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  <id>1289502</id>
  <title><![CDATA[Le Procès]]></title>
  <isbn><![CDATA[2070378403]]></isbn>
  <isbn13><![CDATA[9782070378401]]></isbn13>
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  <description><![CDATA[Le jour de son arrestation, K. ouvre la porte de sa chambre pour s'informer de son petit-déjeuner et amorce ainsi une dynamique du questionnement qui s'appuie, tout au long du roman, sur cette métaphore de la porte. Accusé d'une faute qu'il ignore par des juges qu'il ne voit jamais et conformément à des lois que personne ne peut lui enseigner, il va pousser un nombre ahurissant de portes pour tenter de démêler la situation. À mesure que le procès prend de l'ampleur dans sa vie, chaque porte ouverte constitue une fermeture plus aliénante sur le monde de la procédure judiciaire, véritable source d'enfermement et de claustrophobie. L'instruction suit son cours sur environ un an durant lequel l'absence d'événements est vue uniquement à travers les yeux de K. Sa lucidité, dérisoire et inutile jusqu'à la fin, contrairement à celle du héros de <em>La Métamorphose</em>, n'apporte aucun soulagement. <em>Le Procès</em>, pièce charnière dans l'oeuvre de ce génie de l'absurde, renonce au ressort du surnaturel pour évoquer l'angoisse de l'obsession. <em>--Sana Tang-Léopold Wauters</em> ]]></description>
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  <original_publication_year type="integer">1925</original_publication_year>
  <original_title>Der Proce&#223;</original_title>
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        <name><![CDATA[Franz Kafka]]></name>
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  <title>
    <![CDATA[Trial]]>
  </title>
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  <description>
    <![CDATA[A terrifying psychological trip into the life of one Joseph K., an ordinary man who wakes up one day to find himself accused of a crime he did not commit, a crime whose nature is never revealed to him. Once arrested, he is released, but must report to court on a regular basis--an event that proves maddening, as nothing is ever resolved. As he grows more uncertain of his fate, his personal life--including work at a bank and his relations with his landlady and a young woman who lives next door--becomes increasingly unpredictable. As K. tries to gain control, he succeeds only in accelerating his own excruciating downward spiral.]]>
  </description>
  <published>1925</published>
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    <rating>5</rating>
  <votes>7</votes>
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  <read_at>Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Wed Feb 25 18:03:26 -0800 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Wed Feb 25 18:10:39 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[Sometimes when book bothers me, I read more by the same auther to develope my sense of the author's style and personality.  This book, however, did the opposite, after finishing it I had the same thought, &quot;this is brillian but why does the author write such fantastical situations.&quot;  I fina...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/47544901">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/47544901]]></url>
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      <review>
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  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Trial]]>
  </title>
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    <![CDATA[The Trial (German: Der Prozess) is a novel by Franz Kafka about a character named Josef K., who awakens one morning and, for reasons never revealed, is arrested and prosecuted for an unspecified crime.<br/><br/>According to Kafka's friend Max Brod, the author never finished the novel and wrote in his will that it was to be destroyed. After his death, Brod went against Kafka's wishes and edited The Trial into what he felt was a coherent novel and had it published in 1925.<br/><br/>The Trial was filmed and released in 1962 by director Orson Welles, starring Anthony Perkins (as Josef K.) and Romy Schneider. A more recent remake was released in 1993 and featured Kyle MacLachlan in the star role. In 1999, it was adapted for comics by Italian artist Guido Crepax.<br/><br/>------------------------------------------------------<br/><br/>Plot summary<br/><br/>On his thirtieth birthday, a senior bank clerk, Josef K., who lives in lodgings, is unexpectedly arrested by two unidentified agents for an unspecified crime. The agents do not name the authority for which they are acting. He is not taken away, however, but left at home to await instructions from the Committee of Affairs.<br/><br/>Josef K goes to visit the magistrate, but instead is forced to have a meeting with an attendant's wife. Looking at the Magistrate's books, he discovers a cache of pornography.<br/><br/>Josef returns home to find Fräulein Montag, a lodger from another room, moving in with Fräulein Bürstner. He suspects that this is to prevent him from pursuing his affair with the latter woman. Yet another lodger, Captain Lanz, appears to be in league with Montag.<br/><br/>Later, in a store room at his own bank, Josef K discovers the two agents who arrested him being whipped by a flogger for asking Josef for bribes, as a result of complaints Josef K previously made about them to the Magistrate. K. tries to argue with the flogger, saying that the men need not be whipped, but the flogger cannot be swayed.<br/><br/>This surreal event appears to have been staged for his viewing, either to simply frighten him, or to demonstrate the seriousness with which the court views incompetence and corruption. The next day he returns to the store room and is shocked to find everything as he had found it the day before, including the Whipper and the two agents.<br/><br/>Josef K is visited by his influential uncle, who by coincidence is a friend of a lawyer. That lawyer was with the Clerk of the Court. The uncle is, or appears to be, distressed by Josef's predicament and is at first sympathetic, but becomes concerned that K is underestimating the seriousness of the case. The uncle introduces Josef K to an Advocate, who is attended by Leni, a nurse, who is also his mistress. K has a sexual encounter with Leni, whilst his uncle is talking with the Advocate and the Chief Clerk of the Court, much to his uncle's anger, and to the detriment of his case.<br/><br/>K visits the advocate and finds him to be a capricious and unhelpful character. K returns to his bank but finds that his colleagues are trying to undermine him.<br/><br/>Josef K is advised by one of his bank clients to visit Titorelli, a painter, for advice. Titorelli has no official connections, yet seems to have a deep understanding of the process. He explains: &quot;You see, everything belongs to the Court.&quot; He sets out what K's options are, but the consequences of all of them are unpleasant. The laborious requirements of these options, and the limited outlook that they offer, lead the reader to lose hope for Josef K.<br/><br/>Josef K decides to take control of his own life and visits his advocate with the intention of dismissing him. At the advocate's office he meets a downtrodden individual, Block, a client who offers K some insight from a client's perspective. Block's case has continued for five years, yet he appears to have been virtually enslaved by his dependence on the advocate's unpredictable advice. This experience further poisons K's opinion of his advocate, and K is bemused as to why his advocate would think that seeing such a client, in such a state, could change his mind. This chapter was left unfinished by the author.<br/><br/>K has to show an important client from Italy around the Cathedral. The client doesn't show up, but just as K is leaving the Cathedral, the priest calls out K's name, although K has never known the priest. The priest works for the court, and tells K a fable, (which has been published separately as Before the Law) that is meant to explain his situation, but instead causes confusion, and implies that K's fate is hopeless. Before the Law begins as a parable, then continues with several pages of interpretation between the Priest and Josef K. The gravity of the priest's words prepares the reader for an unpleasant ending.<br/>On the last day of Josef K's thirtieth year, two men arrive to execute him. He offers little resistance, suggesting that he has realised this as being inevitable for some time. They lead him to a quarry where he is expected to kill himself, but he cannot. The two men then execute him. His last words describe his own death: &quot;Like a dog!&quot;<br/>As the novel was never completed, certain inconsistencies exist within the novel, such as disparities in timing in addition to other flaws in narration.]]>
  </description>
  <published>1925</published>
</book>

    <rating>5</rating>
  <votes>3</votes>
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  <date_added>Wed Feb 11 08:02:21 -0800 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Wed Feb 11 08:04:52 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[really enjoyed. every one talks about Kafka's mazes, the huge and terrifying machine of society, etc, etc,...  but what really makes this book happen for me is the humor and the sexually charged episodes (sometimes intertwined...)<br/><br/>things are hopeless, here. but the individual, frivolous a...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/46027005">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/46027005]]></url>
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</review>
      <review>
  <id>7403100</id>
    <user>
    <id>272430</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Daniel]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Pottstown, PA]]></location>
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  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Trial]]>
  </title>
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  <average_rating>3.98</average_rating>
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  <description>
