the dark black and white illustrations of this adaptation elevate the surreal darkness of this story to a whole new level. for the most part, the characters are drawn with blank white eyes, save for the father of the samsa family, whose single-dotted pupils serve to evoke the harshest judgement upon the wife, grete, 3 roomers, maid, and most of all, gregory. the text is also organized in a captivating way that reflects the mood of each scene. for example, on page 42, the sentence description of gregory's small room forcing him to crawl around the walls and on the ceiling also winds around the page; the reader is forced to rotate the book in different directions to read it, which adds to the claustrophobic feel of gregor's situation. a fresh visual journey, even if you're familiar with this classic.

Ho sentimenti contrastanti al riguardo, non mi ha fatto impazzire ma ne riconosco l'importanza.
La metamorfosi non riguarda solo Gregor ma tutta la famiglia, che davanti alla sua nuova condizione si rivela incapace di empatia nei suoi confronti; dall'altro lato i famigliari non smettono di occuparsi di lui di fronte alla nuova condizione (anche se si ha l'impressione che non abbiano fatto abbastanza e che siano in parte responsabili della sua morte). Però più passa il tempo e più sembrano scordarsi che lì dentro ci sia in realtà Gregor, e non riescono a voltare pagina veramente finché non muore, liberandoli finalmente dall'incombenza di doversene occupare e permettendogli finalmente di affrontare (e superare) il lutto.
Le lacrime di tutti e 3 arrivano difatti solo dopo la sua morte, come se il suo essere in vita non gli consentisse di realizzare che il vecchio Gregor non ci fosse più.
Io per via del comportamento della famiglia ho letto nel racconto un'analogia con una malattia o con la vittima di un incidente.
È così breve che non mi è pesato troppo leggerlo (in audiolibro), ma se fosse stato più lungo non so come avrei affrontato la lettura. Bene che l'ho letto, ma anche non leggendolo non sento che mi sarei persa nulla. È un meh.

Je n’ai pu m’empêcher d’emprunter ce livre en le voyant à la bibliothèque municipale : œuvre au programme du CAPES et de l’agrégation d’allemand en 2023 et étant moi même germaniste et professeure d’allemand, la tentation fut très forte pour l’amatrice de BDs que je suis !
J’ai beaucoup aimé cette BD - il ne s’agit pas uniquement d’une adaptation de La Métamorphose, il y a plusieurs autres histoires à la suite.
Les dessins, en noir et blanc, sombres, vont bien avec l’ensemble des récits inquiétants qu’ils illustrent.
L’histoire de la métamorphose est la suivante : Gregor Samsa, qui travaille pour rembourser les dettes de ses parents, subsiste aux besoins de ces derniers et de sa petite sœur, Grete. Le jour où il se réveille dans la peau d’un insecte, sa famille le condamne à être enfermé dans sa chambre et n’entretient plus aucune relation avec lui : il les dégoûte. Ils en viennent même à engager une femme de ménage. De plus, leur problème principal est qu’ils se doivent de trouver un moyen de subvenir eux-mêmes à leurs besoins donc ils se mettent tous trois à travailler (pour remplacer le seul salaire de Gregor) ; ils prennent également trois sous-locataires…
Je recommande.

The Metamorphosis is the story of the young travelling salesman Gregor Samsa, who wakes up one morning to discover he has turned into a giant beetle. Gregor’s family is disgusted by this event, and he quickly becomes shut off from his family, his former life, and the world. The Metamorphosis is the story of Gregor adjusting to this change in his life and how his state affects his family and the way they live their lives.

The illustrations were absolutely gorgeous. Everything about this book was perfectly planning out and executed. I really felt like the author was committed to making this a true work of art, and I think he did a wonderful job. Even the copyright page had me wanting to spend time reading it. This is only 80 pages long and only took me about 25 minutes to read front to back, taking my time to really look at all the illustrations, but after that I kept flicking back through, spending minutes at a time looking at my favourite drawings, finding all the little perfect details and just marvelling at how the concepts were balanced and presented so well. The style varies between typical cell presentation and these larger, fanciful illustrations which are used for the really important events, and in Gregor’s imagination sequence. The illustrations almost look like they were etched into the page, and have this fitting air of darkness and permanence to them. The use of typography was also really well done; there was this one occasion where you literally had to turn the page around 360 degrees to read the text, and it made the whole experience feel really immersive.

As far as this working as an adaption of Kafka, I’m really not sure. I’ve never read any Kafka before; I’ve really wanted to read The Metamorphosis for ages, so I thought that this might be a good way to ease me into it. I’m not sure how correct I was on that front, in the end. I mean, I now have a good idea of the story, but its obviously not really comparable to reading it in the full text. I definitely felt like I ‘missed’ the point of the story, in a way? And I know it’s this really complex story that’s been written about literally hundreds and thousands of times and interpreted differently by loads of different people, but I found myself closing the book and sort of saying ‘soooo… what was the message there?’ I really felt like I missed the core of the story by not reading about it first. For that reason I think that this is probably more suited to people who have already read The Metamorphosis, and just want to explore the text in a different way.

