Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
33rd out of 61 books
—
38 voters
Kockroach
by
Tyler Knox
In "Kockroach," a wholly original work of literary noir, Tyler Knox brilliantly turns Kafka's "The Metamorphosis" on its head It is the mid-1950s, and in a fleabag hotel off Times Square, Kockroach, perfectly content with life as an insect, awakens to discover that somehow he's become, of all things, a human. This tragic turn of events would be enough to fling a more highl...more
Hardcover, 368 pages
Published
December 26th 2006
by William Morrow & Company
(first published 2006)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
508)
Three stars, I think, means good book for me, but maybe not for a lot of other people. Kockroach is a fun, enjoyable read, but not something that I think is elevated in any way.
The inventive and quirky premise, carried so well in the beginning, allows the story to coast, and in coasting I think that is where things falter a bit. For my taste, I think Knox pulled his punches and didn't allow the character to go dark. He allowed the characters to tip-toe up to it, but failed to follow through with...more
The inventive and quirky premise, carried so well in the beginning, allows the story to coast, and in coasting I think that is where things falter a bit. For my taste, I think Knox pulled his punches and didn't allow the character to go dark. He allowed the characters to tip-toe up to it, but failed to follow through with...more
view all 5 comments
Kockroach, by Tyler Knox, has been the rage among coworkers for a few months, so I couldn't wait to get my hands on one of two galleys that were being tossed around the office. Sloppy seconds (or more appropriately, filthy fourths) was okay with me because the reviews coming from my friends were extremely positive. Phrases like "book of the year" and "revolutionary" emanated from a bunch of self-admitted book snobs. Needless to say, I was thrilled when it was my chance to bring the book home.
The...more
The...more
Mi è piaciuto questo libro.
Leggero senza essere stupido, semplice senza essere banale.
L'autore si destreggia bene con la sua idea di rovesciare quel gran capolavoro che è "La metamorfosi" di quel gran genio di Kafka limitandosi al parallelismo solo nelle prime pagine, quelle in cui racconta di un piccolo scarafaggio che si risveglia umano, uomo.
Per il resto la storia racconta della lenta presa di coscienza di questo cambiamento e della progressiva ascesa di Jerry Blatta dai bassifondi ai piani a...more
Leggero senza essere stupido, semplice senza essere banale.
L'autore si destreggia bene con la sua idea di rovesciare quel gran capolavoro che è "La metamorfosi" di quel gran genio di Kafka limitandosi al parallelismo solo nelle prime pagine, quelle in cui racconta di un piccolo scarafaggio che si risveglia umano, uomo.
Per il resto la storia racconta della lenta presa di coscienza di questo cambiamento e della progressiva ascesa di Jerry Blatta dai bassifondi ai piani a...more
This is a very funny bankshot, with left english
off of Kafka's Metamorphosis. Instead of a
man waking up and finding out that he's turned
into a roach, a roach checks in to a roach motel
and finds, to his disgust, that he's become a man.
It's a perfect set-up for taking a shot at someone:
what kind of a guy does a roach turn into?
Your cousin Louie? Michael Jackson? Dick Cheyney?
It should be no surprise that he goes first in to
organized crime, then legitimate business, then politics.
Readers will...more
Like some of Palahniuk's work, I find myself almost unable to describe what happens in this book. When I say, "It's a story about a cockroach who molts, and finds that he's now a full-size human being," I am inadequately describing what happens in the story, but that's as close as I can get.
Kockroach is a metaphor, but it's also a story of discovery. You're meant to think about what it means to be human, and the choices you've made that form your personality, as well as your persona, and how tho...more
Kockroach is a metaphor, but it's also a story of discovery. You're meant to think about what it means to be human, and the choices you've made that form your personality, as well as your persona, and how tho...more
I truly enjoyed this inverse of Metamorphosis (and the flip book page corners added to the fun). Naturally a cockroach-turned-man would need a guide, and his sidekick/parasite Mite hits just the right note. Naturally, we get to explore the dregs of society. The drives of fear, hunger, sex and dominance lead to only-too-human behavior. Is this book profound? No. Is it fun? Oh, yes.
