Customer Reviews

The Metamorphosis

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Kafka's 'The Metamorphisis' is as an important story as any when it comes to short fiction, but this translation is completely inept. If you're looking into picking up this edition, I assume you know about the story or can at least look up information elsewhere. Let me just warn you that this translation is not even proofread. There are constant typos like "tilted" instead of "titled" and the like. There are also many repeated words and sentences that make no sense no matter how many times you read them. In short, DO NOT BUY THIS EDITION.

* " Franz Kafka is known as one of the darker authors as far as material is concerned. However, the fact of the matter is that he is a brilliant portrayer of reality. The Metamorphosis is Kafka's most well known work in the United States. This may be because the overwhelming majority of the citizens in the U. S. are middle class citizens that labor simply to sustain themselves or maintain their life styles. Kafka uses Gregor Samsa to portray the life of a western style worker that is disintegrating. Kafka was trying to warn us all to be aware of what we work toward, less we become worse than the vermin of the earth, for even vermin have natural routines." -

This is a book you have heard of, and you have probably heard that Kafka is weird or heavy; but what a surprise pleasure to read. An amazing science fiction story with a moral message. Lots of fun. I laughed so hard. Only problem was that it is too short.

I had always heard positive recommendations for Kafka, especially Metamorphosis. After reading it, I can see why it is popular as it is well written and symbolic. It makes the reader think about how we view and treat others. It also gives us a glimpse at loneliness as Kafka felt it. What I do not understand is why it is considered one of the all time greats in literature. I don't see the life altering, far reaching message that the real classics contain. I have read much, much worse, and I have read better.

It was the genius of this classic work by Kafka, Metamorphosis, to stretche our imagination beyond reasonable limits. The fundamental, even primordal, conflict between parental love and gratitude for a son's sacrificial support of the family with the guilt of being repulsed by the horrible physical and behavioral disfigurment that inexplicably happens to the son pulls us into the awful struggle. Kafka makes us want help for this poor creature, but it is a horrible creature all the same. While the ending seems, in one sense, to be a relief, it seems also to condemn the reader for feeling relief.

The story may be a little confusing to novices with English, but overall it's a very simple novel to follow and read. Kafka uses a lot of depressing, dark humor throughout, so it's sometimes hard to know if we the readers are supposed to be laughing or feeling bad for the characters. I would recommend as a read, since it's so short, but it's not going to fall anywhere near my "favorites" bin anytime soon.

This is a great novel by an often not heard of author. It is short read that leaves you thinking afterwards. The metamorphosis has many layers that lie below the text. It is a book that scratches the human condition of wanting to be accepted. I read this novel for my first time with the advice of my co-worker and I am very happy I did so. Since reading this, I have read many other novels by Franz Kafka. I recommend this novel to anyone who likes to read novels that can be interpreted in different ways. If you are looking for a novel with a happy ending, you will not find it here.

This book is very interesting. It shows us who our true love ones are. This book is about a hardworker, who helps his parents, but when it is time for him to recieve help, no one does. This book shows that when faced with great dificulty only love ones standby you side. in this book, ths wasnt the case. Kafka shows us that even ones parents and siblings can turn on you when things get rough. I found this very interesting.

I have this book and I do not find the problems indicated by others. Franz Kafka did not follow acceptable standards in regard to German sentence structure or punctuation. Some of the complaints in regard to repeating words, etc., are in the original German manuscript. Franz Kafka had a great influence on Western Literature, and the Metamorphosis was his best work. A student edition of the Metamorphosis has been recently published, and it has additional materials which shed light on the meaning of the Metamorphosis. The Metamorphosis

Kafka never fit comfortably into society and felt alienated throughout his life; a disbeliever among Jews, a Jew among resentful society, an outcast son of an abusive dad, the only son among 3 sisters, a witness and participant to the bloated, bureaucratic Austro-Hungarian Empire, gasping its last breath of relevance.

Was Gregor Samasa another Kafka, who spent his life at a job he hates, taking care of his family and forgetting about himself, totally devoted to a routine he hated?
Was Gregor's transformation into a bug actual or symbolic? Was the metamorphosis a symbol of the empty life that Gregor was living or was it a self portrait of Kafka? Was Gregor's conviction by his dear sister an act of mercy or cruelty? What was the significance of Gregor inability to express himself? Was he even ever heard before the transformation?

Whatever the reader's interpretation of the metamorphosis, it's, indeed, a genius work and worth reading over and over again