as a perverse form of public spectacle; his portrayal of a street parade for the election of a judge, which Karl watches rapturously from Brunelda's balcony, is a narrative tour de force of human chaos. The book's subtitle, "The Man Who Disappeared," expresses an idea that many Europeans may have had about America -- that emigration there was a final and irrevocable abandonment of cultural roots. But Kafka was not like many Europeans, let alone many people, and his theme can be interpreted more accurately as a descent into hell, a severance of all family ties (Karl lamentably loses his only photograph of his parents) and an immersion into the unknown. We can only hope that Karl, having sailed across the Atlantic like the dead being ferried by Charon across the river Styx, will be lucky enough to avoid the left-hand path towards his own personal Tartarus.
Rating:
Summary: A descent into hell
Review: "Amerika" looks like it was written by someone who not only had never been to America but did not even care to know what it's really like. But Kafka's style is all about transforming the real into the surreal, tainting reality and disturbing our sense of order and structure. Even in the book's very first paragraph, when a ship carrying the protagonist, Karl Rossmann, approaches New York, the Statue of Liberty is depicted as holding in her raised hand not a torch symbolizing a beacon to welcome immigrants, but a sword, ominously threatening aggression. Similarly, when later in the book New York and Boston are described as being separated by the Hudson River, one wonders whether Kafka was sincerely ignorant of American geography or deliberately distorting it to create a dreamlike effect. Karl, a German-speaking teenager from Prague, has been sent to America by his parents to evade charges of paternity by a maidservant he has impregnated. He is to learn English and complete his education while living with his uncle Jakob, owner of a shipping business. Soon he is invited to the mansion of one of uncle's friends, where he is assaulted by this man's daughter and loses himself within the enormous house's labyrinth of dark corridors. This is a typical Kafka touch -- enshrouding a normal situation with an eerie atmosphere and a sense of foreboding. After Karl is expelled by his uncle over an unintended act of disrespect, he takes to the road and hooks up with two rough drifters named Delamarche and Robinson. They proceed to bully and steal from him and eventually cause him to lose his job as a hotel elevator operator, and, when all three end up living in an apartment with an imperious fat woman named Brunelda, Karl even becomes their prisoner and slave. These situations of helplessness and unfairness are evidence of more of Kafka's stylistic attributes -- paranoia and persecution fantasy -- which are employed to more morbid effect in "The Trial." Like much of Kafka's work, "Amerika" is uncompleted, and we are left with a potentially intriguing fragment in which Karl, having somehow escaped his state of captivity, gets a job with a roadshow organization called the Theatre of Oklahoma, which promises (but ultimately cheats us out of) further bizarre adventures into the heartland of America. Kafka seems to imagine American showmanship as a perverse form of public spectacle; his portrayal of a street parade for the election of a judge, which Karl watches rapturously from Brunelda's balcony, is a narrative tour de force of human chaos. The book's subtitle, "The Man Who Disappeared," expresses an idea that many Europeans may have had about America -- that emigration there was a final and irrevocable abandonment of cultural roots. But Kafka was not like many Europeans, let alone many people, and his theme can be interpreted more accurately as a descent into hell, a severance of all family ties (Karl lamentably loses his only photograph of his parents) and an immersion into the unknown. We can only hope that Karl, having sailed across the Atlantic like the dead being ferried by Charon across the river Styx, will be lucky enough to avoid the left-hand path towards his own personal Tartarus.
Rating:
Summary: Kafka and humor?..great combination..
Review: "Amerika" was the first book by Franz Kafka that I read, and it was definitely a treat. Poor Karl Rossman, shipped off to America by his parents for having a child with a maid, has his first adventure on the boat in New York's harbor. Helping a stoker who feels he's being treated unfairly, he (Karl) happens to find his Uncle Jacob on the boat. The very Uncle Jacob who was waiting for his arrival! So it's the cushy life for Karl right? Weeeell, not exactly. It starts out that way but eventually Karl ends up on his own. "Amerika" has more humor in it than Kafka's other novels and it may have you chuckling and cheering for Karl on his journey. It did me. What happens to Karl and how exactly does he end up in Oklahoma? You're going to have to read the book to find that out. Oh, and make sure to notice all the "cramped" situations Karl gets stuck in. Very amusing!
Rating:
Summary: Kafka's Absurd America
Review: A very funny book. Kafka's Amerika resembles the writing of John Dos Passos or Woody Guthrie, a rambling, disjointed narrative told in deceptively simple prose. What Kafka adds is a an absurd undercurrent that swells as the book progresses. Not on par with The Castle or his funniest novel, The Trial, but still a great book.
