This book is unusual bordering on surreal. Josef K. is accused of a crime, but not imprisoned. He is never actually told what his crime is (nor is the reader informed). The book is about his psychological angst as he tries to figure out how to get extricated from an increasingly obscure web of bureaucracy.
Anyone who has tried to deal with a company that uses a phone tree to screen calls and ultimately lands up speaking to a "customer service rep" in India who is reading verbatim from a script, might have the tiniest sensation of what Josef K. is enduring.
But there are also some clues that Josef isn't necessarily Mr. Upstanding either. His relationships with women all seem overbearing at best.
All in all, this book clearly has a message and a point of view, but it also has a nightmarish quality that makes it unpleasant and somewhat unsatisfying reading. I gave it three stars for a creative premise and it's social commentary on government bureaucracy and tyranny.
Anyone who has tried to deal with a company that uses a phone tree to screen calls and ultimately lands up speaking to a "customer service rep" in India who is reading verbatim from a script, might have the tiniest sensation of what Josef K. is enduring.
But there are also some clues that Josef isn't necessarily Mr. Upstanding either. His relationships with women all seem overbearing at best.
All in all, this book clearly has a message and a point of view, but it also has a nightmarish quality that makes it unpleasant and somewhat unsatisfying reading. I gave it three stars for a creative premise and it's social commentary on government bureaucracy and tyranny.