A hilarious novel filled with cultural history, musical theory, nuclear physics, and a world of ideas follows Gregor Samsa, who, having metamorphosed into a cockroach, is sold into a Viennese sideshow by his chambermaid, where he lectures carnival crowds on the implications of Rilke and Herr Spengler, and over the course of thirty years and two continents, discovers the true meaning of his existence. 15,000 first printing.
Marc Estrin is an author, cellist, and political activist living in Burlington, Vermont. He has published four novels, and a memoir of his thirty-five years of working with the Bread & Puppet Theater."
I will never kill another cockroach. Neither will anyone who reads Marc Estrin's brilliant debut novel about Gregor Samsa. And that's just the beginning of this book's audacious intentions.
Jumping off from Franz Kafka's famous novella, "Insect Dreams" describes an even stranger metamorphosis. In the original, poor Gregor, a salesman in Prague, found himself transformed one day into an enormous bug. In Estrin's continuation, that bug mutates into the savior of humanity.
The story opens as the fires of World War I begin licking the timbers of European despair. Anna Marie and three ex-boarders from the Samsa household deliver the carcass of a man-sized roach to a freak show in Vienna. Remarkably, he's still alive, though an apple protrudes from a wound in his back. In the weeks that follow, Gregor recovers: "He was a bit awkward, somewhat tentative in his gait, but vertically, he could function well at cocktail parties, or at meetings, seated in a chair."
Tiring quickly of the standard freak-show venue, Gregor begins giving advice - "The Advisor from the Early Carboniferous" - and then naturally moves into book reviewing and conducting seminars on issues of the day. In the smoldering embers of the war, Vienna is a hotbed of conversation about the meaning of such devastation, the nature of man, and the fate of civilization. One of the renowned participants in his seminar is the German writer Robert Musil, who sees in "Herr Cockroach" a being of incomplete metamorphosis who can "lead us back to a larval state from which we may rechart our course."
For Gregor, this is a heavy burden to consider. For us, of course, it's absurd to consider, but such is Estrin's genius that we're quickly caught up in the compelling quest of a human cockroach to raise mankind above its destructive instincts.
Unbeknownst to Gregor, he becomes the inspiration for a dance craze in America - something like the Charleston, but with three dancers (six legs). When adoring fans send him a ticket to the States, he can't imagine leaving his job and his freaky friends. But Wittgenstein, on a field trip with his grade-school students, advises him to flee the rising prejudice in Europe.
It's not easy for a six-foot cockroach to start over in a strange place, particularly with a German accent, but he gets a job as an elevator operator in a fancy New York hotel where he rubs elbows (or legs) with America's rich and famous. "A cockroach in New York City," the narrator exclaims, "a home as welcoming as Rome to the Pope!"
Soon, he's dating Alice Paul, founder of the National Women's Party, fresh from her success passing the 19th Amendment. Their romance ends painfully, as you can imagine, but he learns much from her courageous faith in equality. And she introduces him to Charles Ives, the composer, who finds in Gregor the inspiration to keep writing his radical symphonies of the discordant forces gripping the world.
Disregard the legal disclaimer about "any resemblance to actual persons living or dead" being "entirely coincidental." A note at the end lists 60 biographies and histories the author consulted to assemble this massive tour of science, culture, and politics. Halfway through, after learning about everything from X-rays to risk management, I began to wonder, Is there anything Estrin doesn't know? It's only a matter of time before this new cult classic inspires a companion collection of footnotes and commentary.
Indeed, if "Insect Dreams" weren't so perpetually funny, its philosophical ruminations and its encyclopedia of cameo appearances would be downright intimidating. In the most natural ways, Estrin manages to insinuate Gregor into the major developments of the first half of the 20th century. (Roaches can fit into the tiniest places, you know.)
Gregor scurries from the Scopes trial to Los Alamos, from the Japanese internment camps to the White House. Everywhere, he's omnivorously attentive, his antennae so sensitive to the pheromones of beauty and cruelty passing around him. He's indefatigably childlike, ever hopeful, but constantly baffled by gross inequities and profoundly concerned about mankind's tendency toward fear and avarice. And he's always ready to stand (upright, if necessary) as an example of gentleness and compassion, but he can't help wondering: "Was he - doubly inhuman - up to his imagined task of helping humanize humanity?" (Eleanor Roosevelt counsels him, in a moment of discouragement, to be himself, "to bring the blessings of genuine roachness to the people around him.")
As Gregor and history fly toward the cataclysmic conclusion of World War II, Christ images swarm through the narrative. The testimonies of cruelty mount, his heroes fail him, and humanity seems drawn toward apocalypse. While millions go up in smoke in Europe, cynical intellectuals retreat into cocoons of despair, and, in the darkest moments, Gregor weeps, but he refuses to give up.
Ultimately, "Insect Dreams" is a compilation of our dreams. It's the kind of book from which one wakes clutching surreal scenes, desperate to tell others, delighted and baffled and horrified. Of course, Gregor makes a particularly peculiar savior; what do we need the moral example of a frail insect for - so despised and dejected of men? But stranger things have happened.