    <![CDATA[The Trial (German: Der Prozess) is a novel by Franz Kafka about a character named Josef K., who awakens one morning and, for reasons never revealed, is arrested and prosecuted for an unspecified crime.<br/><br/>According to Kafka's friend Max Brod, the author never finished the novel and wrote in his will that it was to be destroyed. After his death, Brod went against Kafka's wishes and edited The Trial into what he felt was a coherent novel and had it published in 1925.<br/><br/>The Trial was filmed and released in 1962 by director Orson Welles, starring Anthony Perkins (as Josef K.) and Romy Schneider. A more recent remake was released in 1993 and featured Kyle MacLachlan in the star role. In 1999, it was adapted for comics by Italian artist Guido Crepax.<br/><br/>------------------------------------------------------<br/><br/>Plot summary<br/><br/>On his thirtieth birthday, a senior bank clerk, Josef K., who lives in lodgings, is unexpectedly arrested by two unidentified agents for an unspecified crime. The agents do not name the authority for which they are acting. He is not taken away, however, but left at home to await instructions from the Committee of Affairs.<br/><br/>Josef K goes to visit the magistrate, but instead is forced to have a meeting with an attendant's wife. Looking at the Magistrate's books, he discovers a cache of pornography.<br/><br/>Josef returns home to find Fräulein Montag, a lodger from another room, moving in with Fräulein Bürstner. He suspects that this is to prevent him from pursuing his affair with the latter woman. Yet another lodger, Captain Lanz, appears to be in league with Montag.<br/><br/>Later, in a store room at his own bank, Josef K discovers the two agents who arrested him being whipped by a flogger for asking Josef for bribes, as a result of complaints Josef K previously made about them to the Magistrate. K. tries to argue with the flogger, saying that the men need not be whipped, but the flogger cannot be swayed.<br/><br/>This surreal event appears to have been staged for his viewing, either to simply frighten him, or to demonstrate the seriousness with which the court views incompetence and corruption. The next day he returns to the store room and is shocked to find everything as he had found it the day before, including the Whipper and the two agents.<br/><br/>Josef K is visited by his influential uncle, who by coincidence is a friend of a lawyer. That lawyer was with the Clerk of the Court. The uncle is, or appears to be, distressed by Josef's predicament and is at first sympathetic, but becomes concerned that K is underestimating the seriousness of the case. The uncle introduces Josef K to an Advocate, who is attended by Leni, a nurse, who is also his mistress. K has a sexual encounter with Leni, whilst his uncle is talking with the Advocate and the Chief Clerk of the Court, much to his uncle's anger, and to the detriment of his case.<br/><br/>K visits the advocate and finds him to be a capricious and unhelpful character. K returns to his bank but finds that his colleagues are trying to undermine him.<br/><br/>Josef K is advised by one of his bank clients to visit Titorelli, a painter, for advice. Titorelli has no official connections, yet seems to have a deep understanding of the process. He explains: &quot;You see, everything belongs to the Court.&quot; He sets out what K's options are, but the consequences of all of them are unpleasant. The laborious requirements of these options, and the limited outlook that they offer, lead the reader to lose hope for Josef K.<br/><br/>Josef K decides to take control of his own life and visits his advocate with the intention of dismissing him. At the advocate's office he meets a downtrodden individual, Block, a client who offers K some insight from a client's perspective. Block's case has continued for five years, yet he appears to have been virtually enslaved by his dependence on the advocate's unpredictable advice. This experience further poisons K's opinion of his advocate, and K is bemused as to why his advocate would think that seeing such a client, in such a state, could change his mind. This chapter was left unfinished by the author.<br/><br/>K has to show an important client from Italy around the Cathedral. The client doesn't show up, but just as K is leaving the Cathedral, the priest calls out K's name, although K has never known the priest. The priest works for the court, and tells K a fable, (which has been published separately as Before the Law) that is meant to explain his situation, but instead causes confusion, and implies that K's fate is hopeless. Before the Law begins as a parable, then continues with several pages of interpretation between the Priest and Josef K. The gravity of the priest's words prepares the reader for an unpleasant ending.<br/>On the last day of Josef K's thirtieth year, two men arrive to execute him. He offers little resistance, suggesting that he has realised this as being inevitable for some time. They lead him to a quarry where he is expected to kill himself, but he cannot. The two men then execute him. His last words describe his own death: &quot;Like a dog!&quot;<br/>As the novel was never completed, certain inconsistencies exist within the novel, such as disparities in timing in addition to other flaws in narration.]]>
  </description>
  <published>1925</published>
</book>

    <rating>2</rating>
  <votes>2</votes>
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  <recommended_for><![CDATA[anyone interested in bizarre situations of dizzying anxiety]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008</read_at>
  <date_added>Sun Oct 07 18:34:21 -0700 2007</date_added>
  <date_updated>Thu Feb 28 14:01:50 -0800 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[This may be the strangest book I have ever read. What can I say - it was Kafkaesque! I never knew what the trial was about, but I always thought it was about, well, a trial. It turns out - and I'm not spoiling it for you, because this is clear in the beginning - that Josef K. doesn't know what the t...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7403100">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7403100]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7403100]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
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    <name><![CDATA[Kspoon]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Portland, OR]]></location>
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  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Trial]]>
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  <average_rating>3.98</average_rating>
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  <description>
    <![CDATA[The Trial (German: Der Prozess) is a novel by Franz Kafka about a character named Josef K., who awakens one morning and, for reasons never revealed, is arrested and prosecuted for an unspecified crime.<br/><br/>According to Kafka's friend Max Brod, the author never finished the novel and wrote in his will that it was to be destroyed. After his death, Brod went against Kafka's wishes and edited The Trial into what he felt was a coherent novel and had it published in 1925.<br/><br/>The Trial was filmed and released in 1962 by director Orson Welles, starring Anthony Perkins (as Josef K.) and Romy Schneider. A more recent remake was released in 1993 and featured Kyle MacLachlan in the star role. In 1999, it was adapted for comics by Italian artist Guido Crepax.<br/><br/>------------------------------------------------------<br/><br/>Plot summary<br/><br/>On his thirtieth birthday, a senior bank clerk, Josef K., who lives in lodgings, is unexpectedly arrested by two unidentified agents for an unspecified crime. The agents do not name the authority for which they are acting. He is not taken away, however, but left at home to await instructions from the Committee of Affairs.<br/><br/>Josef K goes to visit the magistrate, but instead is forced to have a meeting with an attendant's wife. Looking at the Magistrate's books, he discovers a cache of pornography.<br/><br/>Josef returns home to find Fräulein Montag, a lodger from another room, moving in with Fräulein Bürstner. He suspects that this is to prevent him from pursuing his affair with the latter woman. Yet another lodger, Captain Lanz, appears to be in league with Montag.<br/><br/>Later, in a store room at his own bank, Josef K discovers the two agents who arrested him being whipped by a flogger for asking Josef for bribes, as a result of complaints Josef K previously made about them to the Magistrate. K. tries to argue with the flogger, saying that the men need not be whipped, but the flogger cannot be swayed.<br/><br/>This surreal event appears to have been staged for his viewing, either to simply frighten him, or to demonstrate the seriousness with which the court views incompetence and corruption. The next day he returns to the store room and is shocked to find everything as he had found it the day before, including the Whipper and the two agents.<br/><br/>Josef K is visited by his influential uncle, who by coincidence is a friend of a lawyer. That lawyer was with the Clerk of the Court. The uncle is, or appears to be, distressed by Josef's predicament and is at first sympathetic, but becomes concerned that K is underestimating the seriousness of the case. The uncle introduces Josef K to an Advocate, who is attended by Leni, a nurse, who is also his mistress. K has a sexual encounter with Leni, whilst his uncle is talking with the Advocate and the Chief Clerk of the Court, much to his uncle's anger, and to the detriment of his case.<br/><br/>K visits the advocate and finds him to be a capricious and unhelpful character. K returns to his bank but finds that his colleagues are trying to undermine him.<br/><br/>Josef K is advised by one of his bank clients to visit Titorelli, a painter, for advice. Titorelli has no official connections, yet seems to have a deep understanding of the process. He explains: &quot;You see, everything belongs to the Court.&quot; He sets out what K's options are, but the consequences of all of them are unpleasant. The laborious requirements of these options, and the limited outlook that they offer, lead the reader to lose hope for Josef K.