Reviews

Collected Stories by Franz Kafka

ell_zetko's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

duffypratt's review against another edition

challenging dark funny reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

The best of these -- A Hunger Artist, The Metamorphosis, In The Penal Colony -- are simply fantastic, pretty much as good as anything.  The worst are worse than dreadful, they strike me as being both dull and pointless.  Among those are Investigations of a Dog and The Burrow, both of which were unpublished, and I think justifiably so.  The middling stories are remarkably uneven, as are the shorter works.  Some of them seem to be like beautiful crystalline jewels, while others just seem like pointless fragments.

Overall, I liked these much more than I had expected.  There's more than a touch of magical realism, surrealism, or the absurd.  And Kafka is much funnier than I had supposed (or than I remember from reading The Trial a long time ago).  I'm tempted to pick up The Castle, but in no rush.  I also have for a long time thought I knew what people meant by "Kafkaesque," and I still do have a sense of what they mean by it, but it doesn't seem to have a whole lot to do with what's in these stories.

robs320's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

2.0

mrmeowmeow's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.0

lostinthefunhouse's review against another edition

challenging dark funny reflective tense slow-paced

5.0

simplycelestial's review against another edition

challenging reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

2.25

bookbabe0614's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

kyo_o's review against another edition

medium-paced

4.0

binstonbirchill's review against another edition

4.0

Kafkaesque. The first time I head the phrase was while watching Breaking Bad but the reference went right over my head. Eventually I heard of Kafka again, this time through classic literature lists, one thing led to another and I delved into Kafka's quintessentially Kafkaesque novel, The Trial. That still left arguably his most famous work, The Metamorphasis. I resisted. I loathe short stories and dread collections of short stories. I also couldn't help myself. Kafka's one of many with the title of 'master of the short story'.

The collection is certainly unique. It makes you wonder. It makes you think. What exactly was he writing about in Metamorphosis and the several dozen other ambiguous stories in this collection? Who knows. One suspects lots of things. There are reoccurring themes in the stories, such as isolation and troubles of the everyday working man but in the end I think he wanted the reader to decide for his/herself what exactly his point was.

kondrail's review against another edition

przeczytałam przemianę i wywalone mam torche na resztę aktualnie
może kiedyś dokończę