Rating: 
Summary: Eerie parallel universe yet still relevant
Review: As everybody already pointed out Kafka wrote this novel without ever having been to America. Allegedly his characterisation of the country is more akin to the oppressive situation in Prague, but I think you can make an argument that he stumbled on a theme of American culture that isn't often explored, or rather best described by Kafka, the whole idea of claustrophobia within a land of wide open spaces. The young immigrant protagonist, Karl, seems to follow the 'right' path that is expected of him and yet finds himself unable to advance and trapped in horrible social situations. The story is set in an America that is so slightly off-kilter as to be surreal (it's not America, it's Amerika) and with that sense of Kafkaesque dread (like the Statue of Liberty with the sword in her hand instead of the torch - a symbol of war and violence instead of freedom and enlightenment, or that neverending labyrinth of a suburban mansion that is bigger than could ever be possible) but in a way Kafka's commentary on an America he never visited is one of the most shockingly accurate depictions you'll read. It's unfinished but I kind of liked that; it was endearingly rough around the edges and that made it even more surreal. Some people have mentioned that the last chapter is an optimistic one but I really found that the carnival-like atmosphere to be menacing and the uncertainty of Karl's future in a Wide Open Country was more a feeling of unnamed dread than optimism, but you know, it is Kafka.
Rating:
Summary: Challenged my perceptions, but just too disturbing
Review: Franz Kafka (1883-1924) started writing this novel in 1913 and this, like most of his other work, was published after his death. He never visited America, but reality is not an important factor in his work. Rather, he creates a surreal landscape for his main character, Karl, a 16-year old who has been sent away from his homeland because of an unfortunate relationship with a servant girl. Karl is a victim throughout in a series of improbable adventures, and constantly struggles through a confused labyrinth of streets and buildings and random acts of cruelty and compassion. Always, he is under stress and the choices he makes keep leading to even more preposterous predicaments. I was constantly annoyed with him and yet identified with him as he fumbled through his very uncomfortable life. This is the only Kafka work I've ever read and don't plan on reading any more, even though I can acknowledge his artistry. It's just too disturbing. But I still do recommend this book because it challenged and expanded my perceptions. And I do appreciate the legacy he left to the world.
Rating:
Summary: kafka's first book--pure genius
Review: I came across Kafka's first novel after i had finished his short fiction, which impressed me. this story isn't quite what i expected. while stilling holding onto the grimmness that is signature kafka, it manages to use humor in a way i hadn't seen kafka do in his shorter works. "The Stoker", the story/chapter that begins the book is what Dickens would have done if he had been a better writer. Karl's adventures remind me of Huck Finn's, but without a Jim. Until the last chapter, where the story spirals away from what it had been into substandard work. No, it isn't kafka's best work, but it is still a great piece of art.
Rating:
Summary: The American Nightmare
Review: Kafka drives the reader crazy by this epic narration about the adventures of Karl, an adolescent sent to America at the beginning of XX century. While escaping from a stupid love affair Karl is to meet his uncle who will receive him at home and will push him into the secrets of accounting.
Thanks to one of Kafka's eternal "malentendus" Karl is sent to the immigrant's arena and he has to live on his own. Almost penniless, his sole possessions are his battered trunk and an old photography of his parents.
One can't but feel empathy and tenderness for young Karl. Fired by his uncle who was supposed to protect him, Karl has to cope with two drunkards (an Irish and a French) who attempt by all means to abuse of his innocence by promising him a job in the west coast.
Karl then finds a humble place at a big hotel. He is in charge of one of the numerous elevators and works almost sixteen hours a day just to be dismissed due to a new misunderstanding.
At times hilariously, the novel describes the situation of many Europeans who might have dreamed of America as an oasis to later realize they were just joined as a little part of an enormous and unspeakable machine.
Rating:
Summary: An adventure in a dreamy land
Review: The book starts with the seen of Karl Rossmann, a sixteen years old boy from Germany, standing on the liner entering the harbour of New York. He was forced to leave Europe by his parents because a servant girl seduced him and got herself with child by him. America does not look at first sight as a friendly place: the Statue of Liberty, for instance, is depicted with a sword in her hand instead of a torch. The book then tells the adventures of Karl, the people he meets, the places he visits and the jobs he finds. The atmospheres vary from the classical dreamy nightmarish set of other Kafka's books to a realistic set which, in some way, is even stranger and more disquieting. Everything can be seen as real, especially if the reader considers that the point of view is the one of a sixteen years old finding himself alone in an unknown country where a language, that he must learn, is spoken. Unfortunately, the book is unfinished. The first six chapters are complete. Between the seven and the eight chapter there is a gap, the eight chapter, which was supposed to be the last one, is unfinished. Therefore, I suggest to readers who never read Kafka to start from some other book such as "the trial", "the metamorphosis" or the other short stories. Readers, who are familiar with other works by Kafka, will find in this book a lighter mood.
Rating: 
Summary: like dickens, only by kafka
Review: This first novel is incomplete and was never intended for publication. It isn't funny, it isn't fun, and it certainly isn't very original. Kafka wrote it as an exercise and that is all it should be. Upon reading it carefully, I can only conclude that perhaps it should not have been published as it simply doesn't stand up to this master's best work. As such it is really only of interest to scholars. Basically, it follows the journey through America of a clueless twit into a variety of catastrophic misadventures, from getting a maid pregnant without intending to to losing job after job in New York and environs. While it does have some of the bizarre atmospherics that Kafka later perfected, the themes in it are not of the timeless horror and angst that later marked Kafka as a peculiar genius. Skip it and go on to The Trial or The Castle. If you don't know Kafka, start with Metamorphosis.
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