<br/><br/>Josef K decides to take control of his own life and visits his advocate with the intention of dismissing him. At the advocate's office he meets a downtrodden individual, Block, a client who offers K some insight from a client's perspective. Block's case has continued for five years, yet he appears to have been virtually enslaved by his dependence on the advocate's unpredictable advice. This experience further poisons K's opinion of his advocate, and K is bemused as to why his advocate would think that seeing such a client, in such a state, could change his mind. This chapter was left unfinished by the author.<br/><br/>K has to show an important client from Italy around the Cathedral. The client doesn't show up, but just as K is leaving the Cathedral, the priest calls out K's name, although K has never known the priest. The priest works for the court, and tells K a fable, (which has been published separately as Before the Law) that is meant to explain his situation, but instead causes confusion, and implies that K's fate is hopeless. Before the Law begins as a parable, then continues with several pages of interpretation between the Priest and Josef K. The gravity of the priest's words prepares the reader for an unpleasant ending.<br/>On the last day of Josef K's thirtieth year, two men arrive to execute him. He offers little resistance, suggesting that he has realised this as being inevitable for some time. They lead him to a quarry where he is expected to kill himself, but he cannot. The two men then execute him. His last words describe his own death: &quot;Like a dog!&quot;<br/>As the novel was never completed, certain inconsistencies exist within the novel, such as disparities in timing in addition to other flaws in narration.]]>
  </description>
  <published>1925</published>
</book>

    <rating>5</rating>
  <votes>1</votes>
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  <recommended_for><![CDATA[Citizens Everywhere]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Mon Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 1999</read_at>
  <date_added>Mon Oct 01 20:12:44 -0700 2007</date_added>
  <date_updated>Mon Oct 01 20:16:51 -0700 2007</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[Tell Congress:<br/><br/>(1) Immediate repeal of the &quot;Protect America Act of 2007&quot; enacted in August.<br/><br/>(2) Immediate impeachment of Alberto Gonzales for lying to Congress when he testified under oath that there was no &quot;serious disagreement&quot; inside the Justice Departmen...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7121175">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7121175]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7121175]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>828818</id>
    <user>
    <id>66319</id>
    <name><![CDATA[jon]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Pittsburgh, PA]]></location>
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  <isbn13>9780805210408</isbn13>
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  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Trial]]>
  </title>
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  <average_rating>4.08</average_rating>
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  <description>
    <![CDATA[A terrifying psychological trip into the life of one Joseph K., an ordinary man who wakes up one day to find himself accused of a crime he did not commit, a crime whose nature is never revealed to him. Once arrested, he is released, but must report to court on a regular basis--an event that proves maddening, as nothing is ever resolved. As he grows more uncertain of his fate, his personal life--including work at a bank and his relations with his landlady and a young woman who lives next door--becomes increasingly unpredictable. As K. tries to gain control, he succeeds only in accelerating his own excruciating downward spiral.]]>
  </description>
  <published>1925</published>
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    <rating>5</rating>
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  <read_at>Sun Apr 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007</read_at>
  <date_added>Sun Apr 22 06:43:43 -0700 2007</date_added>
  <date_updated>Wed Apr 25 20:52:15 -0700 2007</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[The form of this novel is startling: Kafka begins with neither a setting (a possible world in which actions can proceed in a logical and realistic manner) nor a character (a subject of actions which proceed from something like &quot;personality&quot; or &quot;character&quot;), but with what I will c...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/828818">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/828818]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/828818]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>1410111</id>
    <user>
    <id>94089</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Wendy]]></name>
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  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Trial]]>
  </title>
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    <![CDATA[The story of <em>The Trial</em>'s publication is almost as fascinating as the novel itself. Kafka intended his parable of alienation in a mysterious bureaucracy to be burned, along with the rest of his diaries and manuscripts, after his death in 1924. Yet his friend Max Brod pressed forward to prepare <em>The Trial</em> and the rest of his papers for publication. When the Nazis came to power, publication of Jewish writers such as Kafka was forbidden; Kafka's writings, many of which have distinctively Jewish themes, did not find a broad audience until after World War II. (Hannah Arendt once observed that although &quot;during his lifetime he could not make a decent living, [Kafka] will now keep generations of intellectuals both gainfully employed and well-fed.&quot;) Among the current crop of Kafka heirs is Breon Mitchell, the translator of this edition of <em>The Trial</em>. Rather than tidying up Kafka's unconventional grammar and punctuation (as previous translators have done), Mitchell captures the loose, uneasy, even uncomfortable constructions of Kafka's original story. His translation technique is the only way to convey the comedy and confusion of this narrative, in which Josef K., &quot;without having done anything truly wrong,&quot; is arrested, tried, convicted and executed--on a charge that is never disclosed to him. --<em>Michael Joseph Gross</em>]]>
  </description>
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</book>

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  <read_at>Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1985</read_at>
  <date_added>Thu May 24 06:26:59 -0700 2007</date_added>
  <date_updated>Wed Dec 16 20:00:35 -0800 2009</date_updated>
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    <body><![CDATA[When I was in high school - 11th grade, I think, we were assigned a big English project: choose any author, read everything you can find by said author, report back. In an effort to distinguish myself from the masses, I chose an author whom I figured was obscure and utterly unknown to my highschool ...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1410111">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1410111]]></url>
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</review>
      <review>
  <id>15863149</id>
    <user>
    <id>699559</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Haines]]></name>
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  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Trial]]>
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    <![CDATA[The Trial (German: Der Prozess) is a novel by Franz Kafka about a character named Josef K., who awakens one morning and, for reasons never revealed, is arrested and prosecuted for an unspecified crime.<br/><br/>According to Kafka's friend Max Brod, the author never finished the novel and wrote in his will that it was to be destroyed. After his death, Brod went against Kafka's wishes and edited The Trial into what he felt was a coherent novel and had it published in 1925.<br/><br/>The Trial was filmed and released in 1962 by director Orson Welles, starring Anthony Perkins (as Josef K.) and Romy Schneider. A more recent remake was released in 1993 and featured Kyle MacLachlan in the star role. In 1999, it was adapted for comics by Italian artist Guido Crepax.<br/><br/>------------------------------------------------------<br/><br/>Plot summary<br/><br/>On his thirtieth birthday, a senior bank clerk, Josef K., who lives in lodgings, is unexpectedly arrested by two unidentified agents for an unspecified crime. The agents do not name the authority for which they are acting. He is not taken away, however, but left at home to await instructions from the Committee of Affairs.<br/><br/>Josef K goes to visit the magistrate, but instead is forced to have a meeting with an attendant's wife. Looking at the Magistrate's books, he discovers a cache of pornography.<br/><br/>Josef returns home to find Fräulein Montag, a lodger from another room, moving in with Fräulein Bürstner. He suspects that this is to prevent him from pursuing his affair with the latter woman. Yet another lodger, Captain Lanz, appears to be in league with Montag.<br/><br/>Later, in a store room at his own bank, Josef K discovers the two agents who arrested him being whipped by a flogger for asking Josef for bribes, as a result of complaints Josef K previously made about them to the Magistrate. K. tries to argue with the flogger, saying that the men need not be whipped, but the flogger cannot be swayed.<br/><br/>This surreal event appears to have been staged for his viewing, either to simply frighten him, or to demonstrate the seriousness with which the court views incompetence and corruption. The next day he returns to the store room and is shocked to find everything as he had found it the day before, including the Whipper and the two agents.<br/><br/>Josef K is visited by his influential uncle, who by coincidence is a friend of a lawyer. That lawyer was with the Clerk of the Court. The uncle is, or appears to be, distressed by Josef's predicament and is at first sympathetic, but becomes concerned that K is underestimating the seriousness of the case. The uncle introduces Josef K to an Advocate, who is attended by Leni, a nurse, who is also his mistress. K has a sexual encounter with Leni, whilst his uncle is talking with the Advocate and the Chief Clerk of the Court, much to his uncle's anger, and to the detriment of his case.