[Steeplechase] The Metamorphosis - Franz Kafka - 3 stars

[Robin P]

**Steeplechase - Novella 389 tags, also 140 tags for Europe

In spite of being a literature major, I had never read this. Gregor wakes up one morning transformed into a giant beetle/cockroach. His first concerns are about his job, then his family. But over time, he pulls away from them more and more. And his family is more and more repulsed by him. It is supposed to be about alienation, but I thought of modern issues of someone with a disability or a nontraditional gender expression. At first the family tries to pretend it isn't happening, then they begin to blame the person and withdraw. In this case, Gregor had been supporting the family, but they all step up to earn money and even seem better off without him. A very strange book.

[Theresa]

I have never read it either - and that is probably because so much of my academic reading was centered on french literature. But I remember someprofessorin some class when discussing something else mentioning it. I can still hear his voice: "He woke up as a cockroach! Of course he feels alienated!"

I think one reason I just never read it is that statement summed it all up and there was no need to read it. 😄

[KateNZ]

I love this book, deeply weird though it is. It’s such a great ‘what if’ concept - examining humanity through someone who doesn’t seem human any more (and the seduction of becoming how people see you rather than who you are).

[NancyJ]

That was fast !

I read it when I was young and I found it deeply moving.

Kate I agree with your comment. I think similar feelings and reactions could take place with more subtle types of differences or changes. Appearance, illness, aging, disability, behavior, or maybe even unemployment or arrest.

There was another book by him that I found too disturbing (in a more realistic way). I meant to read The Trial someday.

[Joy D]

I read it in high school, and it freaked me out!