Tildes Book Club - March 2026 - The Metamorphosis by Kafka
This is the third Tildes Book Club Discussion for 2026 and the twenty-third overall. We are discussing The Metamorphosis by Kafka. At the end of April we will discuss The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See.
I don't have a particular format in mind for this discussion, but I will post some prompts and questions as comments to get things started. You're not obligated to respond to them or vote on them though. So feel free to make your own top-level comment for whatever you wish to discuss, questions you have of others, or even just to post a review of the book you have written yourself.
For latecomers, don't worry if you didn't read the book in time for this Discussion topic. You can always join in once you finish it. Tildes Activity sort, and "Collapse old comments" feature should keep the topic going for as long as people are still replying.
And for anyone uninterested in this topic please use the Ignore Topic feature on this so it doesn't keep popping up in your Activity sort, since it's likely to keep doing that while I set this discussion up, and once people start joining in.
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Is this your first time reading this novella? What if anything surprised you or was unexpected?
I first read this one about 15 years ago. I stumbled across a PDF online, and thought, "Why not?". I completed it in one sitting.
Knowing my memory would not be up to the task though, I decided to give this one a re-read for this discussion. This time I listened by audiobook. I normally would go with an established narrator, but I tried a random recording from YouTube and the quality was not half bad.
Being a re-read, I wouldn't say that anything surprised me. Though there are parts that I either missed before, or simply forgot about. For example, the sister undergoes a rapid loss of innocence throughout the story which I wasn't expecting.
She starts naive and optimistic, assigning herself the role of Gregor's keeper. Over time, she is worn down by this burden, receiving little help or appreciation. She then needs to start a real job to help support the family's finances. By the end of the story, her only perceived value is her looks and potential for a husband. Not her musical ambitions or kindness -- those have eroded. Much like Gregor, she is measured only by her usefulness now.
First time reading (listening, to be accurate), and I enjoyed it. Took me til basically the last sentence to realize who the title was referring to, but I never figure out twists.
First time for me. I hadn’t previously read anything by Kafka and the only thing I knew going in was that the word “Kafkaesque” exists.
I started reading We by Yevgeny Zamyatin at about the same time and somehow got the authors switched in my head. I spent the first 15-20 minutes of the audiobook wondering why all the people in this Russian author’s book seemed German.
What did you think about Gregor's experience as the author described it? Were the stages logically correct/fitting given the initial change?
What did you think about how the parents reacted over time?
What did you think of how the sister reacted over time?
What did you think about the reactions of the charwoman?
What did you think about the room mate/tenants and how they reacted?
What would you like to say about this story and what impact it had on you?
Were there any noteworthy transitions or turning points that helped make this a powerful story?
One of these for me is that Gregor clearly expected his family to love and support him in spite of the change.