<br/><br/>K visits the advocate and finds him to be a capricious and unhelpful character. K returns to his bank but finds that his colleagues are trying to undermine him.<br/><br/>Josef K is advised by one of his bank clients to visit Titorelli, a painter, for advice. Titorelli has no official connections, yet seems to have a deep understanding of the process. He explains: &quot;You see, everything belongs to the Court.&quot; He sets out what K's options are, but the consequences of all of them are unpleasant. The laborious requirements of these options, and the limited outlook that they offer, lead the reader to lose hope for Josef K.<br/><br/>Josef K decides to take control of his own life and visits his advocate with the intention of dismissing him. At the advocate's office he meets a downtrodden individual, Block, a client who offers K some insight from a client's perspective. Block's case has continued for five years, yet he appears to have been virtually enslaved by his dependence on the advocate's unpredictable advice. This experience further poisons K's opinion of his advocate, and K is bemused as to why his advocate would think that seeing such a client, in such a state, could change his mind. This chapter was left unfinished by the author.<br/><br/>K has to show an important client from Italy around the Cathedral. The client doesn't show up, but just as K is leaving the Cathedral, the priest calls out K's name, although K has never known the priest. The priest works for the court, and tells K a fable, (which has been published separately as Before the Law) that is meant to explain his situation, but instead causes confusion, and implies that K's fate is hopeless. Before the Law begins as a parable, then continues with several pages of interpretation between the Priest and Josef K. The gravity of the priest's words prepares the reader for an unpleasant ending.<br/>On the last day of Josef K's thirtieth year, two men arrive to execute him. He offers little resistance, suggesting that he has realised this as being inevitable for some time. They lead him to a quarry where he is expected to kill himself, but he cannot. The two men then execute him. His last words describe his own death: &quot;Like a dog!&quot;<br/>As the novel was never completed, certain inconsistencies exist within the novel, such as disparities in timing in addition to other flaws in narration.]]>
  </description>
  <published>1925</published>
</book>

    <rating>5</rating>
  <votes>1</votes>
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  <read_at>Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007</read_at>
  <date_added>Tue Feb 19 20:25:05 -0800 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Tue Feb 19 20:25:05 -0800 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[&quot;The Trial&quot; is funny. If you read it as a comedy, it's not only more entertaining, it's far more frightening. Dark Comedy. The moral of the story, to elaborate a cliche', is that it's only futile to resist when you have no idea what you're resisting. We never know what K did wrong, and nei...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/15863149">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/15863149]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/15863149]]></link>
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      <review>
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    <name><![CDATA[seisyll]]></name>
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    <![CDATA[The Trial]]>
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  <average_rating>4.33</average_rating>
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    <![CDATA[]]>
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  <read_at>Mon Aug 31 00:00:00 -0700 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Tue Sep 01 09:30:18 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Tue Sep 01 10:29:25 -0700 2009</date_updated>
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    <body><![CDATA[<blockquote><p>The painter made a leap for the door, opened it a little—K. could see the imploring, outstretched, clasped hands of the girls—and said: “If you don’t stop that noise I’ll fling you all down the stairs. Sit down here on the steps and see that you keep quiet.”</p><br/><p>Apparently they did not ...</p></blockquote><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/69684393">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/69684393]]></url>
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      <review>
  <id>69543803</id>
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    <name><![CDATA[Kerfe]]></name>
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  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Trial]]>
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  <description>
    <![CDATA[The Trial (German: Der Prozess) is a novel by Franz Kafka about a character named Josef K., who awakens one morning and, for reasons never revealed, is arrested and prosecuted for an unspecified crime.<br/><br/>According to Kafka's friend Max Brod, the author never finished the novel and wrote in his will that it was to be destroyed. After his death, Brod went against Kafka's wishes and edited The Trial into what he felt was a coherent novel and had it published in 1925.<br/><br/>The Trial was filmed and released in 1962 by director Orson Welles, starring Anthony Perkins (as Josef K.) and Romy Schneider. A more recent remake was released in 1993 and featured Kyle MacLachlan in the star role. In 1999, it was adapted for comics by Italian artist Guido Crepax.<br/><br/>------------------------------------------------------<br/><br/>Plot summary<br/><br/>On his thirtieth birthday, a senior bank clerk, Josef K., who lives in lodgings, is unexpectedly arrested by two unidentified agents for an unspecified crime. The agents do not name the authority for which they are acting. He is not taken away, however, but left at home to await instructions from the Committee of Affairs.<br/><br/>Josef K goes to visit the magistrate, but instead is forced to have a meeting with an attendant's wife. Looking at the Magistrate's books, he discovers a cache of pornography.<br/><br/>Josef returns home to find Fräulein Montag, a lodger from another room, moving in with Fräulein Bürstner. He suspects that this is to prevent him from pursuing his affair with the latter woman. Yet another lodger, Captain Lanz, appears to be in league with Montag.<br/><br/>Later, in a store room at his own bank, Josef K discovers the two agents who arrested him being whipped by a flogger for asking Josef for bribes, as a result of complaints Josef K previously made about them to the Magistrate. K. tries to argue with the flogger, saying that the men need not be whipped, but the flogger cannot be swayed.<br/><br/>This surreal event appears to have been staged for his viewing, either to simply frighten him, or to demonstrate the seriousness with which the court views incompetence and corruption. The next day he returns to the store room and is shocked to find everything as he had found it the day before, including the Whipper and the two agents.<br/><br/>Josef K is visited by his influential uncle, who by coincidence is a friend of a lawyer. That lawyer was with the Clerk of the Court. The uncle is, or appears to be, distressed by Josef's predicament and is at first sympathetic, but becomes concerned that K is underestimating the seriousness of the case. The uncle introduces Josef K to an Advocate, who is attended by Leni, a nurse, who is also his mistress. K has a sexual encounter with Leni, whilst his uncle is talking with the Advocate and the Chief Clerk of the Court, much to his uncle's anger, and to the detriment of his case.<br/><br/>K visits the advocate and finds him to be a capricious and unhelpful character. K returns to his bank but finds that his colleagues are trying to undermine him.<br/><br/>Josef K is advised by one of his bank clients to visit Titorelli, a painter, for advice. Titorelli has no official connections, yet seems to have a deep understanding of the process. He explains: &quot;You see, everything belongs to the Court.&quot; He sets out what K's options are, but the consequences of all of them are unpleasant. The laborious requirements of these options, and the limited outlook that they offer, lead the reader to lose hope for Josef K.<br/><br/>Josef K decides to take control of his own life and visits his advocate with the intention of dismissing him. At the advocate's office he meets a downtrodden individual, Block, a client who offers K some insight from a client's perspective. Block's case has continued for five years, yet he appears to have been virtually enslaved by his dependence on the advocate's unpredictable advice. This experience further poisons K's opinion of his advocate, and K is bemused as to why his advocate would think that seeing such a client, in such a state, could change his mind. This chapter was left unfinished by the author.<br/><br/>K has to show an important client from Italy around the Cathedral. The client doesn't show up, but just as K is leaving the Cathedral, the priest calls out K's name, although K has never known the priest. The priest works for the court, and tells K a fable, (which has been published separately as Before the Law) that is meant to explain his situation, but instead causes confusion, and implies that K's fate is hopeless. Before the Law begins as a parable, then continues with several pages of interpretation between the Priest and Josef K. The gravity of the priest's words prepares the reader for an unpleasant ending.<br/>On the last day of Josef K's thirtieth year, two men arrive to execute him. He offers little resistance, suggesting that he has realised this as being inevitable for some time. They lead him to a quarry where he is expected to kill himself, but he cannot. The two men then execute him. His last words describe his own death: &quot;Like a dog!&quot;<br/>As the novel was never completed, certain inconsistencies exist within the novel, such as disparities in timing in addition to other flaws in narration.]]>
