The Trial

It made me really frustrated and angry. Which, I guess, it was supposed to do. So job done. 

A hilarious, bleak mirror. The labyrinth of bureaucracy. Kafka writes with the full spectrum of human complexity. All the human intricacies that are never able to be reproduced, are reproduced.

O processo narra a história de Josef K. diante de um processo que o arrebata à sua porta logo pela manhã, mudando o curso da sua vida e apresentando a rendição da sua sede de justiça. Toda a tensão criada por Kafka, formulada através da burocracia oculta e anestesiante da Justiça; da feiura sufocante, sem vida, sem esperança, da paisagem urbana, é sem dúvida o que torna esse livro um grande clássico.

O final aqui pouco importa, os diálogos extensos e incrivelmente detalhados foi o que mais impressionou, a capacidade de escrita desse sujeito é algo que almejo para mim, de forma a garantir que meus trabalhos pessoais tenham a maior clareza possível. Valeu Kafka.

Es un zapato.

Gracias a este libro y a la elección de lenguaje hice un diccionario de 254 palabras, me ayudó muchísimo a expandir mi léxico.

Es una historia como para pasar el tiempo, el protagonista es un hombre algo aburrido pero entiendo que sea así ya que Kafka nos quiere brindar algo más que una historia, nos quiere poner a reflexionar mediante el libro.

I really wanted to like it. The themes appeal to me and after fishing it, I read some interpretations that really tempted me to give it an extra star. It might be interesting to analyse for a university class, but none of that changes that I did not enjoy myself at all while reading this book. The way Kafka writes women makes me uncomfortable. I know all the characters are absurd, but he didn't have to make them ALL desperate to fuck the protagonist. Also, Joseph K is completely unrelatable, which may be the point, but it still made reading this quite frustrating, since he never responds to his situation how you think he should. Maybe I'd have liked it more if Kafka had actually finished the book, but as it stands it's unfortunately 2 stars.

Imagine you live in a world where you are to deal with the absurdity of bureaucracy. A bureaucracy where you are told you are arrested but also assures that nothing in your life changes except for occasional appearances at the court. Now, how this uncertainty impacts a respectable bank officer, Josef K. is the story.

At its core, I think the philosophy behind The Trial (subject to correction) is that you are only a monkey in a well planned out circus. Sometimes, without your control, your thoughts, judgements and capabilities are impacted. In this absurd system, there is hardly anything you can do but wait for it to consume you.

Now, this is what I understood. And I really liked the philosophy behind the book. However, I could not engage with the book as a whole. I lost track of things and the occurrences of events and found myself rereading a few chapters. Of course, it is no fault of the translator. Entirely mine. I might not have started with the right mood and expectations. I was hoping for more of a narrative revolving around the psyche of Josef K rather than the weight of bureaucracy.

Knowing now what The Trial offers, I look forward to revisiting it someday when I'm ready to question the systems around me more deeply. I think I'll find greater meaning in it then.

classic Kafka at its finest. Absurdist literature has never been better.

definitely a good book, but really depressing. my copy has the “fragments” section in the end that i just skimmed over. some chapters felt overdone and others felt forgotten as you read further into the book. still enjoyable.

Overrated

Il Processo è affascinante. Ti coglie alla sprovvista una mattina qualunque, sa essere snervante perché non ha chiare e facili vie d'uscita, e una volta che è incominciato, è assoluto. Sia ben chiaro, non è un processo che ha che fare con le leggi dello stato, ma con la Legge, inaccessibile e di difficile interpretazione, e davanti ad esso si è soli, al di là di tutto l'aiuto che potremmo mai ricevere da avvocati. Ecco, esistono due modi per affrontarlo: il primo è quello di occuparsi attivamente, ogni giorno, ogni ora del proprio Processo, in attesa di una provvisoria sentenza oppure di procrastinarlo, il secondo è oggetto di questo libro.

8/10

Unbelievable amounts to unpack, here. If you like Kafka, this is a must. If you simply appreciate Kafka, don't underestimate The Trial. If you are experimenting with Kafka, this is a great way to make or break your relationship with his style and voice.

Bureaucracy sucks.

nabokov didn't dub kafka as one of the greatest writers of his time for nothing

A thought provoking book. There were so many things to reflect on. The law, bureaucracy, totalitarianism and existentialism to name just a few. Not necessarily an enjoyable read but certainly one I found worthwhile.

Thought about giving this 4 stars because it's unfinished. But the fact that it's unfinished didn't detract from my enjoyment... and I don't think it detracted from the meaning either. It was a near perfect book and the only thing I thought about it being unfinished after I read the last page was “I can only imagine how incredible this book would be had he finished it.”

Une mise en abîme d'une absurdité administrative de haut vol. Du jour au lendemain Josef K. se retrouve accusé d'une faute dont il ne sait même pas la contenance et confronté un procès qui s'enfonce à chaque pas de plus en plus dans l'absurde.

