The Trial (Vintage Classics)

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Franz Kafka

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Pages: 256 (Paperback)

ISBN: 0749399554

Pub: Minerva

Pub date: 1992-01-23

Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 199502

Reader Reviews:

'Like a dog' (0/0 people found this helpful)

The Trial is a symbolic representation of the human condition when faced with the notion of death and despair. K wakes up one morning to find two officers in his room. They inform k that he is under arrest, but they are not instructed to tell him why. The arrest isnt like a normal arrest, K is free to go about and carry on with his day to day affairs, only he must take into account that he is under arrest and must attend Trial. As the nightmare unfolds, he comes into contact with people who claim they might be able to help him, but ultimately their efforts come to nothing and K is left to face the situation alone. As he becomes increasingly more paranoid and confused the law officials take note of his behavior and finaly he is condemned to death. Two officers take him out into the street, one holds him down whilst the other plunges a knife into his chest. He manages to choke up the words 'like a dog' and the story ends their.

Even with the bleakness of this book, theirs still a lot of humour in it, weird humour. Alot of Kafkas works were not published until after his death, including this, its also incomplete in some ways, the structure is loose and disorganised, which for me only adds to the raw quality of it.

You will care about your privacy after reading this (4/5 people found this helpful)

Kafka takes George Orwell's nightmare of the Big Brother state of 1984 to the next level. "The Trial" is a powerful story of an individual accused of a crime but told of neither the crime nor the evidence against him. He is being prosecuted by a Court of which he knows nothing and by a process that is secret. The story starts with the arrest of Joseph K. and we are taken on his journey to discover how he can defend himself. The narrative can at times be terrifying, confusing, surreal, and even funny, but we never forget Joseph's anxieties and frustrations at defending himself against... what? He doesn't know.

"The Trial" was never published during Kafka's lifetime, not was it finished. Max Brod has pulled the book together from the manuscripts he was bequeathed by Kafka, and chapters are obviously missing. However, that does not detract from the power of the story and its tragic ending.

Although the book is written about a 20th Century bureaucratic and totalitarian state, it is very relevant to today's world of the information age and the Internet, where so much data on us is gathered from so many sources. We do not know what others know about us - this could be the Government, large corporations or indeed our neighbours. Cardinal Richelieu wrote something like, "If you give me six lines written by the most honest of men, I will find something in them to hang him". Anyone who is concerned about their privacy, and here I don't just mean hiding information we want to keep secret but preventing unnecessary intrusions into out lives and private affairs, should read this book. It will make you care.

This is a book that needs to be read more than once, to get the full impact.

A Disturbing Novel (15/17 people found this helpful)

'The Trial' is not an easy book to read, despite its brevity. It is rough round the edges, patchy in places and often difficult to get through.

Nevertheless, it is a stunning read. The sheer incompetence of K's tormentors is often laugh out loud funny. Yet his persistent attempts to break through walls of ignorance, silence and confusion become darkly tragic in the final pages of the book. It comes with a serious sting in the tale. I immediately re-read the book from cover to cover after the stunning ending. It makes the twisted world of 'Nineteen-eighty four' seem logical. 'The Trial' is a deeply disturbing book. Yet it's also a rewarding novel too. It requires the reader to engross themself within it to truely understand the savage world that Kafka constructs around K.

The Trial - Franz Kafka (17/73 people found this helpful)

Brilliant! I have finally finished this stinker of a book!
I have heard of Franz Kafka being spoken of in almost revered terms and the adjective Kafka-esque has appeared mysteriously in connection with other books I have liked. I am now of the opinion that these occasions must have been unfortunate mis-prints or malicious attempts to sully someone elses good work with this worthlessly obscure piece of non-literature.

The story, if one can call it that, concerns Joseph K. who has been arrested. For what we don't know and neither does he. From here the plot goes nowhere - He tries to obtain help to defend himself in his up-coming trial from various characters. Each of these I think is a metaphor for a segment of society, or a level of Bureaucracy, for which he has obvious disdain. These characters and their mannerisms are meticulously described and obviously symbolic, but I'm afraid that with little knowledge of 'The Law' (perhaps this is a dangerous thing...) all of the symbolism was lost on me. I almost drowned in the sea of Allegory!

I found that I kept having to go back and re-read to make sure that I hadn't missed anything (like the point of it all). And I hadn't, it really was that bad!

This book is a new benchmark in Dullness for me, and based on this I can't help but think that there is air of the Emperors new clothes around Kafka.

A multi-layered and thought-provoking novel (12/14 people found this helpful)

This novel is one of those with many interpretations. Firsty, we are introduced to the main character Josef K. and taken on his journey through the pits and downfalls of the court and government at this particular time. K. is on trial, yet Kafka cleverly never lets the reader find out what for - thus leaving the novel encased in mystery and intrigue. This seems very odd and slightly annoying at first, but, as you read on you realise that this does not make the slightest bit of difference. Kafka uses fully fleshed-out characters in this work, every character having a deep psychological meaning within the plot. This novel is timeless, the stereotypes imposed were common when this was written but some are still present today. Kafka's style of writing is very easy to read, he keeps the story moving while also expounding his underlying message of hopelessness and bitterness of K.'s character. The characters of the advocate and Leni are very interesting and we are shown K's feelings towards them yet we never fully find out his opinion of them as people. This makes the novel open to interpretation. Some people find it just an odd and clever story, others find more. Don't read this lightly, there is more to it than meets the eye. A second-read may expose more to you than first.

Buy and read - see for yourself.

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