Classic Group Read (July 2014) - The Metamorphosis, by Franz Kafka

[Faye, The Dickens Junkie]

This was a close race all the way, but the winner for July's nonfiction group read is The Metamorphosis! The book discussion can begin on July 1.

[Camille]

I read The Metamorphosis a few years ago. I had had to read The Trial for my literature class in high school and absolutely hated it, so I thought I would try and read another Kafka to see if I would like it better.
I liked it. I think I would rate it 2 or 3 out of 5. It was an ok story for me, but nothing that blew my mind away. Now I had a quick look at the Goodreads reviews, and there are apparently a lot of themes in the book I never noticed when I read it the first time. So it will be interesting to see what everyone has to say about it!

[Holly, That Geeky One]

I'll definitely try fit this in this month! Need some shorter books to try and make up for my awful lack of reading!

[Brenda (aka Grandma)]

My copy said it was only 61 pages but I don't know if I'd have gotten around to it if it wasn't a group read. I mean, seriously, he turns into a what? I ended up giving it 5 stars, and it's going to stay with me. And he did it without writing a thousand page tome.

[Aitziber]

I love, love, love The Metamorphosis. I am learning German for the chance to read this story the way Kafka wrote it.

If people have the opportunity, I recommend that they read Nabokov's chapter on this short story from his book Lectures on Literature. Nabokov was an entomologist, and so he writes of the specific sort of beetle that Gregor turns into. This may sound boring or even a little gross, but Nabokov writes about it in a truly fascinating manner that makes The Metamorphosis an even more vivid read. It would've been so great to attend Nabokov's lectures!

Kafka's works are really hard to describe, but he manages to appeal to his readers' base instincts through his surrealistic stories. He's one of my favorites. :D

[Faye, The Dickens Junkie]

Just finished this. Kafka certainly had an unusual and active imagination! I don't even know what to say about this. I enjoyed it, for the most part, although I thought the ending fizzled out a bit. It was just so... weeeeeird. I don't think I'm into surrealism, heh!

[Holly, That Geeky One]

I'm hoping to fit this in within them last few days of the month!

[Lauren]

Well... that was bizarre!

[Lucy]

I read The Metamorphosis along with a few of Kafka's other stories - it was definitely my favourite. If you thought this one was surreal... I couldn't even understand some of the others!

I felt as though a lot of the symbolism and subtext of The Metamorphosis passed me by, specifically the religious element. I would love to reread along with some lit crit or analysis to get a deeper understanding. I believe the story is deeper than it first appears.

[Lauren]

I read The Trial in uni, but I seem to have blocked out everything I read in that three years, I remember enjoying it though. I noticed scrolling through the reviews how much depth people were going into about all different sorts of things regarding The Metamorphosis.