In 1915, Franz Kafka published The Metamorphosis, a short story depicting the life of Gregor Samsa after he awakes one day in the form of a giant cockroach. By the end of the short story, Gregor is presumed to have died after he is injured, but nearly a century later Marc Estrin decided that Gregor in fact survived and sought to write his life after Kafka had finished his work. Estrin’s Insect Dreams was published in 2002 and illustrates Gregor’s many travels and encounters with famous figures of the early 20th century. While Kafka’s original work was more of a thought experiment, exploring how one would react if they were suddenly transformed into a massive insect, Estrin seemed to be more interested in Gregor’s character. While many characters are introduced, most are temporary, as the story follows Gregor and his many travels from Austria to New and Los Alamos. I chose to read this novel for the pure absurdity of its premise. I was intrigued by the thought of a giant man-turned-bug having adventures all across the world. The novel proved to charming in its own strange and exotic way. No where else could a cockroach be helping design the first atomic bomb or listening to FDR read A Christmas Carol in his bedroom. The entire novel is centered around Gregor experiencing the world beyond his home. He leaves his town in Austria, first out of fear, but eventually out of his desire to experience. Early in the novel, Ludwig Wittgenstein, a real life Austrian philosopher, meets with Gregor after he is invited to America. Gregor explains his dilemma of either leaving or staying, to which he responds “maybe you should go. Large cockroaches are suspicious enough here, but large Jewish cockroaches...” (Estrin, 60). It being 1910’s Austria, perhaps it was a smart decision that Gregor ultimately decided to leave. It was in his travels that learned to live with his arthropod self, it first being a struggle, but later becoming quit helpful, notably in gaining attention to reach his destinations. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes Forrest Gump. It may seem to be a strange comparison, but the cultural references that made Forrest Gump so memorable also make up a large portion of the appeal of the novel. The many instances in which Gregor meets with some famous figure, sometimes before they even reach their fame, are quite entertaining. In total, I enjoyed the surreal tone of the novel.
This beyond unique endevour requires a little fore-knowledge of literature. While the author introduces us to Gregor in a unique manner in the most unique of places, a side-street "freak" exhibition in Vienna. Unless one has at least some passing knowledge of Franz Kafka's "The Metamorphosis" also known as "The Transformation" there must be some head-shaking as to who or what Gregor is. I love the way the author acts like this is no big deal, a Man sized Cockroach shows up on a door-step most days, do they not? Its by this ignoring of the obvious that the book carries most of its weight, besides the ones who pay to enter the confines of the "show" no one else especially in the USA seem to be at all surprised by the cockroach in the great-coat. I wont spoil the book for anyone by describing the numerous encounters of Gregor and famous people he meets. The early 1900's in USA with the state murder of Sacco and Vanzetti was not a pretty time for the country and the prevalence of the intolerance is all around but somehow a cockroach is not subject to immediate sanction! Without a doubt this is one of those books you may call unique but its far beyond that. Is that Kafka I hear applauding?
Years ago, I got an idea for a novel after re-reading Kafka's Metamorphosis. Gregor Samsa had been given a gift. Being a giant cockroach wouldn't be a curse. Immense strength and speed? Immunity to radiation? Flight? Once he got over himself, he'd be almost a superhero.
But a novel continuing Gregor Samsa's life had already been written, or so I discovered. Estrin's story of cockroach Gregor wasn't quite the way I'd have spun it, but it's still an often engaging exploration of Samsa's life after roach-dom. Gregor emigrates to America, where he comes into encounter with many of the key figures and moments of mid-20th century history. FDR. The New Deal. The second World War. Japanese Internment. The Trinity Project. All of it.
And there, I think, came the challenge in the reading. It's too familiar, with the narrative driven more by historical events and figures I've already encountered in my own reading, and less by the character development of the putative protagonist. The cockroach doesn't drive the story, but is more swirled about by the vortex of history, a bit like one of his smaller brethren when you flush 'em down the toilet.
The further I read into the book, the less relevant he seemed, as recountings of the actions of historical figures crowded out his story. At about the two thirds mark, I found my reading bogging.
Still an interesting concept, with some smart and thought provoking writing. Just not quite as entertaining a tale as I'd hoped.
An interesting conceit. The premise is that the Kafka's character from the Metamorphosis, who is assumed to be a cockroach despite Nabokov's argument, but does fly on one occasion, survives in a circus, escapes Europe to go to the US and participates in the founding of the nuclear age.
I grabbed this book because the title grabbed me. I have long been intrigued by Kafka's Metamorphosis. This lengthy continuation of Gregor Samsa's cockroach life was too good an idea to pass up.
Whereas Metamorphosis is a short story, Insect Dreams is one long novel, spanning almost half a century. And in that time, Samsa manages to meet a number of public figures and have quite a bit of influence on each of them. In this his life bears some small similarity to that of Forrest Gump. But don't be fooled. This is no Intellectual's Gump. I give thanks for that.
We are first introduced to Gregor when he is brought to a freak show in Germany, headed by a man with a disease that causes him to age much faster than a normal person. We quickly learn how educated and intelligent this giant cockroach is. He draws huge crowds, often for his opinions more than for his unusual physical being. Throughout the book, in fact, people who meet Gregor soon see the individual within, an admirable situation, and one that would not be likely in real life.
