The Trial

Written by Franz Kafka

Narrated by The Synthetic Voice of Charlie

Franz Kafka's The Trial is a haunting and existential novel that delves into the labyrinthine world of bureaucracy, guilt, and existential dread. The story follows Josef K., a young man who is arrested and prosecuted by an enigmatic and inaccessible authority for a crime that is never fully revealed.

As Josef navigates through a surreal and nightmarish legal system, he encounters absurdities and uncertainties that challenge his understanding of truth, justice, and his own identity. Kafka's evocative prose and existential themes explore the profound alienation and powerlessness of the individual in the face of oppressive institutions.

Please note: The audiobook narration was digitally synthesized, and the cover was made in collaboration with AI tools.

• Language: English
• Publisher: RetroSynth Classics
• Release date: Apr 11, 2024
• ISBN: 9781094472515

Franz Kafka

Franz Kafka was a German Bohemian novelist and short story writer, and was widely regarded as one of the major literary figures of the twentieth century.

Reviews for The Trial

[Cilica · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Repetitive, boring to where I do not have an interest in why, how come, motives, etc. It's like listening to someone's inner monologue that suddenly everyone around is privy to.

[nikaketchumlee · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Won't listen to anything synthetic. I want a real person

[jwhenderson_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

It is hard to believe that Kafka's eerie novel "The Trial" was not written with the use of psychedelic drugs. Without giving anything away, the summary is that a mid-level banker is abruptly and bizarrely accused of a crime, the specifics of which are never disclosed to him. The majority of the book is told in a dreamlike, surreal tone that resembles a low-intensity nightmare, with him speaking to numerous lawyers and bureaucrats in an attempt to determine what he is being charged with without success. Josef K. is the name of the eternally disoriented protagonist.
It is, therefore, the essence of Kafka.

[skavlanj · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Trial is the second novel I have read concurrently with its Cliffs Notes (Ulysses being the other), and I would recommend this to anyone brave (or foolish) enough to tackle Kafka for pleasure. Knowing that the novel remained unfinished at the time of Kafka's death - nearly a decade after he wrote it - and that his good friend had to guess at not only what to include but also the chapter order explains the fragmentary feeling conveyed by the story of Josef K. Written by a third-person narrator who remains as ignorant as K. of the justice system K. runs afoul of, The Trial is a labyrinth of incomplete, often contradictory information about the crime K. has committed. Even at the end, when K. is put to death, he knows neither the charge against him nor the reason for his conviction and punishment. He is equally ignorant of whether the many characters he interacts with help or hurt his cause; indeed, he cannot be sure what their true intentions were.

The Trial is the epitome of the term Kafkaesque, which Cambridge defines as "extremely unpleasant, frightening, and confusing". I would emphasize the last of these qualities. Even with the Cliffs Notes, I still don't grasp the story except on its opaque surface; the essays make clear that I never will, that there are multiple possible interpretations, none more or less acceptable than the others. Your understanding might be aided by a knowledge of Kafka's personal life and beliefs but will ultimately remain as unclear as Josef K.'s.

[kylecarroll · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

DNF @ 47%. Reminded me very much of Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy...which I also didn't care for.

[fartomic · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The story in itself has a very monotone atmosphere to it, nothing very surprising happens, everything is very down to earth, even things that are absurd you come around to agree that could happen maybe, it is however, very addicting to read, it draws you in with the mystery of why the man is being taken under arrest so suddenly and how does the machinations behind the court of law work, how is it that a man in under arrest can move freely and continue with his life as usual. There is the burden of knowing that the sentence may come to him one minute from now or years from now, it can come soon or maybe it wont come at all, but the anxiety of not knowing how bad it is, when its gonna come and what hes actually being accused of; are the things that keep you questioning. The people in the book are very strange and purposefully make K stay longer than he should, they take too long to say what they want to, too long to do what they have to, and K cant do anything at all except wait, or go away knowing that he could lose precious information that could help his case, that he cant get anywhere else... However it all can be a great loss of time for him as well, he wont know, he never knows, he is the one convicted with most knowledge of his case and yet, he doesnt understand anything at all. The book also feels to the reader like they are losing their time, just like K, the conversations and explanations and situations go on and on, feeling as though they might not end.. but it draws you in much further because of the sense that something might happen.

[jonbrammer-788089 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Trial reminds me more than a little bit of Catch 22 - similar dark humor, similar dissection of the absurdities of an institution (in this case, the justice system). A little more context would have been nice -is Kafka indicting the legal bureaucracy in Prague specifically, or is this a parable with larger scope? The ambiguity is intentional, I think, especially since we never know with what crime K. is accused - is it saying that we are all in peril of our lives because of our unnamed sins? A lot to chew on. Kafka's prose is dry, which might not appeal to everyone.

