i hate to be that person, but i liked the book better

The way the illustrations looked was really good, even with the words wrapped around certain art pieces in swirly tracks. The illustrations to the words of the story were actually really cool and well presented. The story of how this hard working man helping his family with earning money his whole life seems bittersweet. But the change from man to beetle? Was interesting, why did it happen? why was it a beetle in his fate? But moving to how his family thought of him afterwords and the other people from his work and people who moved in. They were scared of him and thought he was disgusting. Slowly he was dying and dying without people caring too hard. But once he was done and dead, thats when the tears came out from his family, realizing he was really gone forever. The story within this book is much stronger in meaning, but also with great detailed images to depict the story was even better. I enjoyed that it was also black and white, gave it the darkness i felt like it read aloud.

What a beautiful, sad, horrible, absurd little story.

A lot of that is owed to Kafka's original, of course (though the translation seemed clunky at places [is it Kuper's translation?], it's serviceable), but Kuper's over-exaggerated characters and dark palette (black-and-white is the natural choice, but sickly sepias would have been good too) really embody the sense of bleak inevitability that suffuses the story.

You can either identify with Gregor or you can't (there's a lot of bad takes in the reviews lol)- there is a certain horror in how you can desperately desire and dread being known that just doesn't translate otherwise. Reading this story makes me feel like I understand what kind of person Kafka was, and that's powerful.

All too often, graphic adaptions of classical works do little to enhance their original material, and sometimes even take away from the original story.

This is most definitely not one of those cases. Kuper's distinct artistic style weds fantastically with Kafka's words, leading to a work of disturbing beauty.

I've read the book a few times. I've seen the live play. And now I've read the comic adaptation. I guess it's true that nothing can live up to the original. The comic adaptation just seems to lose some of the psychology that is so present in the book. While the art work fits with the style of writing, it lacks that emotional edge, that turmoil that the book so deeply conveyed.

Metamorphosis, the graphic novel, was illustrated by Peter Kuper. The graphic novel follows the storyline of the classic novel, however it takes away the large amount of details that are present in the novel. Metamorphosis is the story of a man by the name of Gregor who one day wakes up and realizes he is a cockroach. The graphic novel beautifully illustrates the treacherous tale of how Gregor struggled with his new found situation, and with how his family dealt with this huge burden. The graphic novel I thought went perfectly with how I had pictured the book. My favorite part of the whole illustrated tale was how Kuper portrayed the scene in which Gregor was describing his financial situation. In the novel, Gregor describes how his family is in debt, and he is working in a sales company to pay off the debt. However, in the graphic novel, Kuper illustrates this aspect of the novel in one beautiful picture. A picture of an hourglass with Gregor stuck in between, slowly passing through. Above him there was what looked like small shreds of money, and same with below him. This image portrayed everything Gregor had to do, while added only a small snip it of text. Throughout the whole graphic novel I think that Kuper's illustrations of the story, much like this picture above, tells the tale of Gregor's misfortune perfectly.

io ho capito che gregor aveva una famiglia di sanguisughe che avrebbero tranquillamente potuto lavorare e aiutarlo a mantenere casa e debiti prima che diventasse uno scarafaggio. quando non è stato più utile, si sono anche liberati di lui perché ormai li stava intralciando, il che dimostra che a mio parere avrebbe fatto meglio a volersene fuori dalla finestra a vivere la vita da insetto, piuttosto che alienarsi ancora una volta per il loro bene.

ottimo racconto, non ho solo gradito che nella mia edizione la spiegazione fosse posta come introduzione, piuttosto l'avrei messa dopo il racconto o non ha senso, dato che ancora non l'ho letto.

I haven't read this book since high school, but to be totally honest, I really want to get my book count up for the year, and this seemed really interesting. The graphic novel version did not feel nearly as layered as I remember the original. It was fine and compelling and sad, but it didn't seem to have the same depth of emotion. In many ways, this actually felt more like the cliff-notes version of a graphic novel - great for getting a sense of the story, but not really great for any in-depth introspection.

The art is very stylized and interesting and I think it is themed appropriately for the story. The retelling is slightly off in a few ways, which is annoying, but not insurmountable. The least forgivable problem I see is with the very end. If memory serves, a couple of events are weirdly out of order here, and also there isn't enough dialogue or exposition to explain what's going on with Grete. This retelling makes her parents look like they're leering at her in a pervy way rather than thinking about how she has grown and changed and that they should find her a husband (although that in its own right is a bit creepy when viewed through the lens of modern thought, it isn't what I mean by "pervy").
This is a great adaptation of the story that I can use with my sophomores, though, so I am pleased with it and I can easily fill in any gaps.

Gregor Samsa wakes in his bed and discovers he has transformed into a giant bug. Wondering what has happened, he looks around his small room, where everything appears normal. He sees the fabric samples that he uses in his job as a traveling salesman, a picture of a woman in furs that he tore out of a magazine and framed, and the rain dripping down outside his window. He tries to roll over and go back to sleep in order to forget about what has happened, but because of the shape of his back, he can only rock from side to side.










Feeling sore from his effort, Gregor thinks about what a difficult job he has and the fact that his constant traveling prevents him from making any lasting friendships. He thinks that he would leave his overbearing employer but he has to work off a debt that his parents incurred. He suddenly realizes that he has overslept and does not have a good excuse to give his boss.

