From the Bookshelf of Catching up on Classics (and lots more!)…

The Metamorphosis

Franz Kafka

Start date: September 1, 2021

Finish date: September 30, 2016

Discussion: Short Story/Novella Collection

Why we're reading this: September 2021 Revisit the Shelf book

Monthly Story Read, April 2016

[close] September 2021 Revisit the Shelf book

Monthly Story Read, April 2016

Find A Copy At

Libraries

Group Discussions About This Book

Showing 2 of 118 topics — 7,489 comments total

Short Story/Novella Collection

This topic has been closed to new comments.

* Short Story Classics
By Bob , Short Story Classics · 1 post · 704 views

last updated Sep 01, 2015 05:35AM

Lois the Witch - August 2025
By Bob , Short Story Classics · 29 posts · 73 views

last updated Sep 01, 2025 03:10PM

showing 10 of 75 topics view all »

What Members Thought

Sep 01, 2014 Karen Michele Burns rated it it was amazing

Shelves: my-5-star-books

The Metamorphosis held more deep meaning for me than I anticipated. I had read the opening a few times before, but somehow had never completed the book. I had no idea that the analogy of the man turned ugly and unwanted would be one that is still so pertinent one hundred years later. Kafka’s excellent writing provides a framework for a work about the rejection of a family member who is now a bug (a person with a disability, a person with a mental illness, a person suffering from addiction, etc.) ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Oct 24, 2017 Chinook rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: europe

That is such an odd story. They treat the poor guy like crap and then he’s a bug and they are even worse and then he dies and then that weird ending with the line about the daughter’s body.

1 like · Like · see review

Dec 11, 2016 Alisa rated it liked it

One of those "I understand why it's important, but that doesn't mean I have to like it" works of art. ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Aug 17, 2017 Lori rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, favorites, postmodern, classics, pocket-penguins

A must-read by all who want to understand the term "Kafka-esque" means. The absurdity of the protagonist's situation underlines his loss of his sense of self. ...more

Like · see review