  </description>
  <published>1925</published>
</book>

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  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
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  <read_at>Sat Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Mon Aug 31 06:05:47 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Mon Aug 31 06:20:04 -0700 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[This book is insightful enough on a literal level--capturing the pettiness and senselessness, the ability to wear you down with endless details, the inability to see the forest for the trees, of governments and offices and corporations and institutions and agencies.  The seeking of power over others...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/69543803">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/69543803]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/69543803]]></link>
</review>
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  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Trial]]>
  </title>
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    <![CDATA[The Trial (German: Der Prozess) is a novel by Franz Kafka about a character named Josef K., who awakens one morning and, for reasons never revealed, is arrested and prosecuted for an unspecified crime.<br/><br/>According to Kafka's friend Max Brod, the author never finished the novel and wrote in his will that it was to be destroyed. After his death, Brod went against Kafka's wishes and edited The Trial into what he felt was a coherent novel and had it published in 1925.<br/><br/>The Trial was filmed and released in 1962 by director Orson Welles, starring Anthony Perkins (as Josef K.) and Romy Schneider. A more recent remake was released in 1993 and featured Kyle MacLachlan in the star role. In 1999, it was adapted for comics by Italian artist Guido Crepax.<br/><br/>------------------------------------------------------<br/><br/>Plot summary<br/><br/>On his thirtieth birthday, a senior bank clerk, Josef K., who lives in lodgings, is unexpectedly arrested by two unidentified agents for an unspecified crime. The agents do not name the authority for which they are acting. He is not taken away, however, but left at home to await instructions from the Committee of Affairs.<br/><br/>Josef K goes to visit the magistrate, but instead is forced to have a meeting with an attendant's wife. Looking at the Magistrate's books, he discovers a cache of pornography.<br/><br/>Josef returns home to find Fräulein Montag, a lodger from another room, moving in with Fräulein Bürstner. He suspects that this is to prevent him from pursuing his affair with the latter woman. Yet another lodger, Captain Lanz, appears to be in league with Montag.<br/><br/>Later, in a store room at his own bank, Josef K discovers the two agents who arrested him being whipped by a flogger for asking Josef for bribes, as a result of complaints Josef K previously made about them to the Magistrate. K. tries to argue with the flogger, saying that the men need not be whipped, but the flogger cannot be swayed.<br/><br/>This surreal event appears to have been staged for his viewing, either to simply frighten him, or to demonstrate the seriousness with which the court views incompetence and corruption. The next day he returns to the store room and is shocked to find everything as he had found it the day before, including the Whipper and the two agents.<br/><br/>Josef K is visited by his influential uncle, who by coincidence is a friend of a lawyer. That lawyer was with the Clerk of the Court. The uncle is, or appears to be, distressed by Josef's predicament and is at first sympathetic, but becomes concerned that K is underestimating the seriousness of the case. The uncle introduces Josef K to an Advocate, who is attended by Leni, a nurse, who is also his mistress. K has a sexual encounter with Leni, whilst his uncle is talking with the Advocate and the Chief Clerk of the Court, much to his uncle's anger, and to the detriment of his case.<br/><br/>K visits the advocate and finds him to be a capricious and unhelpful character. K returns to his bank but finds that his colleagues are trying to undermine him.<br/><br/>Josef K is advised by one of his bank clients to visit Titorelli, a painter, for advice. Titorelli has no official connections, yet seems to have a deep understanding of the process. He explains: &quot;You see, everything belongs to the Court.&quot; He sets out what K's options are, but the consequences of all of them are unpleasant. The laborious requirements of these options, and the limited outlook that they offer, lead the reader to lose hope for Josef K.<br/><br/>Josef K decides to take control of his own life and visits his advocate with the intention of dismissing him. At the advocate's office he meets a downtrodden individual, Block, a client who offers K some insight from a client's perspective. Block's case has continued for five years, yet he appears to have been virtually enslaved by his dependence on the advocate's unpredictable advice. This experience further poisons K's opinion of his advocate, and K is bemused as to why his advocate would think that seeing such a client, in such a state, could change his mind. This chapter was left unfinished by the author.<br/><br/>K has to show an important client from Italy around the Cathedral. The client doesn't show up, but just as K is leaving the Cathedral, the priest calls out K's name, although K has never known the priest. The priest works for the court, and tells K a fable, (which has been published separately as Before the Law) that is meant to explain his situation, but instead causes confusion, and implies that K's fate is hopeless. Before the Law begins as a parable, then continues with several pages of interpretation between the Priest and Josef K. The gravity of the priest's words prepares the reader for an unpleasant ending.<br/>On the last day of Josef K's thirtieth year, two men arrive to execute him. He offers little resistance, suggesting that he has realised this as being inevitable for some time. They lead him to a quarry where he is expected to kill himself, but he cannot. The two men then execute him. His last words describe his own death: &quot;Like a dog!&quot;<br/>As the novel was never completed, certain inconsistencies exist within the novel, such as disparities in timing in addition to other flaws in narration.]]>
  </description>
  <published>1925</published>
</book>

    <rating>5</rating>
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  <read_at>Mon Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009</read_at>
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  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[Considering when this book was written, and the circumstances of it's publication following the author's death, it's an undeniable classic of literature.  I listened to audiobook version -- read by George Guidall -- of a recent translation by Breon Mitchell and would recommend it, though I can not c...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/59271703">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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      <review>
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    <![CDATA[The Trial]]>
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    <![CDATA[A terrifying psychological trip into the life of one Joseph K., an ordinary man who wakes up one day to find himself accused of a crime he did not commit, a crime whose nature is never revealed to him. Once arrested, he is released, but must report to court on a regular basis--an event that proves maddening, as nothing is ever resolved. As he grows more uncertain of his fate, his personal life--including work at a bank and his relations with his landlady and a young woman who lives next door--becomes increasingly unpredictable. As K. tries to gain control, he succeeds only in accelerating his own excruciating downward spiral.]]>
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  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[It’s years since I last read The Trial, but what struck me this time was how funny the book is. There is a line of dark, cutting humour running right the way through the narrative, particularly when K dismisses someone who seemed to have promised help. The reasoned way in which K deals with this i...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/62358697">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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      <review>
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    <![CDATA[The Trial]]>
