Great assortment of stories

The stories in this book are a strange assortment. And not just Kafka strange. It is a mix of proper "stories", random ruminations - some of them only a minute long, and some really weird... umm... passages...? Really, there is no better way to describe them. Metamorphosis is the big famous story among the collections, of course. (The feature Hulk Hogan vs. Undertaker special... back from the days when wrestling had only one big-ticket match in the day.) Then the couple of other memorable stories are The Penal Colony, and The Stoker, Report for an Academy. These stuck with me. Others are all right, and an insight in the quirky Kafka mind. But even by his standards a few stories are bizarre. Seriously, I have no clue what was Eleven Sons about. And what the sour grapejuice was going on in Jackal and Arabs, and conversation with a worshipper (which is apparently called as conversation with a supplicant, in other translations). Also, a couple of stories from The Trial find it's way here.

George Guidall is just spectacular with the narration. I have listened to his narration of Trial as well and the man's voice lends the perfect amount of mystery to Kafka's stories.

The one frustration with the audio book was that no where in the description or chapters do we find the list of stories. And neither could I find this particular book edition online anywhere to get the list of chapters. Besides, for a few of them, there are a couple of chapters bundled together in a single audible chapter. That didn't make it easy at all. So, anyways, I compiled the chapter list here. I am not sure if that "Nature of Naturally" is an actual Kafka story or if its a note by the translator on the challenges of choosing a word while translating Kafka works... but it was still a great listen.:

1. Notes on translation
2. Nature of naturally and Conversation with the worshiper
3. Conversation with a drunk
4. Great noise
5. The judgement
6. Contemplation - a sudden stroll
7. Children on the highway
8. Exposing a city slicker
9. Decisions
10. The outing in the mountain
11. The bachelors unhappiness
12. The businessman
13. Absently gazing out
14. The way home
15. The people running by
16. The passenger
17. Frocks
18. The rejection
19. Reflections of an amateur jockey
20. The window facing the street
21. The wish to be an Indian
22. The trees
23. Unhappiness
24. The stoker - a fragment
25. The stoker - continued
26. The stoker - Continued
27. Metamorphosis
28. Metamorphosis - Continued
29. Metamorphosis - Continued
30. Metamorphosis - Continued
31. Metamorphosis - Continued
32. Metamorphosis - Continued
33. The country doctor collections - a new lawyer
34. The country doctor collections - the country doctor
35. The country doctor collections - Up in the gallery
36. The country doctor collections - An ancient manuscript
37. The country doctor collections - Before the law
38. The country doctor collections - Jackals and Arabs
39. The country doctor collections - A visit to the mine
40. The country doctor collections - The next village
41. The country doctor collections - An imperial message
42. The country doctor collections - The anxiety of the head of family
43. The country doctor collections - Eleven sons
44. The country doctor collections - The fratricide
45. The country doctor collections - A dream
46. The country doctor collections - A report for an academy
47. In the penal colony
48. In the penal colony - Continued

48 people found this helpful

Excellent Translation, Excellent Narration!

Would you listen to The Metamorphosis and Other Stories again? Why?

Of course! I return to this book again and again when other fiction is not satisfying. Kafka has such a unique voice and such a masterful ability to entrance the reader. Joachim Neugroschel's translation captures Kafka's dark humor (and ability to maintain the fictional dream) much better than the Muir's translations did.

Any additional comments?

"A Country Doctor" and "In the Penal Colony" are the best

7 people found this helpful

Too Kafkaesque For Me

My title, as I pray you guessed, is a bad joke.
This audiobook is as close to a perfect execution as is possible when having to make editorial decisions left and right due to the author being dead for .... Well he has been dead for a long time. No one can dispute that.

The artistic liberties that had to be forcefully undertaken in each of the included story's translation (German & Belgian to English) were flawless. I haven't seen as good a job in that respect since the audiobook incarnation of The Cyberiad by Stanislaw Lem (available on Audible too).
Both works left me scratching my head trying to figure how such beautiful alliteration and pun could have POSSIBLY been kept in tact while still holding true to the original works. REALLY GREAT listen. Top marks.

10.00 / 10.00

6 people found this helpful

Frsutrated

What did you love best about The Metamorphosis and Other Stories?

The thing that frustrates me the most about this collection in its audible format , is one doesn't know what short story one is listening g too. They are not listed in the chapter heading or introduced at the start of the said story being read. I ask you what genius oversaw this aspect of the production needs a kick in the literary ass.

11 people found this helpful

Chapters are not titled

Chapters are not titled and do not break cleanly along the begin/end of the stories. I don’t understand why short story collections do this. Title the chapters and make each chapter it’s own short story!

2 people found this helpful

kafka

What did you love best about The Metamorphosis and Other Stories?

The reader was excellent. We really enjoyed the pre- lecture regarding the language and nationalism and judism. We recommend both the reader and the book. We also had never read or listened to the short stories, which were a bonus.

Who was your favorite character and why?

gregor - he fought to maintain his human-ness.

Have you listened to any of George Guidall’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Yes, oh yes. We pick books that are unknown and read by him based solely on his narration. He was excellent reading Kafka.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No.

4 people found this helpful

Moments of brilliance dulled by hours of tedium

There were exactly three stories I really enjoyed in this collection, the rest just felt like random thoughts which didn't deserve to be published, many stopping as they were starting to show promise, but still I think I chose the right collection otherwise I would've kept wondering about the rest. The reading was good and clear with just the right amount of character.

1 person found this helpful

very good book

you cant go wrong with George Guidall and Kafka but this book with the solid metamorphosis and lots of short stories end being quite fun , and being a long time Kafka fan i was not expecting this , Kafka always tends to put me in existential dilemas and only trough audible im seeing that he can be fun to , RECOMMENDED TO ALL

1 person found this helpful

Not Up to Expectations

I really looked forward to hearing the Metamorphosis again and especially other Kafka stories I had never heard or read. I was a big fan of Kafka earlier in life. And, though I have serious criticisms to share below, I’m glad I gave it a try.

In the end, I was left somewhat cold. Is it that I’ve gotten older? Is it that I’ve moved on to preferring more realistic stories? For example, I’m also listening now to stories by Maugham and Chekhov and loving them. Or, have I come to think it’s just not what it’s long been hyped up to be?

I don’t know.

The very short parable-like stories are quite good. And some of the longer stories had an impact, as did In the Penal Colony. But, as I read some of the far out critical analyses by literary superstars of Metamorphosis and the Penal Colony, I got even colder. These works seemed remote to me, capable of odd analyses and uncertain understanding, and, frankly, weird to be weird.

You may or may not agree. But that’s the way it all worked out for me this time.

For all his readings since Don Quixote, Guidall has not impressed me. Perhaps that hurt my overall perception of the stories, too.

In any event, I was disappointed.

almost perfect

Great writing beautifully read. My one quibble is that chapters aren't labeled making it difficult to search.