[benkaboo-51322 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Summary: Thought provoking story of a man struggling against forces he doesn't quite understand.


Things I liked: The initial premise of up with people in your room under arrest is fairly compelling to me that got me interested.

The books enigmatic way of revealing the nature of its environment though chance encounters with ordinary people and the main characters own detailed analysis kept me going.

Things I thought could be improved: The book has an unfinished chapter and other elements seem to be begun, but not finished. An edited copy of this book might be more enjoyable to read.

Highlight: The priest calling out Joseph K. and K having to rapidly decide what he was going to do about it

[brakketh-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Disturbing despite such little information being provided.

[dellawanna · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Possibly one of the most procrastinated reads of my lifetime, staring accusingly from the shelf for years and when I finally had the courage to start it, I couldn’t put it down. I found some familiar favorites in there, like the doorkeeper story, fastidious first person voice and dreamlike world, but as I went on, the proceedings aligned so well with everything I’ve read about late-thirties Germany that the book seemed to foreshadow a bureaucratic apocalypse that Kafka didn’t live to see.

[marquis784-1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

The Trial by Franz Kafka (1925)

I'm having a difficult time with this book. Aside from it being written back in 1925 in German, the author never finished it at that time. Essentially, it is about a man who wakes up to find he is arrested for a crime that is never specified. It almost feels like a dog chasing its tail...I wonder how this trial will proceed with the rantings from this narcissistic protagonist. It is rather amusing how he defends himself against a crime to which he has no knowledge of committing!

Having done some research it seems that this book was finished by someone else hence the lack of continuity or direction in this book.

[064-699196 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Clearly, "The Trial" by Franz Kafka is essential reading for anybody who is serious about literature and understanding modern society. As a bureaucrat myself, I should be offended by the entire premise of the book, but I can appreciate the harm that can be caused to people by the combination of a totalitarian state run by a faceless bureaucracy.

In this particular translation reviewed here, please beware that in the translator's preface to the novel, he gives away the entire (surprise) ending to the story. Being a first-time reader, I was not amused, as he spoiled the sudden, rather abrupt and dramatic ending for me.

No need to go into the plot here, as it is apparently well-known to most people who read. The writing is surprisingly absurd, as he invents surreal events that could not happen in real life. In some ways, he was on the early cutting edge of the Dadaist movement championed by Dali and other artists. Also, although the story itself is genius, the actual writing is often difficult to get through, because it does not flow well. Perhaps it is a function of the translation, but I found the actual language to be less than poetic.

Kafka was one paranoid dude, with a seemingly genuine fear of government which I do not share (I think corporations have much more power over the average person than the government does these days.) Nevertheless, as a Jewish person in Germany in the 1920s, I guess you could say Kafka's paranoia over the government was well-justified, given the terrible events that were to happen shortly. Anybody who can even conceive of the basic story of "The Trial" must have been a very unhappy camper indeed.

[jmcdbooks · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Rated: B
Fanciful farce that foretells the injustices of a totalitarian state and its inevitable tragedy. So well imagined and written from the prospective of a fallible character charged and arrested for never revealed crime.

[scottjpearson · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

European and Western disillusionment with life was at a peak after World War I. The twentieth century was supposed to be humanity’s greatest; instead, it was full of greater ways (think, nerve gas, machine guns, and trench warfare) for humans to destroy themselves. In this context, Kafka wrote this novel, published only after his death. In this story of an everyman, the dilemma of Josef K. (or just K.) raises the question of what we should do in face of life’s seeming meaninglessness.

By forces beyond his control and beyond even his cognition, K. is thrust into a trial. He maintains his innocence of the charges – though those charges seem vague and unspoken – but lacks an adequate defense team of lawyers. He falls in and out of love with several women; even love is fleeting and provides little hope. He is judged by a legal system that he cannot meaningfully interact with.

He has discussions with three mainstays of Western life – the law, the arts, and the church. All of them do not provide adequate explanations for how he ought to live life. The arts, symbolized by a painter, provided the most compelling narrative (one of clairvoyance, or “clear seeing”), but by hiding the paintings, K. even rejects that this gloomy reality should be celebrated.

In a manner reminiscent of original sin, he lives under the cloud of deadly forces that he cannot control. This sentence of an unfair death is one that everyone is born into and cannot escape. Despite protests of innocence, no one is permanently acquitted of their fate. Even the priest’s explanation seems confusing at best. The ending fittingly resolves this tension.

I could not help but feel empathy for Kafka in this novel. I also could not help but picture scores of Europeans killing each other in trenches. An entire generation of young men from all over the continent are suddenly gone. And for what? The status quo ante bellum? This disillusionment was shared all over the arts community and by the populous during this era. A “Lost” Generation, they were nicknamed.

