The Metamorphosis: And Other Stories (The Schocken Kafka Library)

I like Franz Kafka and this was a decent quality book that had some of his stories ig

Great book. Seller did excellent job describing, packaging, and fast shipping.

Brod got a good bit of it wrong. The Trial was of course well worth saving from the fire, but that and this collection of stories would have well set a legacy unto themselves. Though I think the Muirs translation is rather clunky, the stories themselves are just magnificent. I hadn't actually read The Metamorphosis since grad school, and even now being able to look behind the curtain a bit is of no problem and only lends further depth to my awe. My absolute fav remains In the Penal Colony--a story as biting now in its handling of tradition and its adherents as any. Kafka is a name for a reason, and not because Brod saved a lot of fragments from the flame. This collection is more than most writers could ever hope to accomplish.

Contained in this short-story collection are many tales of bizarre, absurd, and tragic events. Kafka was certainly a good writer, but he has a very unique style that not everyone is going to like.Much of this writing is done with long, rambling description that are so detailed and so depressing that if you have my sense of humor, they become funny. For those anime fans reading this, it's a lot like the Monogatari series. I seriously can't tell if you'll like these stories or not, but I did.

I give 4 stars for the quality of the book, which is almost brand new! But I give 5 stars for The metamorphosis as a book! I don't think I've read any book that starts with the main character waking up as a bug. I could tell that author was at the height of anxiety and he demonstrated it through his portrayal of Gregor, the protagonist. His ramblings and contemplations are far-fetched and I found it disturbing to read at times. The fact that his family got better only after Gregor's death was very poignant. I did sympathize with Gregor at times especially when he leaned on the wall to listen to what his family says about him (unfortunately, wasn't a positive one).

Good book

Existentialism abounds in this collection of all the works Kafka published in his lifetime. This is an indispensable book for anybody interested in Kafka, but it does take a fair amount of reflection to grasp what message Kafka is communicating. Many of his short stories are collections of more short stories—some as short as a paragraph. Although at times seemingly disjointed, the common thread of what it means to exist and how it is we find our own meaning in life brings the stories together in a haunting way.

This book contains a great selection of Kafka's most well known and best short stories. Of all the stories, the Penal Colony is a must read for political and sociological scholars, and really for anyone concerned with the state of society. The parallels between treatment of prisoners in Kafka's penal colony and America's treatment of "enemy" detainees during the Bush era are fascinating and scary.