A review by sperpe
La metamorfosi by Franz Kafka

dark sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

Even though I wasn't captivated by the premise of the novel, once the allegory and symbolism became clearer, the story itself became way more captivating. The novel perfectly represents the lack of acceptance of what we consider different from us and the loneliness forced upon the person left behind, alone, closed in a room as a devious beast. Right from the beginning, it shows how the family and the rest of the society portrayed in the story pressure our protagonist to be part of an indistinct mass of workers, stripped of their own identity from their employer and forced to obey the rules for the sake of the family, rather than accept him for the person he turned into. Even though I didn't particularly enjoy the writing style or the imagery used in the novel, I cannot notice how its theme is unfortunately still very relevant to our contemporary society, drenched in people who want to be right and just refuse to listen and accept other people's truth. Even if a big part of our Western society has luckily moved forward, allowing more freedom of expression and learning to celebrate uniqueness, the repression of people's identity to conform to hetero-cis patriarchal standards still happens, especially for young people, leading them to an ending like the one portrayed in the story. 
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