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    <![CDATA[The Trial (German: Der Prozess) is a novel by Franz Kafka about a character named Josef K., who awakens one morning and, for reasons never revealed, is arrested and prosecuted for an unspecified crime.<br/><br/>According to Kafka's friend Max Brod, the author never finished the novel and wrote in his will that it was to be destroyed. After his death, Brod went against Kafka's wishes and edited The Trial into what he felt was a coherent novel and had it published in 1925.<br/><br/>The Trial was filmed and released in 1962 by director Orson Welles, starring Anthony Perkins (as Josef K.) and Romy Schneider. A more recent remake was released in 1993 and featured Kyle MacLachlan in the star role. In 1999, it was adapted for comics by Italian artist Guido Crepax.<br/><br/>------------------------------------------------------<br/><br/>Plot summary<br/><br/>On his thirtieth birthday, a senior bank clerk, Josef K., who lives in lodgings, is unexpectedly arrested by two unidentified agents for an unspecified crime. The agents do not name the authority for which they are acting. He is not taken away, however, but left at home to await instructions from the Committee of Affairs.<br/><br/>Josef K goes to visit the magistrate, but instead is forced to have a meeting with an attendant's wife. Looking at the Magistrate's books, he discovers a cache of pornography.<br/><br/>Josef returns home to find Fräulein Montag, a lodger from another room, moving in with Fräulein Bürstner. He suspects that this is to prevent him from pursuing his affair with the latter woman. Yet another lodger, Captain Lanz, appears to be in league with Montag.<br/><br/>Later, in a store room at his own bank, Josef K discovers the two agents who arrested him being whipped by a flogger for asking Josef for bribes, as a result of complaints Josef K previously made about them to the Magistrate. K. tries to argue with the flogger, saying that the men need not be whipped, but the flogger cannot be swayed.<br/><br/>This surreal event appears to have been staged for his viewing, either to simply frighten him, or to demonstrate the seriousness with which the court views incompetence and corruption. The next day he returns to the store room and is shocked to find everything as he had found it the day before, including the Whipper and the two agents.<br/><br/>Josef K is visited by his influential uncle, who by coincidence is a friend of a lawyer. That lawyer was with the Clerk of the Court. The uncle is, or appears to be, distressed by Josef's predicament and is at first sympathetic, but becomes concerned that K is underestimating the seriousness of the case. The uncle introduces Josef K to an Advocate, who is attended by Leni, a nurse, who is also his mistress. K has a sexual encounter with Leni, whilst his uncle is talking with the Advocate and the Chief Clerk of the Court, much to his uncle's anger, and to the detriment of his case.<br/><br/>K visits the advocate and finds him to be a capricious and unhelpful character. K returns to his bank but finds that his colleagues are trying to undermine him.<br/><br/>Josef K is advised by one of his bank clients to visit Titorelli, a painter, for advice. Titorelli has no official connections, yet seems to have a deep understanding of the process. He explains: &quot;You see, everything belongs to the Court.&quot; He sets out what K's options are, but the consequences of all of them are unpleasant. The laborious requirements of these options, and the limited outlook that they offer, lead the reader to lose hope for Josef K.<br/><br/>Josef K decides to take control of his own life and visits his advocate with the intention of dismissing him. At the advocate's office he meets a downtrodden individual, Block, a client who offers K some insight from a client's perspective. Block's case has continued for five years, yet he appears to have been virtually enslaved by his dependence on the advocate's unpredictable advice. This experience further poisons K's opinion of his advocate, and K is bemused as to why his advocate would think that seeing such a client, in such a state, could change his mind. This chapter was left unfinished by the author.<br/><br/>K has to show an important client from Italy around the Cathedral. The client doesn't show up, but just as K is leaving the Cathedral, the priest calls out K's name, although K has never known the priest. The priest works for the court, and tells K a fable, (which has been published separately as Before the Law) that is meant to explain his situation, but instead causes confusion, and implies that K's fate is hopeless. Before the Law begins as a parable, then continues with several pages of interpretation between the Priest and Josef K. The gravity of the priest's words prepares the reader for an unpleasant ending.<br/>On the last day of Josef K's thirtieth year, two men arrive to execute him. He offers little resistance, suggesting that he has realised this as being inevitable for some time. They lead him to a quarry where he is expected to kill himself, but he cannot. The two men then execute him. His last words describe his own death: &quot;Like a dog!&quot;<br/>As the novel was never completed, certain inconsistencies exist within the novel, such as disparities in timing in addition to other flaws in narration.]]>
  </description>
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  <read_at>Sun Oct 25 00:00:00 -0700 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Thu Oct 22 10:02:32 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sun Oct 25 21:07:24 -0700 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[Kafka's Trial inhabits the world of the surreal so completely that reading the book is like walking into a dream.  Just like a dream, the story is losely coherent and there is an odd notion that emotions is the only thing that drives the story.  These emotion of being lost in a huge legal system in ...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/75378039">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/75378039]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/75378039]]></link>
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      <review>
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    <![CDATA[The Trial]]>
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    <![CDATA[The Trial (German: Der Prozess) is a novel by Franz Kafka about a character named Josef K., who awakens one morning and, for reasons never revealed, is arrested and prosecuted for an unspecified crime.<br/><br/>According to Kafka's friend Max Brod, the author never finished the novel and wrote in his will that it was to be destroyed. After his death, Brod went against Kafka's wishes and edited The Trial into what he felt was a coherent novel and had it published in 1925.<br/><br/>The Trial was filmed and released in 1962 by director Orson Welles, starring Anthony Perkins (as Josef K.) and Romy Schneider. A more recent remake was released in 1993 and featured Kyle MacLachlan in the star role. In 1999, it was adapted for comics by Italian artist Guido Crepax.<br/><br/>------------------------------------------------------<br/><br/>Plot summary<br/><br/>On his thirtieth birthday, a senior bank clerk, Josef K., who lives in lodgings, is unexpectedly arrested by two unidentified agents for an unspecified crime. The agents do not name the authority for which they are acting. He is not taken away, however, but left at home to await instructions from the Committee of Affairs.<br/><br/>Josef K goes to visit the magistrate, but instead is forced to have a meeting with an attendant's wife. Looking at the Magistrate's books, he discovers a cache of pornography.<br/><br/>Josef returns home to find Fräulein Montag, a lodger from another room, moving in with Fräulein Bürstner. He suspects that this is to prevent him from pursuing his affair with the latter woman. Yet another lodger, Captain Lanz, appears to be in league with Montag.<br/><br/>Later, in a store room at his own bank, Josef K discovers the two agents who arrested him being whipped by a flogger for asking Josef for bribes, as a result of complaints Josef K previously made about them to the Magistrate. K. tries to argue with the flogger, saying that the men need not be whipped, but the flogger cannot be swayed.<br/><br/>This surreal event appears to have been staged for his viewing, either to simply frighten him, or to demonstrate the seriousness with which the court views incompetence and corruption. The next day he returns to the store room and is shocked to find everything as he had found it the day before, including the Whipper and the two agents.<br/><br/>Josef K is visited by his influential uncle, who by coincidence is a friend of a lawyer. That lawyer was with the Clerk of the Court. The uncle is, or appears to be, distressed by Josef's predicament and is at first sympathetic, but becomes concerned that K is underestimating the seriousness of the case. The uncle introduces Josef K to an Advocate, who is attended by Leni, a nurse, who is also his mistress. K has a sexual encounter with Leni, whilst his uncle is talking with the Advocate and the Chief Clerk of the Court, much to his uncle's anger, and to the detriment of his case.<br/><br/>K visits the advocate and finds him to be a capricious and unhelpful character. K returns to his bank but finds that his colleagues are trying to undermine him.<br/><br/>Josef K is advised by one of his bank clients to visit Titorelli, a painter, for advice. Titorelli has no official connections, yet seems to have a deep understanding of the process. He explains: &quot;You see, everything belongs to the Court.&quot; He sets out what K's options are, but the consequences of all of them are unpleasant. The laborious requirements of these options, and the limited outlook that they offer, lead the reader to lose hope for Josef K.<br/><br/>Josef K decides to take control of his own life and visits his advocate with the intention of dismissing him. At the advocate's office he meets a downtrodden individual, Block, a client who offers K some insight from a client's perspective. Block's case has continued for five years, yet he appears to have been virtually enslaved by his dependence on the advocate's unpredictable advice. This experience further poisons K's opinion of his advocate, and K is bemused as to why his advocate would think that seeing such a client, in such a state, could change his mind. This chapter was left unfinished by the author.<br/><br/>K has to show an important client from Italy around the Cathedral. The client doesn't show up, but just as K is leaving the Cathedral, the priest calls out K's name, although K has never known the priest. The priest works for the court, and tells K a fable, (which has been published separately as Before the Law) that is meant to explain his situation, but instead causes confusion, and implies that K's fate is hopeless. Before the Law begins as a parable, then continues with several pages of interpretation between the Priest and Josef K. The gravity of the priest's words prepares the reader for an unpleasant ending.<br/>On the last day of Josef K's thirtieth year, two men arrive to execute him. He offers little resistance, suggesting that he has realised this as being inevitable for some time. They lead him to a quarry where he is expected to kill himself, but he cannot. The two men then execute him. His last words describe his own death: &quot;Like a dog!&quot;<br/>As the novel was never completed, certain inconsistencies exist within the novel, such as disparities in timing in addition to other flaws in narration.]]>
  </description>