If nothing else, this is a stunningly beautiful book and an interesting way to approach a classic work of literature. I’m so glad I purchased this, and this it’s a great addition to any collectors library.

Wasn't particularly blown away by Peter Kuper's adaptation of Kafka's The Metamorphasis. A lot of the prose is kept intact with Kafka's spare style prevalent throughout, but there isn't all that much cohesion between the prose and the artwork. I'm usually a fan of Kuper's minimalist style, but wasn't really all that taken with his artwork here. Perhaps it was missing the muted color palette that makes his work look unique in other comics. I'd just recommend reading the original instead of this adaptation to be honest.

Hace tiempo había leído La metamorfosis de Kafka en versión normal, así que para su relectura elegí esta ilustrada. La historia creo que ya es un clásico y la conoce todo el mundo, incluso quien no la haya leído sabe que va de un pobre hombre (Gregorio), que un día se despierta convertido en bicho y es repudiado por toda su familia.

Me gustó esta versión porque mediante las ilustraciones puedes darte cuenta de la crudeza de la situación del protagonista. No es una historia precisamente alegre, y es de esas a las que cada uno le puede encontrar un significado distinto.

Yo por mi parte la interpreto como la caída en desgracia de Gregorio, donde por más que haga no es valorado por su familia, es así como va en decadencia hasta sentirse como un bicho inmundo sin valor, rechazado y abandonado.

Sin duda es una obra que hay que leer una vez en la vida, merece muchísimo la pena, es corta y no se hace para nada densa. Si os animáis también os recomiendo esta versión ilustrada.

Seven out of ten. eBook.

A man awakes one morning to find that overnight he has transformed into a bug. Far from being suprised, himself and his family take it very much in their stride - not able to face him only because he represents what is clearly to be their demise (he is the only family member who provides income). He becomes progressively more bug-like as the story continues and the family lose the desire to care for him.

ჩვარივით...

For anyone wanting to read some Kafka-lite.

Metamorphosis is a novella by Franz Kafka, published in 1915. The protagonist, Gregor Samsa, awakens in his bed to find himself transformed into a huge insect. He spends the rest of the tale in his house with his still-human family. Several sources mention that Kafka, in a 1915 letter to his publisher, stated that no drawings of the insect should be published. But that genie has been out of the bottle for decades: Visual depictions of the insect abound in the many books, films, comics, and video games that recreate, reference, or parody the story. From Kafka's opening paragraph, the bug begs visual illustration.

In The Metamorphosis, Peter Kuper adapts Kafka's novella to a different medium -- the graphic novel -- compellingly. Kuper does not recreate Kafka's work verbatim and totally; rather, Kuper illustrates the story's key events with the combination of his drawings, some of Kafka's words, and some of his own words. Those events include scenes that lend themselves well to drawing: Gregor's raging father pelting Gregor with apples, lodging one in the back of Gregor's exoskeleton; Gregor clinging with spindly, fuzzy legs to a painting hanging on a wall and fretting as his mother and sister rearrange his furniture; the crass, freaky-haired charwoman bullying Gregor and calling him an "old dung beetle;" and, his sister's emotional unraveling, increasing tantrums, and decline in tolerance and concern for Gregor. Like Kafka's prose, Kuper's drawings and words in this book are simultaneously vibrant and witty yet fittingly grim, suiting the story's bleak theme. This medium derives from comics, but don't expect loads of laughs from this book. And don't expect Kuper to take reckless liberties: Kuper's adapts Kafka's tale faithfully, and his respect for Kafka's book is evident throughout.

I read this book because I enjoy and admire Kuper's work. I always look forward to his funny, spot-on cartoons on Instagram (@kuperart) and in MAD Magazine (he is the most recent cartoonist for Spy vs. Spy), and I think those forums serve as the best introduction to his work. This book would best serve a reader who is already familiar with his cartoons and is curious to see him explore different territory. I read both books together -- first, Chapter 1 of Kafka's, then Chapter 1 in Kuper's, and so on through both of the brief books -- and had an absorbing experience that left me eager to read Kuper's other graphic novels.

Umm, okay then. I don’t know what to say, I’m baffled and the underlying themes are weak.

La metamorfosis ha sido una novela que me ha impuesto mucho por tratarse de “un clásico”, por lo que cuando vi esta adaptación de la novela, me tiré de cabeza a la piscina. Ha sido tan amena que no me ha resultado algo a lo que temer.

La historia de Gregor Samsa puede ser, aunque surrealista, bastante didáctica. El cómo de un día para otro puedes convertirte en un don nadie y cómo puede afectarte eso en tu día a día es algo que está muy presente.

Un clásico que todo el mundo debería leer