The Meowmorphosis

By Franz Kafka and Coleridge Cook

“One morning, as Gregor Samsa was waking up from anxious dreams, he discovered that he had been changed into an adorable kitten.”

Thus begins The Meowmorphosis—a bold, startling, and fuzzy-wuzzy new edition of Kafka’s classic nightmare tale, from the publishers of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies! Meet Gregor Samsa, a humble young man who works as a fabric salesman to support his parents and sister. His life goes strangely awry when he wakes up late for work and discovers that, inexplicably, he is now a man-sized baby kitten. His family freaks out: Yes, their son is OMG so cute, but what good is cute when there are bills to pay? And how can Gregor be so selfish as to devote all his attention to a scrap of ribbon? As his new feline identity threatens to eat away at his personality, Gregor desperately tries to survive this bizarre, bewhiskered ordeal by accomplishing the one thing he never could as a man: He must flee his parents’ house.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: May 10, 2011
• ISBN: 9781594745126

Franz Kafka

Franz Kafka (1883-1924) was a primarily German-speaking Bohemian author, known for his impressive fusion of realism and fantasy in his work. Despite his commendable writing abilities, Kafka worked as a lawyer for most of his life and wrote in his free time. Though most of Kafka’s literary acclaim was gained postmortem, he earned a respected legacy and now is regarded as a major literary figure of the 20th century.

Reviews for The Meowmorphosis

[lisa.isselee · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I'm not entirely convinced if this was a success ...

The beginning of the book started of really intriguing and funny. Much in the same way as the original work ( maybe that's the reason it was good ?)
But the further along I got in the book ( and the further it strayed from the original plot) the less interested I was. It felt long and boring and a bit thin.
The Images in the novel oh man ! I'm fond of surrealistic collages and the ones in this book hit the mark ! They definitely show the weird dark vibe that the book is trying to bring across.

[sarahzilkastarke · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Not nearly as good as the other quirk classics. Maybe because Kafka was so weird to begin with.

[ijustgetbored · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Meowmorphosis is the latest from Quirk's hugely successful line of mash-ups of classics, this one penned by a fantasy writer writing under a pseudonym. This one is a gutsier step than some of the previous mash-ups: no staid Austen here. This time, we're doing the Kafkaesque as Kittenesque, which is a whole new liteary territory (modernism) taken to a whole new level of surreal.What works well is that, for the most part, Cook doesn't just try to swap out "kitten" for "bug." The Metamorphosis plot trajectory is there, but there's not a one-to-one identification, which would have been simplistic and would have left out a lot of good jokes (such as Gregor's sister's overwhelming adoration for her cuddly kitten brother). The book fortunately didn't go for the LOLcat humor, as I feared it might, which would date an otherwise "classic" mashup. It takes advantage of Kafka's gloomy modernist glumness and sense of the absurd and makes us see them through the eyes of a tortured kitten's soul, and the results are hilarious.There's a departure in the middle of the book that lampoons The Trial. For readers who are familiar only with The Metamorphisis, this is going to be confusing and potentially boring. I wouldn't edit it out because it adds absurdist meat to the text and builds up Gregor's character and his torments, but readers who are only casually interested in Kafka may want to be advised.The biographical note on Kafka at the end deserves special note; it's a riot. Satirical and biting, it finds a shocking thread in Kafka's life (cats!) and lampoons modernism at large. Don't skim over it-- it's a nice little treat waiting at the end of this novel.Quirk does it again.

[lordkinbote · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A quick, cute, fun, little giggle. Very fun take on Kafka (which let's face it, is no mean feat!) I especially like the section at the end about Kafka's "real" life and his strange magnetism to cats.

[emidawg_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Despite the substitution of a cute and cuddly kitten for a cockroach, the Meowmorphosis still has the basic theme of the original story. Having read the story before in high school english, I was unfamiliar with the trial by the court of cats, which I am assuming is added material, perhaps from another Kafka work. The kitten doesnt make the story any less depressing. I always felt bad for Gregor since he had been providing for his family, yet in the end they were so ungreatful to him!I have never had an easy time reading Russian authors, the flow of the writing or perhaps the verbosity makes it difficult. I have never mangaged to put my finger on what makes Russian literature so hard for me to understand. Ahh well, on to the next book!

[vivalaerin · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

considering I don't particularly like the original Metemorphosis, I just expected this to be silly parody of that story. Which it was, but it is still nothing spectacular.

[csp17 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I am not sure exactly why I picked this book as one I would want to review...I was not really a fan of the original Metamorphosis, but maybe I thought it would somehow be cute because it involved kittens instead of a bug? It may also be that since I had enjoyed Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, I just figured I would enjoy this one as well? I have tried to finish reading it since I received it, but am finding it difficult to stick with the book, and find myself turning to other books rather than finishing this one...I think it is a strange blending and find that I just do not enjoy it. I had hoped for cute and maybe funny but in my opinion, I'm afraid it's neither.

[mccin68 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I have not read Kafka, I could never get myself into the "right" frame of mind so I thought this would be a fun introduction. I have stopped and started on numerous occasions and finally have given up on finishing. The story for me was boring and the character Gregor was difficult to care about even a cute kitten. the best of the Quirks was Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, action packed and silly.