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  <read_at>Sat Nov 21 00:00:00 -0800 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Sat Nov 21 17:45:21 -0800 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sat Nov 21 18:03:58 -0800 2009</date_updated>
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    <body><![CDATA[This is a great book for a few different reasons.  On one level, this book is a frightening image of a judicial system in particular, and modern bureaucracy in general, that operates through secrecy and the arbitrary application of power.  Ambiguity permeates the modern experience in this book.  K. ...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/78580079">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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    <![CDATA[The Trial]]>
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    <![CDATA[A terrifying psychological trip into the life of one Joseph K., an ordinary man who wakes up one day to find himself accused of a crime he did not commit, a crime whose nature is never revealed to him. Once arrested, he is released, but must report to court on a regular basis--an event that proves maddening, as nothing is ever resolved. As he grows more uncertain of his fate, his personal life--including work at a bank and his relations with his landlady and a young woman who lives next door--becomes increasingly unpredictable. As K. tries to gain control, he succeeds only in accelerating his own excruciating downward spiral.]]>
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  <read_at>Tue Aug 18 00:00:00 -0700 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Tue Aug 18 09:52:46 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sat Aug 22 16:44:25 -0700 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[<em>The Trial</em> is a Franz Kafka novel that neither the author nor I will finish.<br/><br/>Like much of Kafka’s work, <em>The Trial</em> was incomplete at the time of his death, but contained enough to be published posthumously. It opens with two men arresting K., a senior bank teller, on the morning of his th...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/67892824">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/67892824]]></url>
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</review>
      <review>
  <id>40381529</id>
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    <name><![CDATA[Lucas]]></name>
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  <isbn>0805208488</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780805208481</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">7</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Trial]]>
  </title>
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  <average_rating>4.19</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>72</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[A terrifying psychological trip into the life of one Joseph K., an ordinary man who wakes up one day to find himself accused of a crime he did not commit, a crime whose nature is never revealed to him. Once arrested, he is released, but must report to court on a regular basis--an event that proves maddening, as nothing is ever resolved. As he grows more uncertain of his fate, his personal life--including work at a bank and his relations with his landlady and a young woman who lives next door--becomes increasingly unpredictable. As K. tries to gain control, he succeeds only in accelerating his own excruciating downward spiral.]]>
  </description>
  <published>1925</published>
</book>

    <rating>5</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
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  <read_at>Wed Dec 24 00:00:00 -0800 2008</read_at>
  <date_added>Thu Dec 18 09:19:15 -0800 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Wed Dec 24 10:34:40 -0800 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[I don't think there's much left to say as far as the book itself... Amazing. There does seem to be some confusion in some of the reviews here as to whether this novel was/is meant to be taken dead seriously or as an example of black humor, and it seems to me that the answer is both. I think you run ...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/40381529">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/40381529]]></url>
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</review>
      <review>
  <id>44570413</id>
    <user>
    <id>184928</id>
    <name><![CDATA[R.]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Richland, WA]]></location>
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  <isbn>0805210407</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780805210408</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">54</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Trial]]>
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  <average_rating>3.98</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>10370</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[A terrifying psychological trip into the life of one Joseph K., an ordinary man who wakes up one day to find himself accused of a crime he did not commit, a crime whose nature is never revealed to him. Once arrested, he is released, but must report to court on a regular basis--an event that proves maddening, as nothing is ever resolved. As he grows more uncertain of his fate, his personal life--including work at a bank and his relations with his landlady and a young woman who lives next door--becomes increasingly unpredictable. As K. tries to gain control, he succeeds only in accelerating his own excruciating downward spiral.]]>
  </description>
  <published>1925</published>
</book>

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  <date_added>Tue Jan 27 17:00:39 -0800 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Tue Jan 27 17:05:22 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[Just caught the tail-end of Orson Welles' version of <em>The Trial</em> on Turner Classic Movies ...and dynamite? Really, Orson?  <br/><br/>&quot;Leave it open for a sequel, Orson.  This could be our summer franchise.&quot;<br/><br/>***<br/><br/>I now own three copies of this book.  Two purchased at th...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/44570413">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/44570413]]></url>
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</review>
      <review>
  <id>79931032</id>
    <user>
    <id>2447803</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Jason]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Sandy, UT]]></location>
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    <book>
  <id type="integer">17692</id>
  <isbn>0805209999</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780805209990</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">57</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Trial]]>
  </title>
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  <average_rating>3.98</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>10370</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[The story of <em>The Trial</em>'s publication is almost as fascinating as the novel itself. Kafka intended his parable of alienation in a mysterious bureaucracy to be burned, along with the rest of his diaries and manuscripts, after his death in 1924. Yet his friend Max Brod pressed forward to prepare <em>The Trial</em> and the rest of his papers for publication. When the Nazis came to power, publication of Jewish writers such as Kafka was forbidden; Kafka's writings, many of which have distinctively Jewish themes, did not find a broad audience until after World War II. (Hannah Arendt once observed that although &quot;during his lifetime he could not make a decent living, [Kafka] will now keep generations of intellectuals both gainfully employed and well-fed.&quot;) Among the current crop of Kafka heirs is Breon Mitchell, the translator of this edition of <em>The Trial</em>. Rather than tidying up Kafka's unconventional grammar and punctuation (as previous translators have done), Mitchell captures the loose, uneasy, even uncomfortable constructions of Kafka's original story. His translation technique is the only way to convey the comedy and confusion of this narrative, in which Josef K., &quot;without having done anything truly wrong,&quot; is arrested, tried, convicted and executed--on a charge that is never disclosed to him. --<em>Michael Joseph Gross</em>]]>
  </description>
  <published>1925</published>
</book>

    <rating>3</rating>
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  <read_at>Sat Dec 12 00:00:00 -0800 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Fri Dec 04 19:34:37 -0800 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Fri Dec 18 12:51:10 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[My wife and I sued the former owners of our current home because they didn't disclose the removal of a weight-bearing wall or water seepage into the basement.  It was a very lengthy, expensive, irritable, disorganized, and unsatisfying experience even though we won.  <br/> <br/>If you've ever had ...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/79931032">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/79931032]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/79931032]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>58280347</id>
    <user>
    <id>1238124</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Heat]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[The United States]]></location>
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  <isbn13>9780394704845</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">5</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Trial]]>
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  <average_rating>3.80</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>15</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[A terrifying psychological trip into the life of one Joseph K., an ordinary man who wakes up one day to find himself accused of a crime he did not commit, a crime whose nature is never revealed to him. Once arrested, he is released, but must report to court on a regular basis--an event that proves maddening, as nothing is ever resolved. As he grows more uncertain of his fate, his personal life--including work at a bank and his relations with his landlady and a young woman who lives next door--becomes increasingly unpredictable. As K. tries to gain control, he succeeds only in accelerating his own excruciating downward spiral.]]>