Fucking brilliant creative fascinating idea. Set in the 50s New York a cockroach gets somehow transformed into a human, reverse Metamorphoses! I got so excited when the chapter of the Automat started, I clapped. Yes I'm lame that way. If you don't know what the Automat is... look it up. It's great. Apparently the idea of it was better than the execution but still. My one minor gripe is that sometimes one has to hold one's skepticism, Kockroach adapts far too easily to human life but perhaps that...more
This is the most unusual book I have read in years. If you don't mind the premise that a cockroach awakes to find itself a human, and are willing to go with it, you'll get some laughs and interesting observations on human life, as well as the natural history of cockroaches. I felt the ending was a bit anticlimactic.
I really enjoyed this book, about a cockroach who gets turned into a man and ends up becoming a gangster and then a politician! I found I couldn't put the book down; while it was an easy, fun read, it also made me stop and think about how humans act and perceive ourselves and how other species might perceive us. Great fun!
Feb 05, 2009
Bookmarks Magazine
added it
Tyler Knox (a pseudonym for crime novelist William Lashner) creates something wholly original from a wide range of sources: Kafka's famous short story, Jerzy Kosinzky's Being There, the acclaimed 1970s film Midnight Cowboy, and a heavy dose of entomological research. What could have simply been a clever idea becomes a thoughtful, humorous inquiry into the adaptability of cockroaches and people. A few critics find some inconsistency in characterization, specifically with Mikey "Mite," as well as
...more
Great characterizations, and an amusing device for examining our human behaviors. Perfectly captures that '50s Times Square culture (at least my awareness of it). And who can resist that cover? I've not read Kafka, but am familiar with the Metamorphosis tale, and can appreciate the allusions made here.
I'd thought Knox was a first-time scribe, which enhanced my praise for him in my reading circles, but it later bothered me to learn he took on this pseudonym so as not to alienate his genre readers...more
I'd thought Knox was a first-time scribe, which enhanced my praise for him in my reading circles, but it later bothered me to learn he took on this pseudonym so as not to alienate his genre readers...more
A change on the Kafka Metamorphosis. This is about a cockroach who becomes a human and find that his instincts set him up to excel.
What an unusual & interesting book. I was hooked from the first sentence, telling how Kockroach wakes up & finds himself a man...
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
This was kind of a cross between The Metamorphosis, Atlas Shrugged, and The Big Sleep. It was awesome!
This was the first book I read since returning to New York. Fitting. Got it at my favorite bookstore in all of the United States which I waited years to get back to and it was way worth it. You are not allowed to know of this bookstore. It is the secret bookstore with the wonderful music playing. Right. The book's about a bug what becomes a man. The guy that wrote it used a simple but skillful structure and amused me with the way he did all those writerly things that you're supposed to do the fi...more
This cockroach wakes up in a hotel one morning to find that he has become human. I really enjoyed the discovery in the beginning, when he is figuring out his place in the world and how to act "human".
As he still has all the drive of a cockroach, he thrives on greed and fear. He rises through the crime ranks to become the "Boss" and in the end, gets involved in politics.
A very interesting idea, however, it could have been shortened by about 50 pages or so and tightened up just a bit.
As he still has all the drive of a cockroach, he thrives on greed and fear. He rises through the crime ranks to become the "Boss" and in the end, gets involved in politics.
A very interesting idea, however, it could have been shortened by about 50 pages or so and tightened up just a bit.
A clever Americanized flip of Kafka's "Metamorphosis" this book opens with a confused man finding himself in a seedy motel room frightened by the flashing red neon of the light outside. There is a body hanging from the ceiling, a body bearing the very same face that this confused and frightened man now possesses. Without giving too much away, the confused man used to be a cockroach, and has somehow taken over this man's now ended life. It is the 1920's in New York, and the cockroaches become mob...more
If there's a musical equivalent of a one hit wonder in the literary world then Tyler Knox is the holder of such a title. With only one novel to date, which was published over two years ago, Knox may not be scurrying up the book charts ever again. However that one novel, 'Kockroach', shines like a diamond in a coalmine.