Gregor’s mother reminds him that he has to catch his train to work. When Gregor responds, he finds his voice has changed. His father and Grete, his sister, join his mother at the door, urging him to get up and unlock it. Gregor twists and rocks, managing to turn sideways and dangle off the bed. Then the doorbell rings. It is the office manager, come to check on Gregor. Gregor rocks his body violently and finally tumbles to the floor. His family and the office manager come to the door to inquire if he is all right.

Gregor’s mother pleads with the office manager, telling him what a devoted worker Gregor is, while Grete cries in the next room. The office manager calls through the door and demands an explanation. He hints that Gregor’s recent work has not been satisfactory and that Gregor’s current behavior looks very bad, especially in light of rumors that Gregor may have stolen money from the company. Gregor claims that he had a dizzy spell and asks the office manager to spare his parents any undue concern. While Gregor tries to lift himself off the floor, the office manager and his family discuss the strange change in his voice, and his sister leaves to fetch a doctor and a locksmith.

Gregor reaches the door, turns the lock with his mouth, and slowly pulls open the door. Seeing that Gregor is now a giant insect, the terrified office manager backs away, the mother passes out, and the father cries. Gregor delivers a long speech asking the office manager to put in a good word for him at work, since traveling salesmen often become the subjects of negative gossip, but the office manager continues to back out of the apartment. Gregor unsuccessfully tries to catch him as he flees and discovers how easily he can crawl on his new legs. The father then picks up a newspaper and the office manager’s cane and drives Gregor back into his bedroom. Gregor injures himself when he becomes stuck in the doorway, but the father shoves him through and slams the door
Gregor wakes in the evening. He sees that someone has put a bowl of milk and bread in the room. Though milk had been his favorite drink, he finds he cannot stand the taste now. Then he listens for his family, but the apartment is completely quiet. He recalls the pride he felt at taking care of his family and wonders what will happen to them now. Someone cracks the door open but shuts it immediately, and Gregor eventually sees the light go off in the other room. He crawls under a small sofa and drops into a fitful sleep, vowing that he will do everything he can to make his new condition as small a burden on his family as possible.





In the morning, Grete opens the door but shuts it when she sees Gregor under the sofa. She reopens it and steps into the room. Noticing that Gregor has not eaten, she brings in various kitchen scraps and leaves Gregor to eat alone. He enjoys the moldiest food but has no interest in the fresh vegetables. Grete returns a little while later and sweeps up the scraps while Gregor watches her from beneath the sofa. A pattern thus begins, with Grete feeding and cleaning up after Gregor and reporting to the mother and father how much Gregor has eaten.

Gregor spends much of his time listening to the family through the door. He learns that the money he regularly gave his parents has not all been spent, and he feels proud of his contribution to their wellbeing. To avoid spending this savings, however, the family members will need to find employment. Gregor feels embarrassed when he hears them discuss this topic, as the father has become out of shape and clumsy and the mother has asthma, so neither seems very capable of working. Gregor also reflects on his relationship with his family, recalling how he and his parents had grown apart but that he and Grete had remained close, so much so that he had planned to send her to music school to study the violin.

Gregor slowly adapts to his new life. He begins to enjoy scurrying around his room and climbing on a chair to look out the window. Though Grete continues to look after Gregor, he notices that she cannot stand the sight of him, and he hides behind a sheet draped over the sofa when she enters the room. The parents avoid coming in, though they seem curious about his state. The mother in particular is eager to see him, but Grete and the father urge her not to. I could say that my favorite part about the book would be that gregor died, only because hes family and friends didn't care about him, they were just using him. which I thought was so wrong, now hes family would have to get a job or find somebody else to give them money and help out around the house.One night, the cleaning lady accidentally leaves the door open while the boarders are home. The boarders eat in the dining room while the family eats in the kitchen, and Gregor notices the boarders being very picky about the food that his mother and sister have cooked. Hearing Grete playing the violin, the boarders invite the family into the parlor. The boarders initially stand very close to Grete as she plays, but they soon lose interest. Gregor is entranced by the violin and slowly creeps out into the parlor. He longs to take his sister back to his room and tell her about his plan to send her to music school. At the end of the day you cant just use people because if something hyappends your screwed, they wont be able to help you.. Youll have to rely on somebody else. So that was a lesson in the story,karma comes back to hurt you.. and when your evil like that bad things happen to you. Gregors family didn't care about him, they just was worried about there bills being payed.

This was a fairly great graphic novel in my opinion. The art is astoundingly amazing, and the way the text is incorporated into the panels is so interesting. I did find it a little hard to follow if you aren't giving each panel your full attention, but even if you don't you'll catch the idea of it. Mainly the story is about how the Main character goes from being the bread winner to burden, and you see the family struggle to deal with what change their son had to go through, which gives them the metamorphic idea. It's very interesting to see that in the end of the story even though their is a huge negative force in their lives, they finally see the positive as they move on from their sad poor lives to one full of dreams and new goals. (SPOILER ALERT!!!!!) I don't really like how the main character dies... I was kind of hoping he would have just malted and watched his family from afar in their new life while he lived his.

I would recommend this to someone who is having a bad day because they are obviously having it worse than you, people that enjoy oddly connectable far out stories, and man-sized insects. I don't really know what the novel is like, but it you check it out and think it's worth the read let me know.

bought this for my classroom as a supplemental text. Great adaptation and will use it as an aid for my struggling readers.