"all good fiction does not necessarily depict reality as much as it uncovers truth." Dark Comedy and Dead seriously - Its a Journey -- a rough trip. The moral of the story, to elaborate a cliche', is that it's only futile to resist when you have no idea what you're resisting. --"The Trial", I am intrigued by the mind that conceived it... "Kafka" -- an absurd mystery that literally trips itself up. But uncovers a Truth ... as just as many, he doesn't know how to defend himself, or get any information about his trial. Abstract, however, a fascinating account of the modern human condition. ( )

The Trial is one of the most unusual books I have ever read. It is the story of a man who is on trial in a world where the Law is a feared bureaucracy, immune from criticism, unquestioned in its methods, and having complete and absolute power; a world where you are guilty until proven innocent. The story begins when a young, ordinary, 30 year old bachelor. Joseph K. finds himself accused of a crime. He is a well respected bank teller, minding his own business and enjoying life. All of a sudden one day two deputies come to his apartment to interrogate him, and inform him of his impending trial. The “all powerful” legal system is not responsible for telling the accused what crime was committed. Feeling innocent and not recalling any incident where laws were broken Joseph thinks the whole episode is ludicrous. But as time passes he realizes aside from the fact that his freedom is jeopardized, there is a stigma to being involved in a legal case, and this effects his professional reputation and his social status. He doesn’t have a clue how to defend himself since he can get no information from the court system as to the nature of the crime.

The New Yorker described Kafka's writing style as “surreal distortion, and a sense of impending danger”. This is a perfect description of The Trial.

The Trial is a psychological thriller. Joseph begins to suffer from fear, paranoia, and anxiety. And as time passes he becomes paralyzed with a sense of impending doom. Towards the end of the story there is a scene where Joseph has a discussion with a priest who tells Joseph a parable about a man who waits his entire life to enter the gates to the Law. According to the priest, there are many interpretations of this parable, and he implies that the key to Joseph's freedom is simply to solve the mystery of the parable. And according to the literary critics there are many interpretations to what Kafka was trying to say in this book. If you read this book you will never forget it; the suspenseful plot, the quirky characters, the exaggerated nightmarish domination imposed by the Law, and the in-depth perception of human nature. ( )

He didn't live to finish and edit this, but nonetheless you can see just from The Trial that Kafka's was the seminal imagination of the last century, not Beckett or Joyce. In fact Beckett is very indebted to him. ( )

I hated this book. I know it's all meaningful and symbolic, but I hated the main character so much that I didn't care what happened to him! I kept dragging my feet on finishing this book and had to force myself to finish. Well, I'm done. Glad that's over. ( )

I'm not quite sure what this novel was meant to be, is it a satire of the legal system or the fascist state, a psychological novel composed around a purposely incomprehensible conspiracy, a religious or philosophical allegory, or none or all of these things? Whatever it was meant to be, the story has very much the feel of Roald Dahl's Tales of the Unexpected, sharing the confusion and surreality of the plot, while all the while the reader cannot ignore the background impetus toward something happening, something that is going to be at least a little bit shocking. It also reminded me of Borges' short stories, where profound and paradoxical ideas are combined with plain but expert writing to produce a story that is not only memorable but thought provoking and entertaining. ( )