Reviews with content warning for Animal death - The Metamorphosis

Even though I wasn't captivated by the premise of the novel, once the allegory and symbolism became clearer, the story itself became way more captivating. The novel perfectly represents the lack of acceptance of what we consider different from us and the loneliness forced upon the person left behind, alone, closed in a room as a devious beast. Right from the beginning, it shows how the family and the rest of the society portrayed in the story pressure our protagonist to be part of an indistinct mass of workers, stripped of their own identity from their employer and forced to obey the rules for the sake of the family, rather than accept him for the person he turned into. Even though I didn't particularly enjoy the writing style or the imagery used in the novel, I cannot notice how its theme is unfortunately still very relevant to our contemporary society, drenched in people who want to be right and just refuse to listen and accept other people's truth. Even if a big part of our Western society has luckily moved forward, allowing more freedom of expression and learning to celebrate uniqueness, the repression of people's identity to conform to hetero-cis patriarchal standards still happens, especially for young people, leading them to an ending like the one portrayed in the story.

Content Warnings

carseatwarmers's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

Content Warnings

gabriella_'s review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This ripping my heart out and stomped on it. It broke me. I know the obvious themes in this reflect on ableism but it also makes me think of caretaking more broadly (including eldercare and dementia) and it was just so tragic. I love the protagonist, he was so lovable and I almost cried multiple times reading this.

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clovetra's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

oh wow how i loved this.
let me first off say this was given to me through a giveaway here on StoryGraph, and i am so thankful for audrey for giving me this!
this was my first audiobook, and boy was it a treat
i loved not only the story, but the narration techniques, the music, and how i could truly *feel* gregor's despair. also ngl audrey's little recaps are a blessing.
the story itself was so beautiful. i loved how simple it was to grasp the underlying metaphor, yet i could still easily fall in love. kafka's writing has a sort of lyrical sense to it, and im addicted.
also i loved how pathetic gregor was.
i just loved everything about this. i cant put into words why greatly, i just really had a good time reading this.
also this made me cry and literally only 2 other books have done that to me

Content Warnings

sharkgirl45's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

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