The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka

The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka


My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I got this as a freebie in PDF format for my Sony Reader on www.goodreads.com. Its a strange story indeed about a man waking up and finding himself transformed into a bug and how his family try to adapt. This is Kafka's most famous short story although I have to admit to not knowing about him.

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Synopsis
In Metamorphosis, Gregor Samsa, a travelling salesman by trade, awakens one morning to find his body has mutated into that of a repulsive bug. Outwardly a monstrous insect, only his thought processes remain human.

As his family grow accustomed to supporting themselves without his once essential income, Gregor’s suffering becomes ever more pronounced. He witnesses the corruption of their former dependence on him. Obliged to work to keep themselves and admit lodgers to their home, the Samsa family generates a disgust and a contempt for the creature that has supported them for so long, imprisoning Gregor in the stasis of an unused box room. His sister, Grete, to whom he was once so close, now wants to be rid of him, his father’s new industry leaves him no time to remember the transformed son he used to terrorise, and his loving mother now neglects him.