Anyone who is familiar with Franz Kafka's short story "Metamorphosis", where a male turns into a cockroach, will notice that this notion has been turned on its thorax in this highl...more
Anyone who is familiar with Franz Kafka's short story "Metamorphosis", where a male turns into a cockroach, will notice that this notion has been turned on its thorax in this highl...more
Interesting gimmick -- instead of man turning into cockroach we get cockroach turning into man. It's clever, but “Kockroach” doesn’t tell us much new about human nature, or cockroach nature, for that matter. If a person’s only feelings are fear and greed - if love, fairness and pity are not only absent but incomprehensible - then naturally he will find success as a criminal, a businessman and even a politician.
Thankfully, “Kockroach” doesn’t take the bug-learns-how-to-love-and-lives-happily-ever...more
Thankfully, “Kockroach” doesn’t take the bug-learns-how-to-love-and-lives-happily-ever...more
Prima metà curiosa, grottesca e divertente, poi l'originalità dell'assunto iniziale si perde un po', il libro diventa per certi versi più "normale", una mezza delusione.
First half weird, grotesque and funny, then the originality diminishes a bit, the story becomes more "classic", something of a disappointment.
First half weird, grotesque and funny, then the originality diminishes a bit, the story becomes more "classic", something of a disappointment.
Fantastic premise: cockroach wakes up in human form and rises in the ranks of 1950's New York gangland.
This is the second book of late that I've read with the animal-to-man premise; the other one was 'The Evolution of Bruno Littlemore.' 'Kochroach' handles this better by the way. Much better, and with about half the page count.
Kochroach applies his basic instincts of greed and fear to this new human life, quickly going from enforcer to boss of Times Square. I really enjoyed this one, however, th...more
This is the second book of late that I've read with the animal-to-man premise; the other one was 'The Evolution of Bruno Littlemore.' 'Kochroach' handles this better by the way. Much better, and with about half the page count.
Kochroach applies his basic instincts of greed and fear to this new human life, quickly going from enforcer to boss of Times Square. I really enjoyed this one, however, th...more
An amazing story about a cockroach (and his henchman Mite)who molts into human form and goes from gangster to businessman to politician; told (when Mite narrates) in Damon Runyon dialogue. Nice natural history of the cockroach. Tyler Knox is the psued. of crime writer William Lasher.
I enjoyed the first half of this book, when the titular character is adjusting to being human, way more than the second part. Still, highly entertaining and it remains on my shelf, which means it's survived at least three 'moving day culls'. ;)
Kafka inverted, as a cockroach wakes up to find that it had become human. Knox is doing noir with a twist, an existential novel about human motivations, set in the Times Square of the 1950s, and a hard-boiled genre that suits the time. There is indeed some social commentary here, as the route taken by Jerry Blatta, the name our transformed one takes on, living as a gifted mimic but motivated almost entirely by greed and fear, finds himself in a world in which his particular proclivities fit righ...more
I think I liked the idea of the book much more than the actual book. A cockroach becoming a human, seems like an interesting premise for a book. Unfortunately the storyline that was chosen just didn't do it for me.
This book has some legs to it! A cleverly-done reverse Metamorphosis, and a highly entertaining bit of existentialist lit. Super-readable, but asks all the right philosophical questions.
Favorite thing I've read in a while!! Short description is Damon Runyon meets The Metamorphosis but so much more nuanced than that. Great dialogue and a literary feel that deepens the whole experience.
Kockroach: A Novel, by Tyler Knox is the flip-side of Kafka’s Metamorphosis; that is, the cockroach turns into a man. The action takes place during the 50s through the 70s, in the seamy underworld economy of Time Square. As in Metamorphosis, the character’s sensibilities don’t actually change with the physical metamorphosis; rather, they inform the new actor’s attitudes and actions. Knox’s character, in contrast to Kafka’s, relishes his new role and environment, which naturally provokes a very d...more
The first half of the book is fantastic, wildly creative. Just felt that is lost a bit of steam in the second half.
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
Tyler Knox is the pseudonym of former Philadelphia lawyer William Lashner, known for his Victor Carl legal thriller series, who decided to write under a new name not for the purposes of "rebranding or putting one over my readers ..... but purely for the freedom of doing something completely new."
More about Tyler Knox...
Share This Book
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