Gregor's personality is warm and caring, yet tuned to injustice. He is generous to a fault. The Kafka version was very different, from what I remember. Interestingly, Gregor even takes time to criticize kafka's characters at one point, saying they are too much the victims, not strong enough to resist the forces that attack them.
The novel is dotted with the word "metamorphosis". There are changes taking place all the time, within Gregor and many others.
I liked Gregor well enough, and I certainly learned a lot about cockroaches along the way. I also learned much about each of the famous characters, from Charles Ives to Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and about the world they lived in. Quite a history book! Quite a trip altogether.
If you didn't like Forrest Gump because the idea of someone bumbling along into that many historical moments and events was too much for you to swallow, then this is not the book for you.
However, if you can suspend your sense of reality for a bit, it's an interesting ride getting to know Gregor Samsa. The fabric salesman-turned-cockroach spends the first part of his second life as a member of a circus/freak show, then flies with his own wings to America, meets Alice Paul, testifies at the Scopes Monkey trial, convinces Charles Ives not to commit suicide, develops what becomes the industry standard for risk assessment, works in the FDR administration, and is heavily involved in the work at Los Alamos.
While the story is funny, it is also very sad. Much of the commentary is on the misery that humans inflict on one another, leaving us to question whether or not Gregor, as a cockroach, is more humane than the humans that surround him.
You would think a man who has turned into a giant cockroach would be an interesting character. Maybe in Franz Kafka's book he is, but in Estrin's quasi-sequel, he's tedious. Aside from the trials of dealing with insect physiology in a human world, he's just boring. On the principle that there are more good books than anyone can read in one lifetime, I abandoned this one halfway through.
Which brings up this aside: so many Goodreads reviewers say things like "I almost never abandon a book before finishing it." Why? A holdover from school days? If you're well into a book and not liking it, you have better things to do!
Imagine that when Kafka's cockroach was swept out with an apple in his back that he wasn't dead. Let's say he went off and joined the circus freak show, and then proceeded to have more historically significant adventures than Forrest Gump. A cockroach as presidential advisor to FDR? A roach who helps Oppenheimer with the bomb?
This book was a pretty funny and sometimes poignant read. Worth a look, assuming it's still in print (probably not).
I have just started this, but it is really wonderful so far. I was expecting it to be dry and claustrophobic like Kafka, but its actually rather witty and emotional. Kind of quirky. The book details what happens to Gregor Samsa, the cockroach hero of the Metamorphosis. He runs off with a sideshow in Prague, and precedes to have historically significant adventures, at least so i've heard. Can't wait to get further into it. Recommended.
Uses the character of Gregor Samsa from the Kafka story, "Metamorphosis" as its main character. Deals with the themes of music, alienation, antisemitism, sexuality, ethics, and nuclear war within the context of life as a cockroach from the beginnings of WWII till the end of the war. Although an odd mixture of themes, the author is able to draw it altogether to create a life-like character rather than just a vehicle to address a multitude of issues.
This book is not funny. Several reviews said it was funny, witty, brilliant. It is not funny. Not chuckle funny. Not tongue in cheek funny. Not hysterical funny.
It is clever, but not in a funny way.
Maybe I didn't like it because of the historical context that Gregor lives through. I didn't *hate* it, but I did have to force myself to finish it in the hopes that I'd find the humor or figure out what was going over my head.
What if Kafka’s Metamorphosis met Forrest Gump met a history text book; that is the basis of this book. Gregor is a salesman who became a cockroach and lived. The book follows his travels as he interacts with famous people and situations of the day (1914 to 1945), but I can sum it up pretty easily. Too many details, not enough story; and regardless what this Frederick Reuss on the cover says, it wasn’t that funny either.
Kafka's Gregor Samsa continues on as a giant cockroach in a human society. He travels the world, holds various odd jobs, and along the way meets famous people from the early 20th century.
This book is very intelligent - you almost have to have your Wittgenstein and Schopenhauer on hand to fully get some of the references - but it flows very well. It is a well-written, engaging, more cerebral Forrest Gump (plus insects). A good find.
Read this book (or at least the first third) for my library book club. Although the book, whose main character is a human size cockroach, was not quite my taste, it was well written and was a romp through much of twentieth century history in the U.S. Wish I had budgeted my reading time better and finished the book.
This book is odd. It is about the metamorphosized Gregor Samsa, living through historic events in the early 20th century.... yes as a giant cockroach. I actually really enjoyed the historical aspect of the book.
This took a couple of reads as it felt a little like I needed a tour guide - funny, twisty and heady; worthy of the sojourn. I think I will try it again with some years under my belt... I am proud to say that my copy was gifted to me by the author.
Started this book in 2014 and wasn't interested enough to finish. After 100+ pages of various adventures and attempted romances this erudite insect from kafka's Metamorphosis began to wear on me and I started to drift to other books.
I think I liked the idea for this book more than the actual book. I think could have been amazing, but it fell short of that for me. It was a bit hard to get through and never lived up to its potential for me.