On sent dans tout le récit l'impuissance terrible d'un homme pris dans une machine administrative monstrueuse dont il ne peut appréhender absolument rien. Au travers du récit, on peut entrevoir une critique de beaucoup de systèmes politiques totalitaires, capables de soudainement priver un homme de toute liberté sans jamais avoir à se justifier, mais aussi une métaphore parfois religieuse d'un homme coincé dans un Purgatoire à chercher en vain une faute qu'il n'a pas commise. Mais aussi une ironie cinglante destinée aux pontes enjolivant le vide de grands mots et d'immenses tournures pour faire croire à la contenance et à leur propre importance.

Ou simplement une démonstration par l'absurde de la violence de certaines administrations ne fonctionnant que pour et par elles mêmes, totalement indifférentes au sort des innocents pris dans leurs rouages.

“No,” said the priest, “you don't need to accept everything as true, you only have to accept it as necessary.” “Depressing view,” said K. “The lie made into the rule of the world.”

(strong 8/10)
What can be said about this novel that hasn't been said already? I am ashamed to say that the first time I heard about Kafka was through Murakami (Kafka On The Shore) and not due to any of his hitherto unknown literary accomplishments. We had a copy in our family since decades – so naturally one day the urge struck me to pick it up, and I did.

The Trial is quite the surreal novel, truth be told. We are told that there is a person called Josef K., who is arrested for no apparent reason at all – he is a pretentious banker and is quite a vapid person – but one who has committed no wrong. When does his case start? Why is he presumed guilty in the first place? When will his ‘advocate' actually start doing work? Above all, does the work he's doing for the case have any influence on the outcome? Or is this work all just for nothing?

This novel is eerily reminiscent of today's convoluted legal system, what with its endless hierarchy, siloization, the ‘guilty-until-presumed-innocence', show trials, and little to no effect of evidence on the case. In one scene, Josef meets a fellow client of his advocate – who is made to sleep in the attic of his advocate's house and forced to read Latin – in order to ‘appreciate what the advocate is doing for his client'. It is utterly depressing to wade through, all the more so when you realize that it has been more than a century since the novel was penned – and all the obstacles to justice are still there, as it is.

While somewhat slow at parts, and not at all helped by the confusing and abrupt ending (from which various conclusions can be drawn, none of them clearing your confusion in the least), The Trial is a masterpiece which has to be read to be believed.

It was bizarre. So much of this flew way over my head (I've been a bit of an unfocused reader recently).

That said, I'm really glad I read this. Kafka paints with such a complexity of greys - it felt like Camus at times, and then like Bulgakov at others. Some beautifully written scenes (the painter, the church).

It's nice to read some other reviews where people were saying that they too thought they knew what was going on and then it was like the book was saying ‘you know nothing' and realise we're all in the same boat.

Thanks Franz

Tough but interesting reading. The final chapters of the book are worth the suffering.

Editor : So Franz, How how difficult should this book be to read?

Franz : Yes

Was reading this book easy?
Lol. Nope.

Nonetheless, I was a little familiar with his writing style from reading the metamorphosis, earlier in the year.
But this? Damn!
Felt like it dragged on for ages, despite having 250 pages.
Maybe its because of the fact that the readers aren't being told what the protagonist was being accused of. Maybe to make us understand the perspective of the protagonist? The frustration?
We'll never know.

This book really tested my will power. There were times during reading this book, that I would get physically repulsed. Then again, that could be because of the crowded train journey.

You know how, when you're reading some difficult text, and the environment in which you're reading it doesn't make the job any easier? Yeah, perhaps I need to read this again in a calmer setting. Just to get tortured again? Sure.

Sorry, but not reading another Kafka book, ever.

“It is not necessary to accept everything as true, one must only accept it as necessary.' ‘A melancholy conclusion,' said K. ‘It turns lying into a universal principle.'“

This pretty much sums up this vaguely unconventional novel. Kafka delivers the harsh truths of bureaucracy, existential individualism and mindless formalities of the society in a subtle way, through this weird fable surrounding the life of Josef K. It's not an easy read and sometimes you wonder about what exactly is the narrator trying to convey as ideas seem to contradict like a paradox. It questions the very principles on which our society is based. In my opinion, there's one thing I surely learned from this book, that there's no escaping the authority. Whether you rebel against it or make peace with it, that is totally up to you. Kafka is eccentric, vague, surreal and intellectually fascinating, all at the same time! You should read it with an open mind!

“...You shouldn't pay too much attention to people's opinions. The text cannot be altered, and the various opinions are often no more than an expression of despair over it. ...”




“... لزومى ندارد خيلى به اين تفاسير اعتنا كنى. متن تغيير ناپذير است، و تفاسير اغلب بيانگر درمندگى در براير آن اند. ...“

One of the hardest reads I've tackled it took an eternity to get through. But I thoroughly enjoyed Kafka's dark dreamscape of a novel.