The Castle by Franz Kafka

[Dianne]

This was such a strange book, and while I expected that from Kafka it was helpful to learn that it was written after Kafka had a mental breakdown. He never did finish it, and you see the book kind of petering out towards the end. Still, it is magnificent, and I fully intend to read it again, which I wouldn't say of many 1001 books. One thing that surprised me is that this book is really quite funny!

The story centers around the protagonist we only know as 'K' who is appointed as the land surveyor. He is seeking to move away from the village towards the castle, but he never quite gets there. In fact, we don't know what the 'castle' really is supposed to represent. In the novel, Kafka focuses on common themes of power, the unknown, authorities and helplessness.

[Jamie]

My review: I generally like Kafka's stories, but this one was a bit dull for me. In this novel-length, unfinished story, a man turns up in a village saying he is a land surveyor contracted to work for someone from the castle. This supposed employer, Klamm, proves oddly elusive, so that the land surveyor winds up working as a janitor in the village school, while trying unsuccessfully to actually meet and speak with Klamm. He even engages himself to marry Klamm's mistress, perhaps just because he likes her, but more probably because she was Klamm's mistress and might get him access to Klamm. Since part of the point of this story is to illustrate the absurd layers of procedure that get in the way of any real progress in any larger bureaucracy, the tedium of this story fits, but it still made for a very slow read.
This book was never finished by Kafka, so perhaps he would have improved this one with more time to edit the final manuscript. I am sure there is plenty of symbolism to write papers about in this book, and a full dissection of every chapter might make it more interesting, but I doubt this will ever be my favorite Kafka story. I gave this book 4 stars on Goodreads.

[Diane]

Rating: 4 stars

I found this book different from other Kafka works I have read. This one seemed much more philosophical and metaphorical than the others. It is a shame that Kafka was unable to complete the book before his death. It would be interesting to see how he finished the story, as it could have gone in more than one direction.

This is the story of a land surveyor who arrives in what appears to be a feudalistic village to work, but keeps coming up against bureaucracy and the obstacles it entails. As the book isn't finished, it is hard to definitively say what all of the symbolism represents.

[Amanda]

I felt like this one was “the typical Kafka themes and motifs…but make it feudal!” …and I’m not mad about that. I think his common themes of bureaucratic hell, inaccessible power structures, community conformity, etc are all really well supported by the castle/feudal like setting. It is too bad that it is unfinished, but I’m glad that I’ve read what he did get to. I gave it 4 stars.

[Patrick]

Pre-2016 review:

*** 1/2

K. gets appointed for a surveying job at the Castle. On showing up to the neighboring village to take up his duties, he realizes quickly that it might be as easy as it seems to undertake his task. Of all the Kafka works I have read, I would say this one is the funniest, but I was not necessarily rolling myself on the floor; as with most of his works, his protagonist has to face circumstances which are beyond his control and authorities/institutions which make themselves inflexible and unattainable. This leads to a hopeless quest and struggle in order to achieve one's ends. In many ways, this could a parable about the impact of authoritarian bureaucracies on one's life; while this could have been a portrait of the dying Austro-Hungarian empire, this also foreshadows the advent of the Nazi regime and, more importantly, the Communist regimes which covered most of Eastern Europe for the rest of the 20th century. It is by no means an easy read, as its meaning(s) can be multiple, obscure and varied, but rich as food for thought.