The Metamorphosis
Books | Fiction / Classics
3.6
(2.4K)
Franz Kafka
“When Gregor Samsa woke up one morning from unsettling dreams, he found himself changed in his bed into a monstrous vermin.” With this startling, bizarre, yet surprisingly funny first sentence, Kafka begins his masterpiece, The Metamorphosis. It is the story of a young man who, transformed overnight into a giant beetlelike insect, becomes an object of disgrace to his family, an outsider in his own home, a quintessentially alienated man. A harrowing—though absurdly comic—meditation on human feelings of inadequacy, guilt, and isolation, The Metamorphosis has taken its place as one of the most widely read and influential works of twentieth-century fiction. As W.H. Auden wrote, “Kafka is important to us because his predicament is the predicament of modern man.”
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More Details:
Author
Franz Kafka
Pages
224
Publisher
Random House Publishing Group
Published Date
1972-02-01
ISBN
0553213695 9780553213690
Ratings
Google: 3
Community ReviewsSee all
"This was fine. I’m glad I read it since it’s a classic, but I fail to see why it’s regarded so highly. Literary critics claim it touches on isolation, depression, and loneliness, but I didn’t feel like those themes explored in much depth. It’s a short story (70ish pages) so it doesn’t last long enough to dive into any idea in a thought-provoking way. "
N
Narwhal
"Better in German."
J P
Jamie Publicover
"It was an interesting read. "
S L
Sandy Lopez
"Psychological read. 4.5 star out of 10 from my side."
U G
Ujjwal Gupta
"…Meh?"
C V
Connor Veenstra
"Most of the characters were not likable and the ending was sad. UPDATE: It was worse the second time I read it."
A C
Alyssa Czernek
"I like that its ****** up. Depression representation matters 💅"
F (
Fidge (they/them)
"I was definitely putting reading this book off for a few reasons, first of all, I hate cockroaches. I don’t have a fear of bugs but I’m deathly afraid of cockroaches. But having a little bit of knowledge of Franz Kafka, I decided to go all in, and it didn’t disappoint.<br/><br/><br/>**Warning some spoilers**<br/>Yes, the plot was a little futile (I also don’t know what you’d expect from a book that’s barely 60-70 pages). Gregor wakes up one day a cock roach, his family neglected him, he died of starvation and then they moved out. That’s it. <br/><br/>On the contrary, It’s so much more than the plot. It’s more than just a man being turned into a gross ugly bug. It’s everything in between, the emotions, the feelings the things the words *aren’t* saying that really makes it worth the read. <br/><br/>There’s probably about six hundred different ways I can interpret this book, and make it personal to me. However one of the things that really made it feel like firsthand to me, was how his family ended up wanting to “rid” of him towards the end. They stopped seeing him as a son and brother, and more as this creature that was making their lives hard. As someone with autism, I relate to this deeply. I can’t count the times where I felt like I was burden to my family, simply because I was something they couldn’t fix. I understood where their frustrations came from, but it was still so hard especially as a kid. I knew nothing could change but I couldn’t help but feel like my siblings and parents resented me because I wasn’t typical. <br/><br/>This book wasn’t just about cockroaches and negligence, it was a story about how he loved and admired his family so much. He contributed pretty much his life to them, only for them to be burdened by him. This book made me feel seen in so many different ways I can’t describe it.<br/><br/>And also it a more humours light, I definitely gained a lot more empathy for bugs. I cried over how hard it must be to be a bug. And yes, I still hate cockroaches."
S
Saige
"Not my style , I’ve only read this short story in this book but i won’t be reading another. "
S C
Stev Cass
"It’s a really interesting book. I loved the insight of Gregors mind when he was going through such a tough time. Really good book for when you just need something a little more dark, & eye opening. 10/10 read"
l
luqem
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