  </description>
  <published>1925</published>
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    <rating>4</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
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  <read_at>Fri Jun 12 00:00:00 -0700 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Wed Jun 03 07:36:13 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Fri Jun 12 20:32:03 -0700 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[First off: The Whipping.  <br/><br/>Moving forward.  Is it me or does this novel take place entirely in K.'s head?  I mean, the Law takes the form of internal religious truth and a lot of representations of the labyrinths the mind (the puzzling and intertwined court &quot;offices&quot;, the magnit...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/58280347">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/58280347]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/58280347]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>43779767</id>
    <user>
    <id>1174760</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Robin]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Springville, UT]]></location>
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    <book>
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  <text_reviews_count type="integer">392</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Trial]]>
  </title>
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  <average_rating>3.98</average_rating>
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  <description>
    <![CDATA[The Trial (German: Der Prozess) is a novel by Franz Kafka about a character named Josef K., who awakens one morning and, for reasons never revealed, is arrested and prosecuted for an unspecified crime.<br/><br/>According to Kafka's friend Max Brod, the author never finished the novel and wrote in his will that it was to be destroyed. After his death, Brod went against Kafka's wishes and edited The Trial into what he felt was a coherent novel and had it published in 1925.<br/><br/>The Trial was filmed and released in 1962 by director Orson Welles, starring Anthony Perkins (as Josef K.) and Romy Schneider. A more recent remake was released in 1993 and featured Kyle MacLachlan in the star role. In 1999, it was adapted for comics by Italian artist Guido Crepax.<br/><br/>------------------------------------------------------<br/><br/>Plot summary<br/><br/>On his thirtieth birthday, a senior bank clerk, Josef K., who lives in lodgings, is unexpectedly arrested by two unidentified agents for an unspecified crime. The agents do not name the authority for which they are acting. He is not taken away, however, but left at home to await instructions from the Committee of Affairs.<br/><br/>Josef K goes to visit the magistrate, but instead is forced to have a meeting with an attendant's wife. Looking at the Magistrate's books, he discovers a cache of pornography.<br/><br/>Josef returns home to find Fräulein Montag, a lodger from another room, moving in with Fräulein Bürstner. He suspects that this is to prevent him from pursuing his affair with the latter woman. Yet another lodger, Captain Lanz, appears to be in league with Montag.<br/><br/>Later, in a store room at his own bank, Josef K discovers the two agents who arrested him being whipped by a flogger for asking Josef for bribes, as a result of complaints Josef K previously made about them to the Magistrate. K. tries to argue with the flogger, saying that the men need not be whipped, but the flogger cannot be swayed.<br/><br/>This surreal event appears to have been staged for his viewing, either to simply frighten him, or to demonstrate the seriousness with which the court views incompetence and corruption. The next day he returns to the store room and is shocked to find everything as he had found it the day before, including the Whipper and the two agents.<br/><br/>Josef K is visited by his influential uncle, who by coincidence is a friend of a lawyer. That lawyer was with the Clerk of the Court. The uncle is, or appears to be, distressed by Josef's predicament and is at first sympathetic, but becomes concerned that K is underestimating the seriousness of the case. The uncle introduces Josef K to an Advocate, who is attended by Leni, a nurse, who is also his mistress. K has a sexual encounter with Leni, whilst his uncle is talking with the Advocate and the Chief Clerk of the Court, much to his uncle's anger, and to the detriment of his case.<br/><br/>K visits the advocate and finds him to be a capricious and unhelpful character. K returns to his bank but finds that his colleagues are trying to undermine him.<br/><br/>Josef K is advised by one of his bank clients to visit Titorelli, a painter, for advice. Titorelli has no official connections, yet seems to have a deep understanding of the process. He explains: &quot;You see, everything belongs to the Court.&quot; He sets out what K's options are, but the consequences of all of them are unpleasant. The laborious requirements of these options, and the limited outlook that they offer, lead the reader to lose hope for Josef K.<br/><br/>Josef K decides to take control of his own life and visits his advocate with the intention of dismissing him. At the advocate's office he meets a downtrodden individual, Block, a client who offers K some insight from a client's perspective. Block's case has continued for five years, yet he appears to have been virtually enslaved by his dependence on the advocate's unpredictable advice. This experience further poisons K's opinion of his advocate, and K is bemused as to why his advocate would think that seeing such a client, in such a state, could change his mind. This chapter was left unfinished by the author.<br/><br/>K has to show an important client from Italy around the Cathedral. The client doesn't show up, but just as K is leaving the Cathedral, the priest calls out K's name, although K has never known the priest. The priest works for the court, and tells K a fable, (which has been published separately as Before the Law) that is meant to explain his situation, but instead causes confusion, and implies that K's fate is hopeless. Before the Law begins as a parable, then continues with several pages of interpretation between the Priest and Josef K. The gravity of the priest's words prepares the reader for an unpleasant ending.<br/>On the last day of Josef K's thirtieth year, two men arrive to execute him. He offers little resistance, suggesting that he has realised this as being inevitable for some time. They lead him to a quarry where he is expected to kill himself, but he cannot. The two men then execute him. His last words describe his own death: &quot;Like a dog!&quot;<br/>As the novel was never completed, certain inconsistencies exist within the novel, such as disparities in timing in addition to other flaws in narration.]]>
  </description>
  <published>1925</published>
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    <rating>4</rating>
  <votes>1</votes>
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  <read_at>Tue Jan 27 00:00:00 -0800 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Tue Jan 20 22:52:20 -0800 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Thu Feb 05 09:55:37 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[Kafka facinates me.  When someone can write something that turns all expectations on their heads, I am intrigued by the mind that conceived it.<br/><br/>This book was incredibly frustrating.  The main character did nothing that I thought he should.  The system he was working within was totally mes...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/43779767">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/43779767]]></url>
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      <review>
  <id>8023510</id>
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    <id>565777</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Christina Stind]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Kolding, Denmark]]></location>
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  <title>
    <![CDATA[Processen]]>
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  <average_rating>4.00</average_rating>
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    <![CDATA[En yngre bankmand, Josef K., arresteres en dag uden nogen nærmere præciseret anklage. En kort tid er han ivrig efter at få opklaret, hvad sagen drejer sig om, men hele retsmaskineriet fungerer ganske uberegneligt og tilfældigt. Retsforhandlingerne forløber hemmeligt både for den anklagede og for størsteparten af dommerne, og forsvaret er egentlig ikke tilladt, men tolereres i enkelte tilfælde af særlig nåde. Lidt efter lidt overvældes Josef K. af en bevidst, stedse stigende skyldfølelse, og da dødsdommen afsiges, modtager han den som en retfærdig dom. Der er over enhver af skildringens detaljer en mareridtets tydelighed og ubønhørlighed, der opleves af læseren under en spænding, der vokser tl det uudholdelige netop gennem symbolikkens skiftende fortolkningsmuligheder.]]>
  </description>
  <published>1925</published>
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  <read_at>Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007</read_at>
  <date_added>Sun Oct 21 10:15:14 -0700 2007</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sun Oct 21 10:20:34 -0700 2007</date_updated>
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    <body><![CDATA[My first experience with Kafka. After vacationing in Praque, I came home and wanted to read this book that had been sitting on my shelves for quite some time.<br/>And I'm happy I did - the way the system completely undermines individual spirit and even one's faith in one's own innocence is very int...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/8023510">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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