The Complete Stories
by Franz Kafka
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Book Summary Information
Author: Franz KafkaForeword: John Updike
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 1995-11-14
ISBN: 0805210555
Number of pages: 512
Publisher: Schocken
Book Reviews of The Complete Stories
Book Review: Since no one else has been willing I'll play devil's advocate
Summary: 1 Stars
Franz Kafka was born into a Jewish middleclass family in Prague in July 1883 and succumbed to Tuberculosis in June of 1924. Much of his literary work was published posthumously is reported to be amongst the most influential in Western Literature for it's time. Much of the work is reported to be incomplete and the larger portion of it is collected in this book "The Complete Stories".
In the interest of full disclosure I did not finish the whole book. To be honest I couldn't bear to read another page of it. I know many will say that I cant give a complete review because of this but I am only giving my opinion of what I read which was all similar in one form or fashion so I am operating under the assumption the I would have found all of the stories I left unread as unbearable as those I did read. If you think there is a story I should have read let me know. Before going any further I would say that according to the pros (which I am not), Kafka's writing is of great academic value which I do not dispute. The problem is that this didn't translate into enjoyable reading for me.
The Good: According to the critics and those of the academic community the good is practically limitless. Unfortunately for me I couldn't find any of it.
The Bad: I just didn't enjoy a single moment that I spent with my nose in this book. The stories I read were boring and full of uninteresting characters, subject matter and plot-less storylines that tended to meander everywhere and go nowhere. To top that off the characters were generally placed in bad situations with no hope of a positive outcome and a lack of desire to look for one. The stories and characters are basically just overly morose and depressing. I slogged on this for as long as I could but found myself constantly wondering why I was reading it since I was enjoying none of it.
Overall: Academic value = 5 stars. Enjoyment reading = 1 star and since I read for enjoyment 1 star overall. If you want to enjoy what you read you may want to try reading something else.
Summary of The Complete Stories
Bringing together all of Kafka's stories including those released during his lifetime and others after his death, a complete anthology offers insight into his valuable literary contributions. Reprint.How many writers get their own adjective? The work of this terminally alienated master narrator of the subconscious demanded a new descriptor; I guess they gave up and just settled on "Kafkaesque." But if you ever wonder what the original Kafkaesque work was, take a look here. The book contains all of Kafka's short and longer stories -- everything but his three novels. Most of these stories weren't even published during the author's lifetime. The widely-anthologized The Metamorphosis is here, wherein Gregor Samsa awakes from uneasy dreams to find himself insectoidally transformed, as are equally lovely pieces like A Hunger Artist, A Country Doctor and A Little Woman.
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