This novel should not be read by those looking for hope because it contains little. Instead, it presents the realities of life squarely. Hope must be brought in by the reader through some external means or else despair will reign triumphant, much as it did after World War I. Nonetheless, the existential story sheds light on the seeming meaninglessness that life offers. Fortunately, the remainder of the twentieth century resulted in human progress. Though still not perfect (as Kafka so vividly reminds us), the human story is not over.

[john257hopper · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was the first Kafka I have ever read. Like most of his works, he never completed this, and it was published only after his early death from tuberculosis in 1924. Although the term "Kafkaesque" is often used simply to describe an impenetrable bureaucracy or maze, this novel has a nightmarish quality about it, with the inexplicable events happening to Josef K after his arrest for a crime that is unknown to both Josef and the reader. He confronts a colourful and strange array of bizarre characters while trying to navigate his way through this moral and judicial maze. The ending of the novel as published is abrupt and violent. There have been many interpretations of this over the years, but overall it is perhaps best to see simply as a piece of (mostly) atmospheric absurdist literature, with humorous undertones, and not try to over-analyse it. The very structure of the text makes it quite hard to read, being divided mostly into very long paragraphs, with dialogue embedded within them, not on separate lines, a characteristic that often puts me off reading a novel, though in this case, it seems appropriate.

[indrit-76 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The following excerpts sum up the book perfectly:

K.: How can I go in to the bank when I'm under arrest?
Supervisor: It's true that you're under arrest, but that shouldn't stop you from carrying out your job. And there shouldn't be anything to stop you from carrying on with your usual life. In that case, it's not too bad, being under arrest, said K. I never meant it should be anything else, said the supervisor. It hardly seems to have been necessary to notify me of the arrest, said K.

K.: "Your question, my Lord, as to whether I am a house painter - in fact even more than that, you did not ask at all but merely imposed on me - is symptomatic of the whole way these proceedings against me are being carried out.

[kwharton-1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I listened to the audio book narrated by someone Degas. I found the whole book extremely annoying. I probably missed lots of deep and meaningful stuff, but I found K annoying and selfish and I didn't like the way nearly all the women were falling over themselves to help him. I found there was a lot of "K thought x. It was of course true that blah, blah, blah. However, K still thought x."

I might have appreciated the book more if I had read it rather than listening to the audio book. However, the library only had the audio book.

[nx74defiant · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Well, I read it. A very strange story. I found it hard to care about K and his problems.

[.monkey.-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

My second Kafka, and I am now pretty sure he is indeed not my cup of tea. I think the ideas in his works are interesting, the surrealism/absurdity is something I enjoy at other times and it does work, but somehow I just find it quite tedious to read in Kafka. The story-lines intrigue me, but getting through them takes effort. I think he's worth reading, but at the same time I hesitate to recommend him.

[natek_23 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

First thing.. this book was unfinished and published after his death, and it reads that way. I can't imagine this is what Kafka would have wanted the world to read. But here we are.

The only thing I would like to add to what has been written already is that our protagonist K's behavior is rarely mentioned. He's an idiot. The system he is in is oppressive and capricious but his own behavior is inexplicable and frustrating.

I can appreciate this book for its historical context in literature but it's not a "good read".

[wellreadcatlady · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Trial is a compelling read, but also frustrating. Questions are never answered and your left scream WHY???? K wakes up to find out he is being arrested, he is never told why, he is free to go about his daily life as long as when he is summoned to the court he comes. He tries to dismiss the trial as nothing more than a shady court system trying to get a bribe out of him. More people learn of his trial and he begins to take it more serious. K explores options and meets other people on trial. The ending will mess you up.

So what is the point of The Trial? There are lots of meanings that can be placed to what is read. Bureaucracy, a variety of metaphors the trial represents, or simply nothing but the text that is provided. Either way its a great short read that is interesting til the end. I didn’t know how I felt at the ending, was just kind of lost for a feeling, but I think that feeling of not know what I am feeling fits well with The Trial.

[jon1lambert · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Read this in one day - which is probably a major insult to Kafka. Is it about the dilemma between domestic life and dedication to writing - what is it about? There are so many possibilities in any world - and in our world of CCTV and algorithms. This was a re-read and I am pretty sure this is another of those books that I thought I had read in full but hadn't.

