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A review by booksnpunks
The Essential Kafka: The Castle; The Trial; Metamorphosis and Other Stories by Franz Kafka
4.0
I genuinely adore Kafka and I'm so glad I got to read a lot of his work this month. This collection contains some of his most well known works such as The Trial, The Castle, and The Metamorphosis. As for it being 'essential' though, I was disappointed that it doesn't contain The Hunger Artist because that's a story I really wanted to read.
I read everything in here apart from the last half of The Castle because I wasn't enjoying the translation, and so I'm going to find a better translation of it and read that story again. However, I fell in love with The Trial and thought it was eerie, bleak and provided a dark portrayal of authoritarian rule. What works in this collection is the way many of Kafka's works connect with each other, such as A Letter to my Father which gives a bit of background to why Kafka's settings are very patriarchal and dominating.
Though I'm sad this wasn't the best translation I could've got I still absolutely loved reading these and think he's one of my favourite writers now. I'm only knocking off a star simply because I couldn't finish the Castle and there were more stories of Kafka's that I think should've been included.
If you're new to Kafka or want to try him out, definitely read the stories in this collection. He is a brilliant, tortured writer who grasps the absurdity of existence with a strange ease.
I read everything in here apart from the last half of The Castle because I wasn't enjoying the translation, and so I'm going to find a better translation of it and read that story again. However, I fell in love with The Trial and thought it was eerie, bleak and provided a dark portrayal of authoritarian rule. What works in this collection is the way many of Kafka's works connect with each other, such as A Letter to my Father which gives a bit of background to why Kafka's settings are very patriarchal and dominating.
Though I'm sad this wasn't the best translation I could've got I still absolutely loved reading these and think he's one of my favourite writers now. I'm only knocking off a star simply because I couldn't finish the Castle and there were more stories of Kafka's that I think should've been included.
If you're new to Kafka or want to try him out, definitely read the stories in this collection. He is a brilliant, tortured writer who grasps the absurdity of existence with a strange ease.