“As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect.”
This sentence introduces us into one of Franz Kafka’s famous works, The Metamorphosis. I have had no prior experience with Kafka and had only come to know of him through Haruki Murakami’s Kafka on the Shore.
Anyway back to The Metamorphosis; from the blurb I had expected to read a humorous tale. While Kafka does have a witty and kind of sardonic sense of humour. I mean, the guy wakes up in a bizarre form and his first thoughts are about work? Symbolically, it’s a reflection of man and his clockwork like life. I get that.

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This story is the strangest I’ve ever read. Throughout the book I couldn’t help wondering how Gregor’s family even knew he was the beetle! The man could have probably been eaten by the beetle, for all they know. And I’ve read a few reviews criticizing the family for the way the treated beetle Gregor, but come on, if I found a strange and huge dung beetle in my home, I’d be pretty terrified of it too. And considering Gregor’s speech came out as a sort of hissing, yeah, that beetle would have probably been dead.
All that aside, I did enjoy The Metamorphosis. Kafka’s writing is crisp with a dark sense of humour. Honestly, I love how he just drops us into this twisted story with no explanation for anything. It’s vague and yet very honest in its portrayal.
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“Was he an animal, that music could move him so? He felt as if the way to the unknown nourishment he longed for were coming to light.”
A review for a classic story!!! 🤭 I am so happy; and what a great take on this one!
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Aaw thank you! Have you read the book? What do you think of it?
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It’s one of those I’ve heard discussed so many times in classes, but never actually read the full text 😢 But I’m not stopping until I finally read it through
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