The Metamorphosis

It's personally not MY cup of tea because it's honestly kinda depressing.... but I mean so was Kafka's life

In all honesty, Gregor reminds me of Eyore, but Gregor is more naive and doesn't seem to fully realize how much his family/boss took advantage of him and idk. While I love Eyore, I can NOT read a book with him as the main character bc I simply cannot relate to that attitude.

Like I said, Gregor was by no means a happy character... I mean it's implied that his every move was scrutinized at work - others could get away with slacking off and sub-par but not Gregor, he would be fired if he tried to do anything like that. He didn't fit in anywhere, not at work and not with his family. Love life is non-existent bc he's so concerned about paying off his father's debt - basically all he does is work and sleep - and providing a comfortable life for his family. I mean that's not living - he doesn't even like his job. The only decent relationship he seems to have is with his sister and even they're not that close.

The fact that the family immediately just accepted that this human-sized bug was their Gregor still bothers me. cause if I was to wake up one day and my brother has just vanished and in his bed is a human-sized bug, I'm not gonna think 'Oh, that must be my brother. How hideous.' No! I'm gonna try to figure out where the bug came from, why it's so big, where my brother went, etc. But his family doesn't even question it until the very end. And even then it just felt like an excuse so they wouldn't feel guilty.

Um... what

Something crazy happens and the family has to deal with it. It is hard to deal with and when it looks hopeless the problem goes away.
The ending seemed a bit abrupt. It was too quick for my tastes.
The glimpses of chatacters were nice, but I think I would have liked a little more depth.
It was an interesting and short little story.

The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka

What an absolute blast this is. I know that’s a weird thing to say about a book that focuses on topics such as loss of humanity, alienation, poverty and parental abandonment but consuming The Metamorphosis is some of the most fun I’ve had reading in a long time. It helped that I listened to it on audiobook with a pretty good reader and a really strong translation but I really think this is just an excellent book. I’m normally not someone who notices when something is well-paced but The Metamorphosis is so strong in that category that I immediately noticed it. Nothing lingers for a sentence longer than it should. It’s very short and yet each section feels complete and by the end of the book a satisfying narrative has been told. Each character is introduced at the right time. Each vignette works on its own as well as within the complex of the overall book. Each concept is focused on for the right amount of time. It just works on every level and makes this a rare book that is both very interesting to analyze on a deep literary level while also being really fun to read from a casual perspective. So often I complain that some books are really deep but not fun to read or the other way around but this one is both. It’s just wonderful.

I read this in three settings but it took me a month to actually finish it. Part of me understands why it is so famous, but I didn't read anything as life changing as I expected to - though that is possibly a fault on my part for having high expectations. I was familiar with the concept of a man waking up as an insect but had no knowledge of the text beyond that. The ending surprised me, and I did enjoy the process of reading this, but we shall see if it affects my thinking in the long term. I am glad it was not very long. If it was the length of a full novel I highly doubt I would have been persueded to read it.