The Trial (Everyman's Library (Cloth)) (original 1925; edition 1992)

Why was Joseph K taken, enough to keep you gripped. Luckily there is no such thing as rendition in these enlightened days! ( )

I read this for the first time at school in German for A level several decades ago now. The bleakness and fatalism had a profound effect on me as a rather Pollyanna-ish teenager, especially as I was also reading Camus for the first time.
If I say I can still quote verbatim chunks from the book that should suggest the impact of it(and provide a tribute to my German teacher!).
I think the effort of reading it in German meant I missed some of the surreal(albeit still bleak) humour first time round. I still wouldn't recommend it if you are depressed!
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I started reading this aaaages ago, and finally finished it by skimming through. I don't know what it is -- maybe the translation, maybe just Kafka's style -- but I found it more infuriating and frustrating than anything. I enjoyed the dark humour, but I don't think this style of completely absurd situation is for me, and I couldn't judge on the quality of Kafka's writing from this translation. Maybe if, someday, I learn German...

It probably doesn't help that I'm in bed recovering from food poisoning, so perhaps you should take my opinion with a pinch of salt. Still, however important it is in a literary sense, I can't say I enjoyed it. ( )

The back cover of this translation of The Trial reads, "Whether read as an existential tale, a parable, or a prophecy of the excesses of modern bureaucracy wedded to the madness of totalitarianiasm..." it's not these things. The effort to find specific meaning is as pointless as the debate over precisely what Moby-Dick is. Neither book means any one thing. They're about everything. They're about your whole life. Both are beautiful, maddening lurches into the impossibility of meaning.

If it is about everything, I'm not sure what to make of the book's portrayal of women, which is...ambiguous? Nearly every woman in the book is hypersexualized, and K. generally has some sort of adversarial, predatory relationship with all of them. He makes advances on his fellow lodger, Fraulein Burstner, that are described in aggressive terms and don't seem fully wanted by her. Later he falls into an uncomfortable relationship with his lawyer's nurse, Leni, and toward the end of the book there's a weird encounter with a 13-year-old girl on a staircase in which she lifts her skirt at him. This essay says that "Most of the women in K’s society are prostitutes in one form or another," which seems close. I found it very weird. Apparently there's been some controversy over Kafka's sexuality, for what that's worth.

This is an unfinished novel, and it does end abruptly. There is an ending, at least, which makes it a bit more satisfying than the other great unfinished novel I'm familiar with, Pushkin's Eugene Onegin. It's as though Kafka realized he wasn't really going to finish this, so he quickly jotted down the ending he knew he was working towards.

It's always pleasant to read, and, like Moby-Dick, it's not a book that I think you should analyze overmuch as you go. Don't stress out about what the hell Kafka's banging on about. Just go ahead and breeze through it and let it catch up with you later, which it probably will. ( )

I decided to read The Trial was because I saw that next week’s lecture made reference to this book as well as Orwell’s 1984. These books weren’t required reading but I’ve read 1984 and I thought it would be a good excuse to read The Trial, because I’m pretentious like that. I really enjoyed Kafka’s The Metamorphosis so I was excited to have an excuse to read his famous unfinished novel. The Trial tells the story of Josef; a chief financial officer for a bank finds himself being arrested and prosecuted by the authorities. The twist in the book is that the nature of his crime is never revealed to the accused or the reader.

Kafka appears to like to write philosophical novels; in The Metamorphosis he explored the idea of human identity and social acceptance. With The Trial I get the feeling maybe this is a look religion and the idea that life is just a big trial. Or maybe this is just an existential novel. In any case there are a lot of different aspects this book offers for exploration and these books were you can pull out different interpretations are often books I tend to love.

This is a quick read and now that I’ve read my second Kafka novel, I now understand his appeal. I’m not sure what to read next but I can’t wait to explore some more of his works. Like many classics the descriptive prose’s takes you away and you just find yourself being immersed in the story. This helps with a book that really requires your full focus.

Overall I’m satisfied with the ending of this unfinished novel, the last chapter does feel like it brings the story to an end but I can’t help but wonder where Kafka would of gone next. There was a bit of inconsistency throughout this book, with the timing and narrative but this never seemed to be a problem, it just added to the dark and gloominess of this novel. If you’ve not read Kafka, I highly recommend you give him a go, there is such a joy in reading a novel like this.
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