The Meowmorphosis
By Franz Kafka and Coleridge Cook
How you feel about this Quirk Classics literary mash-up depends on how you feel about a) Franz Kafka and b) kittens. And honestly, I am not so sure that cats and Kafka mix. Kafka excels in his dark reflections on the human condition, and his work is moody and depressing. We cats don’t reflect on much at all, and we are not moody types. The only time we are depressed is when we are not feeling well… and then we get even more depressed because that almost inevitably means a trip to the vet.
In case you don’t know the original, The Metamorphosis is a novella about Gregor Samsa — a traveling salesman and sole support of his parents and sister — who wakes up one morning to discover he has metamorphosed into a bug. In this mash-up, created by Coleridge Cook (a pseudonym for an award-winning fantasy author), Gregor becomes an adorable kitten, not a bug. The biggest issue with The Meowmorphosis is that changing a drab, milquetoast of a man into a cute kitten is a whimsical idea, and gloomy Kafka has not an ounce of whimsy. But instead of changing the story’s tone and plotline to accommodate this, Cook stays close to his source — so close that it seems sometimes as if he is merely replacing insect attributes with feline ones. The only time he really takes a turn into left field is when he tosses a mash-up of Kafka’s The Trial into the middle of the book before bringing Gregor back home to his inevitable end.
If you are a fan of Kafka (and if you are, Bast help you!), you may find this book interesting and maybe even amusing. If you are a cat person, you will be quite bothered that Cook does not seem to truly understand feline behavior and sometimes he makes Gregor seem like some unholy combination of oversized kitten and beetle. A lot more could have been done with this story if Cook had deviated from the original and created something truly satirical, instead of holding on tightly to the gloom and doom of the novella.
But all is not lost! Cook includes an appendix that explores the life of Kafka — and cats. It’s a very funny bit of satire, and hints at what The Meowmorphosis could have been. The “Discussion Questions” at the end are pretty funny too. Plus the illustrations are surreal and more than a little bit haunting. Lastly, we have the book trailer, which is flat-out great. This is one instance where I have to say the movie really is better than the book.
Buy The Meowmorphosis from Barnes & Noble
My review copy of this book was provided by the publisher.
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Kafka ‘s work is moody and depressing and now he wrote the book about cat !
Do you think he has a cat ?
I had heard about this Kafka re-meowk and thought it quite clever!
Tom
Great review Sparkle. Not sure if we want to read this or not. Puddy said it perfectly. Take care and have a great day.
I always look forward to your reviews, Sparkle!
Good review, Sparkle. Think we’ll pass on the book if he doesn’t get the cat stuff right. Have a super day.
pawhugs, Max
I had not heard of that at all, but I’m not too sure that’s a bad thing! Enjoy your Sunday Sparkle!
Da last thing we need is more bad kitty press. I phht at his take on cat life.
Thanks for the review.
You are such a literary genius, Sparkle=we always appreciate your insightful reviews, sweetie…We hope all of you gorgeous girls are enjoying a restful Sunday…Have a fun week ahead, precious friends and we hope you all will be able to stop by for Sukki’s Gotcha Day on Tuesday…smoochies…Calle, Halle, Sukki
The publicist thought about reading this but since she had not read the original she thought she would not “get” the mash up. It appears she made the right decision.
Mommy is just staring the book, it will be interesting to see what she thinks of it, Sparkle. You know, from the human side of things.
Thanks for sparing us.
M says that one sounds like it requires too much brain power to read, so she’s going to skip that one.
The Human first read Metamorphosis about two years ago (it had been a sad deficiency in her literary education). I kid you not: Her reaction to the story was to weep uncontrollably like a little girly-girl. She was so distraught she had to put it down for at least a week before she could bring herself to finish it. So I think this is probably one she is going to skip, MOL!
My human is admittedly not a big Kafka fan. She always wants to poke him and invite him to go play video games.
Oh it looks interesting! If it does not describe feline behavior well, I may be bothered, but I may also have fun pointing out it
Dear Sparkle
Thanks for the review. Me thinks we will skip this one but the trailer was hilarious!
Kisses
Nellie
We knew you’re very well read and talented, but to take on Kafka … we’re impressed.
The Woman says the idea of reading Kafka (even about cats) is enough to make her stomach hurt. Or maybe she is just hungry.
Sparkle my Mom saw this reviewed in the newspaper and the human also gave a warning. She thinks they are trying to cash in on the popularity of cats to get readers for their books. So thanks for getting the word out to cat lovers about this book.
Thanks for the review. Prolly won’t be on our must-read list. Purrs.
Excellent review. I think I’ll look for a different book about cats because I agree that it would be a lot more fun being a cat than a bug.
Thx for coming by for Ms J’s birthday. It’s funny we posted a video a friend of yours was involved with. Your friend must be Rusty Anderson on lead guitar.
Interesting book review. We haven’t read the book where the guy turns into a bug. Much better to become a kitten.
Yep, it’s Rusty Anderson – my human has photos of him from, oh, around 1985!
Thanks for this review, Sparkle. Our human hasn’t heard of these books before, and honestly, she says there are so many books that she wants to read, this one will not be high on her list.
We don’t read but we do like bugs, hahameow!