Saturday, July 23, 2011

Book #19: The Meowmorphosis by Franz Kafka & Coleridge Cook

"The Meowmorphosis" is a mash-up by Quirk Classics based on "The Metamorphosis" by Franz Kafka. Coleridge Cook (a pseudonym used by a fantasy author) puts his twist on the classic dark novella. Instead of Gregor Samsa, salesman, waking up as a cockroach as in the original, he wakes up as a kitten. The book is essentially the same as the Kafka story, but with a section in the middle that seems to include a twist on another Kafka work (unfinished at the time of his death), "The Trial".
As much as I enjoyed the original work, I had hoped that this new mash-up would have a bit more of a change to it. Instead, it was pretty much the same story with "kitten" replacing "cockroach". I must say, though, the "biography" and Discussion Questions at the end are quite humorous and certainly worth reading!

This is a dark, rambling work that not all readers will appreciate. I'm not sure that I would recommend it if you aren't already familiar with Kafka. Then again, if you're familiar with Kafka, I don't know that it needs to be read.

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