Sadly inspired by real-life events in the Trump’s USA, I picked this up in our local Oxfam bookshop to really understand the meaning of Kafkaesque.
The style is intense… paragraphs that last for pages, dense text with dialogue and description just flowing on in a stream of conscious style narrative. It has a real dream/nightmare vibe, with surreal situations and philosophical musings intermingled with humour. Descriptions of never-ending, pointless bureaucracy with cruel overtones does sadly mirror numerous recent stories, particularly concerning immigration.
As with many books of the era it has misogynistic undertones; all the female characters are either servants or lovers of the male leads. That nearly every women seems to take an instant sexual attraction to the main protagonist Joseph K adds to that wet dream sensation; even in his darkest moments he is somehow irresistible.
It’s a great book, although as Kafka died before he had completed all the chapters the last third does seem more disjointed than deliberately confused. But in our current times, highly recommended.
