23
Sep
2009
The Trial by Franz Kafka
Imagine this: you are a well-educated, upper-middle class. rising professional, who has never broken the law, and you have been put on trial for…something. You don’t know what it is, because nobody will tell you. Your education is no help because while the courts in which you are tried are legal, they operate outside of the realm of normal jurisprudence.
You rail against the system. You wait it out, trying to just move on with your life. You hire lawyers. You get insiders to give you information.
In the end?
Well, I can’t, of course, tell you the end, except to say that it is seriously fucking terrifying. In fact, some of the book is downright boring, but I highly recommend it based on the last chapter alone.
I mean, there is more WTFery as you can imagine. Of course, you go into reading Kafka expecting a fair amount WTFery. But still.
STILL.
It’s debased. It’s chilling. And given the context of the rest of the book, it makes sense.
But it doesn’t, because the law is still wrong. I think.
I listened to this book on CD and hand to listen to the last bit twice, and I’m still a bit unsure.
Because it was only published after Kafka’s death, and never really completed and/or edited, it is not a perfect story. The pacing is off, there are inconsistencies throughout, ideas are presented and dropped without being fully exposed upon. But I’d argue that in this case, with all the WTFery that abounds in it–not just at the end–those things only heighten the sense that this world, which, of course, is still supposed to be OUR world, doesn’t make sense and sucks for you.
If you like this book/author, you might like:
(my reviews in blue)
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy trilogy by Douglas Adams
The Stranger by Albert Camus
The Loser: A Novel by Thomas Bernhard
Consider the Lobster by David Foster Wallace
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
1984 by George Orwell
K. by Roberto Calasso
Other works by Franz Kafka:
The Metamorphosis
Amerika
Franz Kafka: The Complete Stories
The Diaries of Franz Kafka
The Castle
Blue Octavo Notebooks
I don’t understand. Don’t expect I could, unless I read it for myself… Hmm…
Well, you succeeded in piquing my curiosity, so props for that!
Ah, Kafka. The end. Thursday Next goes on trial in this book for changing the ending of Jane Eyre in Jasper Fforde’s Lost in a Good Book. It’s bizarre . . . and cool. Her understanding of Kafka (sorry, can’t give away the ending). I really am going to stop the Fforde proselytizing soon. I think.
Great review! I actually only know this book for its reference in a Jasper Fforde book, lol. But it looks interesting enough that I may have to pick it up.
Haven’t read any Kafka yet, but it sounds like I should be intimidated!
I’ve not read this but any book filled with WTFery sounds like a must read!
I love the term “WTFery.” That’s a perfect way to describe The Trial (and Kafka in general). You’re right, though. This had a lot of unnecessary stuff. It needed some good editing. I love the way the graphic novel version put it together. So wonderful.