The Trial

Rating:
Summary: The Trial
Review: On his thirtieth birthday, Joseph K wakes up to find that two men are waiting for him in the living room, and that he is under arrest. They won't tell him why he is under arrest, what he has done, under what authority he is being charged, or how to do anything about it. The two men joke at him while eating their breakfast, telling him that it doesn't really matter if he is arrested or not. K is understandably confused by all of this, considering it to be all one big joke arranged by his fellow boarders and friends.

The two warders take him to the Inspector, who explains the details of K's arrest. Again, K is more confused and repelled by all this discussion, not taking what he is being told seriously, treating the three men with no small contempt. He considers that in the country he lives, which has many laws to make certain that people are free and justly treated, such a thing as an arrest without a reason could never happen.

As the story progresses, K goes to court, where he makes an impassioned plea against the absurdity of the proceedings. He is told that what he did will only hurt his case, that he is behaving foolishly. K comes to meet various layers of Court officials; all of them appear to him to be petty and small, without power or influence over anything but themselves, and, it seems, him. He acquires an Advocate who works hard for him, toiling long into the night, for no benefit that K can see. Indeed, it seems that no matter what he - or anyone - does for his case, nothing is progressing, and nothing will ever progress. The Court system is designed to keep people occupied, to shuffle them around endless layers of bureaucracy, where every small step is made insignificant by the unknown thousands of steps still to go.

Joseph K is a not particularly sympathetic character. On the one hand, there is the natural sympathy that comes from a seemingly innocent man being arrested. On the other, K is curt, rude, governed by passions difficult to identify with, and since he considers everything to be an elaborate joke (at least at first), he can be quite flippant. This is unfortunate, but is also a staple of Kafka's characterisations. K will often react violently or out of proportion to an event, for example, when given a minor rebuke by a minor official, he would fall into a rage and start banging walls. So to for other characters in the story. Most of the time, this came across as extremely improbable, but oddly, it didn't exactly detract from the story. Because it was such a surreal experience for Joseph K, these massive outburst of emotion - usually negative - were understandable.

Another point worth nothing is the treatment of females in this book. Throughout, they fall into one of two categories. They are either shrivelled up old sticks of women, pathetic and ineffectual, such as K's boarder, or they are young girls who all but fling themselves at K for no reason whatsoever. One girl about halfway through the novel, after knowing K for an hour - and during this hour he was verbally rude to her and almost physically violent, she sits on his lap, caresses his hand and declares her undying love for him. And she is not the only one. I found this handling of female characters to be extremely uncomfortable. Not once was any woman portrayed in a positive light, even when she loved someone, it was a shallow, stupid love, or at least it was as described by K.

But the story is the most important part of the novel, and this story is near perfect. Kafka captures the essence of a man unjustly arrested with great skill. There is a feeling of claustrophobia all throughout the novel, very often we are left in the dark, just like K, searching for answers to a question that we haven't even been given. Adding to the claustrophobic feel, the paragraphs are very long and very dense, it feels as if there is no escape from the great big walls of text. Speech is not usually broken up into paragraphs, which adds to the feelings. Whatever else his flaws, Kafka was a master of creating atmosphere and mood, and The Trial is one of the better examples of this.

Rating:
Summary: Who is innocent?
Review: The Trial is definately the best book I have ever read, though I do love Kafka's other works as well. I keep coming back to The Trial, over and over again, it's a book you can read a thousand times, and never be sick of. Kafka brings you in to his world of confusion and angst, through this amazing story. The words make you feel the way the main character, Josef K. feels, and enables you to imagine yourself in his situation. The Trial makes you think about your own life, and what "innocence" really means. I strongly recommend this book to any literature lover, Kafka lover - or anyone really. This is a book written by one of the most important authors of our history, a must-read.

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Summary: 'The Trial' a masterful piece of literature.
Review: The Trial is not just a book. It's a prophecy, not only of Hitler and the cruel SS in Germany, but also of an absurd legal system that some argue still exist today. As with most of Kafka's work, almost everything is revealed in the first sentence. Joseph K. gets arrested, but he doesn't know why. When the book closes, we still don't know why. Yes, Kafka never finished the The Trial, but I don't think it would made much difference. The Trial was never supposed to be finished. In actual fact, The Trial is not about the trial, but of the workings of Joseph K., a seemingly innocent clerk. Preparing his defence, K. meets one absurd character to another, and it's through these conversations that you'll come to love the great Kafka. He's funny, he's depressing, he's lonely, he's lustful, and, he's a dog. He's just like a dog (read the last sentence. Thanks to Max Brod, Kafka's only true friend, we have the privilege to see a great artist at work. The Trial is a work of genius. Enjoy.

Rating:
Summary: Ironically Pleasant
Review: This is only the second Kafka book that I've read, and I must admit that I read it due in part to the reference Jasper Fforde gave it in his Thursday Next series. Kafka is a masterful writer, if not always understandable or prone to explanation. "The Trial" is a prime example of this.

The reader is immediately introduced to Joseph K., our main character, who is awakened one morning to find himself under arrest. Throughout the whole process of finding a lawyer, going to trail, etc..., K. is never told what he has been accused of, and neither is the reader. Yet he is tried and convicted just the same.

So many reviewers talk of what a great piece of existential writing this is. However, it is also a supremely ironic look at the way the legal system works. Kafka's description of K's trial is at times so absurd as to be unbelievable. His settings and characters fluctutate between the two-dimensional to utterly vivid. Throughout the novel, K. never once searches to find the cause of his guilt - he seems to willingly accept his fate, even if he is uncertain of his crime. Perhaps that is what gives "The Trial" a sense of universality.