I give this story 3 & a half vomit blobs. (and that's a good thing!)

Foi uma adaptação razoável da novela de Kafka. Utilizar de técnicas do expressionismo alemão em um quadrinho norte-americano foi muito eficiente, porque traduziu muito bem tudo de cômico e de trágico que existe nos textos kafkianos. Mas faltou ousadia para além da junção desses estilos. Em algumas cenas, como quando Gregor Samsa sobe pelo teto e pelas paredes, o quadrinista até aposta em novos formatos de leitura, fazendo o texto subir, descer e se pendurar de ponta-cabeça como ele, mas são estratégias pontuais. Apesar de não ser o original, dessa vez a história de 'A metamorfose' me fez pensar no quanto as impressões que os outros tem de nós afetam nossas percepções de nós mesmos. A partir do momento em que Gregor Samsa fica impossibilitado de trabalhar e oferecer sustento à sua família, ele é visto como empecilho. Ele ainda era capaz de entendê-los, de se expressar, apreciar a beleza das coisas, mas como a família se recusa a manter contato com sua forma monstruosa, ele passa a se questionar se no fundo não são eles que estão certos. Além disso, na espiral de existência baseada na eficiência do mundo kafkiano, Gregor Samsa alguma vez já foi realmente valorizado por quem era e não pelo que tinha a oferecer através do trabalho exaustivo e alienante?

Now I could see it more vividly...

I forgot how I felt when reading the book back then. But maybe it's still the same. Poor Gregor Samsa. He worked only for his family. Their welfare and to pay the debt, no matter how tiring his job was. His father no longer had to work, and his sister lived well. Poor him. For the first time he got money, people appreciated him. But soon after, it became a usual thing, even taken for granted.

So, when Gregor no longer could provide his family, they thought of it as a trouble. His parents and sister had to work, but no one talked about how easy their live was and it was all thanked to Gregor. They were all scared of him, even despise him. And when he finally died (I don't know whether he died because of his mental condition and physical damage or because of the lifespan or both), they rather felt relieved than sad. Maybe the didn't think of him as their family anymore, only a burden?

There's one thing I just noticed here. How his parents described Grete as voluptuous at the end. Could it be that they dreaming about a better live (once again) by making Grete marries a rich man?

This is one of the craziest books I have ever read. It basically talks about a man who walks up to find that he turned into a bug. This book is so short I finished it in one day but its emotional influence will stay with me for years.
I love Franz kafka so much and I think he is a genius with expressing feeling and metaphors . This book shows the cruelty of humans when someone becomes difference and of no use. Once gregor turned in a bug and couldn't work they locked him in his room and were ashamed and disgusted by him. They neglected him .but with every breath he took he wanted to safe his family still. This book will make you think about it for days on end. You feel incredible grieve for the main character . Imo everyone should read this book atleast once

Peter Kuper nos entrega una impresionante adaptación gráfica de La Metamorfosis, la icónica novela de Franz Kafka. Con su característico estilo de ilustración en blanco y negro, Kuper logra capturar la angustia, el absurdo y el aislamiento que definen la obra original.

La historia sigue a Gregor Samsa, un hombre que despierta convertido en un enorme insecto, enfrentando el rechazo de su familia y el colapso de su identidad. Kuper traslada magistralmente la opresión y el sufrimiento de Gregor a través de una estética expresionista, con trazos gruesos, sombras intensas y un dinamismo visual que refuerza la sensación de claustrofobia y desesperanza.

A diferencia de la prosa de Kafka, que transmite la alienación con un tono sobrio e inquietante, la versión de Kuper acentúa la tragedia con un lenguaje visual que potencia el dramatismo de cada escena. La gestualidad exagerada de los personajes y la distorsión de los espacios evocan el absurdo de la situación, logrando que la narrativa fluya con gran impacto emocional.

Esta adaptación no solo respeta la esencia del texto original, sino que lo reinterpreta de manera accesible para nuevas audiencias. Es una obra ideal tanto para los fanáticos de Kafka como para quienes buscan una aproximación distinta a este clásico de la literatura. Un trabajo visualmente poderoso que refuerza el mensaje atemporal de alienación y desesperanza que define La Metamorfosis.

2.5 for the illustrations. We had to read this for my Great Books class and honestly, it's just too dark for me. And bugs. Not my forte. Especially GIANT bugs.

SIX WORD REVIEW: Nice assistant to the original text.

That's not quite the way that I remember the story going, but that's part of what makes this interesting—to see the story through the lens of the artist. Were I to draw it, not only would the drawings suck (I am no visual artist), but I would have a much different take, particularly on the reactions of the family, which I saw as negative but somehow much differently negative than Kuper. OTOH, I get the sense as well that I read way more into Kafka than he does. At the very least, this was an entertaining diversion.

Love the style of the illustrations, beautifully rendered.

Summary

The Metamorphosis is really about a man who wakes up one day to realize that he is a cockroach. His family does not accept him from then on and he is the only one who does the bulk of moneymaking. Yet none of his family members want him and by the end not only do they want him to die but also his dad actually tries to murder him at one point.

Review

I felt like the beginning was nice in how the author shows what it would be like to be a cockroach and he really does a great job of showing the reaction of the main character. Yet I feel that it couldn't be possible for a family to hate their son so much when he changed. I would think that they would accept him no matter what and it was very interesting to see how each of them reacted to his change. The ending is extremely powerful in the way that he dies and his family doesn’t really seem to care about his death. This angered me that he did everything for his family and they really did nothing in return. The book was a good one but I feel like it is not my type of book. I would rather read books that are action paced and then I would never get bored.

I loved the art work, it fit the feel of the story well. I would say that the main problem with the graphic novel is that you don't have much context to why Gregor is turned into a bug. If you're interested in this novel and want to understand it better, I would suggest reading the original book first then the graphic novel.

One day, a man wakes up in his bed to find that he is no longer human, and that he is now a bug. The story covers his discoveries about himself, and how he adapts to the change, but mostly, the effect it has on his family and people around him. Arguments are had between them, whether they should be taking care of the bug or not. All the while, the main character in bug form is trying to piece all of this together.

This novel dragged me in just by hearing "Man wakes up and he is a bug". Its a simple plot, but very interesting at the same time. It was interesting to see how the main character viewed his life, and the effects that his change was having on his family. The art style was really appealing, using different degrees of separate lines to give the effect of shading and lighting. There were even some instances where the main character would be crawling up a wall, and the words would run up the wall with him, and you would have to turn the book around just to read, was really cool! I would recommend this to anyone who likes Sci-Fi, or anyone who wants a fun/interesting concept with a more serious story.