[jody12-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The question ‘Have you read Kafka?’ can now be answered in the affirmative for our group, much to our relief. No one found Mr K’s story comfortable, and the absurdity of the whole situation confusing and bizarre. This could well have been the author’s intention, and if so, he certainly succeeded!
There were some who found the use of language clever, with economical sentences and a few well conceived lines that went directly to the point. But to truly understand what was happening and why, was a difficult task. The lack of information (both to Mr K and the reader) was a challenge for all of us, and if we thought everything would become clear in the end … well ... think again!
Was Kafka sending a warning of what was to come in Germany? The Trial was written in 1914 and published in 1925, so Hitler’s reign was yet to come, but the clear government control and insane bureaucracy seems too prophetic to be a coincidence. There are moments when you are not even sure Mr K is sane, or even if he is caught in a nightmarish dream.
Our curiosity led to some interesting research on Kafka himself and one brave soul even dove into a second Kafka story, America, simply to see if there was another side to his peculiar style. Apparently not.
The Trial has been listed under a number of genres, including philosophical fiction, Dystopian, Absurdist or even Paranoid fiction. After our discussion, we could safely say any or all would fit, and the most intriguing part of reading Kafka is … why?

[juva_3 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This novel follows the author as he is accused of a never-named crime. He is put under arrest, but allowed to continue with his life as he goes through endless hearings and trial proceedings. He gets a lawyer, who is always busy with paperwork but never seems to accomplish anything. As he enters this hidden world of accused persons, he comes to realize that most never received a conclusion. Some try to delay indefinitely while other's seek a temporary pardon only to be immediately rearrested. It seems he is just a helpless cog in a nonsensical machine which constantly grinds away to no clear end. A sometimes disturbing, sometimes amusing, dreamlike novel of helplessness and futility.

[mhanlon_19 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Look, it's a classic. It's not the most scintillating read, and I think I would have enjoyed it more had I read it when I was a 20 year old English major. But it's fine, and it paved the way for a whole host of really great slightly surreal, absurd stories that deliver a bleak message in a readable package.

[pilgrimjess · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

“The right understanding of any matter and a misunderstanding of the same matter do not wholly exclude each other.”

The novel opens with Josef K.'s sudden arrest in his room at his lodging house on the morning of his birthday. Two guards inform him that he is under arrest, but they don't tell him on what charges, nor do they know what the charges are. K. is then taken next door where he is subjected to an equally puzzling and brief interrogation by the inspector. The inspector informs K. that he is under arrest, but is free to go to work at his bank and otherwise live life as usual. The book carries on to cover the following year as K. struggles against an unseen and seemingly all powerful legal system.

The book was not published until after Kafka's death in 1924,despite being written over a decade earlier. Therefore published before the outbreak of Nazism in Germany and the rise to power of Josef Stalin in Russia. Many readers thus see this novel as a critique on totalitarianism and personally I find it hard to disagree with them. The image of all encompassing power seems to be the central theme as does the relationship between justice and the law. K. never discovers what he has been charged with and no one seems either able or willing to discuss his case directly with him. Much of the legal machinations seem to be based on crony-ism. Isolation of the individual is also a major theme. K. feels alienation against an indifferent society. This impression is not helped when a priest that K. meets appears in league with the legal system.

Yet strangely despite this isolation sex also seems to be a fairly important component of this novel. Once K. is arrested he appears suddenly attractive to members of the opposite sex.

Personally, although I found this a thought provoking read I found it hard going and did not particularly enjoy the author's writing style. Paragraphs that go on for several pages were just too much like hard work but there was just enough interest to keep me going.

[wcarter_66 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Densely dark, and difficult to read because of extraordinarily long paragraphs, but it gets you in, and makes you read to the end. Morbidly funereal plot, and should not be read by anyone who thinks "they are out to get me".

[nsenger-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The Trial by Franz Kafka is one of the masterpieces of existential literature. Or so it is said. Since I'm not up to date on my existential philosophy, the book was largely wasted on me. It's always a challenge to read books that come at life from a different world view than one's own, but to give them a fair chance requires wrestling with their philosophical underpinnings. I'm not at a point in my reading life or my intellectual life where I'm interested in exploring the existential experiences described by Franz Kafka in The Trial.

Kafka certainly knows how to create atmosphere and bring a story to life, but the problems for me were the absurdist plot and the unappealing main character, Josef K. While I admire Kafka's craft as a writer, and acknowledge The Trial as an important work of literature, it's simply not to my taste at this stage of my life.

[lord_boris-1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

There are some interesting themes and a few isolated gems of dark humour but this was so boring to read. So boring your brain may not allow you to do anything other than skim the text and look anxiously at page numbers. Perhaps this was the whole point. Half way through there is an interminable paragraph about advocates. Camus' The Outsider is a way better read if you want something existential. Much funnier too.

[datrappert · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Unforgettable story of a man who finds himself arrested and on trial for no apparent reason. I found this much more compelling and easy to read than The Castle, which I still haven't managed to finish. There are so many other books which deal with similar subjects either seriously or as pulp fiction, but reading Kafka's story is a unique experience.