Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Book Review for Book Club: The Metamorphosis


Book: The Metamorphosis and Other Stories by Franz Kafka

Rating: 4 stars

Review:

This review is only for the story The Metamorphosis, I plan to read the other short stories in the book at another time.

I guess The Metamorphosis could be seen in two different ways, Gregor's transformation into a bug and the changes in his family's treatment towards him.

This wasn't a bad read but I feel like there was no focus on how or why Gregor was turned into a bug. Perhaps this was left up to the reader's imagination. And, I was annoyed that Gregor prior to his change, was the only person working and his job as a salesperson kept his parents and sister from having to go out there and find work. But once he changed they seemed to resent the fact that they then needed to work and that their lifestyle had changed and that seems to be reflected in their treatment towards Gregor.

What surprised me about this story was that it did have some humor in it for instance, when Gregor woke up and realized that he was a bug he was actually more worried about being late to work. That was quite funny.

I think there is an interesting message in this story which maybe interpreted in different ways by the reader. I would have given this a higher rating but I feel like the story wasn't really resolved especially in regards to Gregor's situation. This was very well written and rather interesting I just wish the cause of the transformation had been explored more.

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