[megadallion · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I really enjoyed the Pride & Prejudice & Zombies trilogy from Quirk Classics, so I was super excited that I won this one. I had never read Kafka before but I had been meaning to, so this was the perfect kick in the butt to finally get to it. I read "The Metamorphosis" right before reading this one, so it was pretty repetitive at the beginning. Essentially, Coleridge Cook replaces the word "insect" with "kitten" and leaves the rest of the story the same (except for some descriptions of how cute and cuddly Gregor has become) until about the middle of the book, when he escapes from the apartment and has an adventure with some other cats in an alley. After reading some other reviews and looking around online, I found out that this middle section is a retelling or twist on Kafka's other short story "The Trial" (which I have not read yet). I really didn't like this part. Josef K (the leader of the businessmen-turned-alley-cats) goes on and on with rambling, pointless, nonsensical speeches that last up to six freaking pages. I almost gave up on the book around that point, but since I had had such high hopes for it I pushed on and finished it. I had several problems with this retelling of "The Metamorphosis." (1) Why does Cook glorify cats so much in this version? Kafka never glamorized insects (in fact he rarely even mentioned the fact that Gregor was a bug, except when it posed problems and Gregor was forced to look at himself and figure out how to move in his new state). The whole cat society thing just seemed like a monumental waste of time and space, a filler to flesh out Kafka's original novella so that Cook could market this as a novel. (2) Cook somehow manages to butcher Kafka's story and make it boring and meaningless. The words are minced and made fluffy to accommodate kittendom and the problems it poses but Cook seems to get lost in the hierarchy of the crazy cat society and the pointlessness of their trial. I think Cook tried to put too much Kafka and kitten history into one story and ended up with a hot mess. Whereas the P&P&Z trilogy added fun, wit, and adventure to the Austen original, this version just falls flat.Gregor Samsa does indeed make for a precious, cuddly kitten, but this novel failed miserably to entertain me or do the original any justice at all. My recommendation is to just read the original and stay away from this one. (2 stars because it includes cute pictures of kittens in human clothes)

[joybee_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A remake of the classic The Metamorphosis, instead of waking as a vermin, Gregor Samsa finds himself transformed into a cute kitten. The book follows the same path as the original, with kittenish behavior instead of bug-like behavior. There were some cute cat-like thoughts that were enjoyable, but the story veers from the original slightly when Gregor escapes the apartment and meets other cats, I liked this at first, but it dragged on and seemed as if it was only added to try and explain the story. That I did not like, the whole point of reading is to make it personal to you, you can read as much or little into the story as you wish, but I skipped much of this off shoot until Gregor returned to the apartment and the story continued as before. While I am not a big fan of stories like The Metamorphosis, I can understand why it is a classic... it makes you think, The Meowmorphosis did not disappoint. I loved the strange biography of the author, and the discussion questions at the end. I probably will not read this book again, but I am glad I read it.

[allizabeth · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Same as with Android Karenina, this book mash-up was a let down. I expected so much more from a novel with so much potential, but it just felt lacking and left me pushing myself to finish it. The story-line didn't even remind me of Kafka's original masterpiece. Not impressed with this new-age twist.

[ginerbia · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I read other Quirk Classics and was thrilled with them so was excited to get my hands on this one as well. I was hoping the original material would be made better with the mash-up like other Quirk classics but in this case, I can't say that it was. The original was so dark and bizarre in it's own right - I actually enjoyed "The Metamorphosis" - but, in my opinion, the changing of the insect-like creature into a cat really didn't work all that well. I guess adding lightness and humor to a dark book doesn't have the same effect as adding darkness and despair to a light book does.

[nanajlove_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I was excited to win this book, having a deep affection for cats, as well as enjoying the 'resurrection' of classics into modern soft-horror fiction, i.e., Pride, Prejudice, and Zombies. However, with Meowmorphosis, I found myself laboring to continue, and eventually gave up and moved on. I just could not get into the story. Rather than adding an unique element to the story line of a classic, placing established characters into unique situations as a result, Meowmorphosis simply could not sustain an engaging story line.

[sunnysd_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Coleridge gets kudos for chutzpa, the cover and blurb that actually had me hooked enough to pick it up.Having never endured the original, I can honestly say that the adaptation was at once cuter and more fluffy, and still just as horribly deep and depressing as I expected. I admit, I skipped ahead to assure myself that yes, indeed, Gregor met the fate I expected. Despite the advance knowledge, I found myself caught up in the flowing prose as the tale unfolded - although I was ultimately left with absolutely no desire to ever re-read it. Bizarre and outrageous as the original must be, the sheer, unbearably adorable ridiculousness of Gregor's feline predicament lends a macabre sense of the absurd to what otherwise must be a supremely bleak and horrid classic. (Gregor certainly meets a predictably pathetic end, although arguably I expect his sister's to get what's coming to her, as well.)And of course, the afterword in which the reader is invited to picture Kafka running a Eastern Block version of the Fight Club? Priceless.

[esquiress · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Hmm... what to say about The Meowmorphosis? I own two other Quirk Classics - Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and Android Karenina - but haven't had the chance to read them yet. However, since I was asked to provide a review of this book in exchange for a free advance copy, I felt required to buckle down and read it from start to finish.Well, I use "start to finish" loosely here, because there were some parts that I just couldn't struggle through; I skipped several pages when the narration waxed too long-winded for me. That is not to say that I didn't enjoy some portions of the book, because I definitely did. However, there were portions (perhaps they were part of Kafka's original, or the author was attempting to emulate his style with great success) that I just couldn't get through because I couldn't connect with what George Samsa was thinking or what Joseph K was saying.My favorite portions of the book included the jabs at Kafka himself, such as the time when Joseph K says that he is telling a story in the classic German literary tradition and asks if George noticed the parallels between the story being told and some remote aspect of the Bohemian movement. I chuckled at those parts and at several other spots where the book did not take itself too seriously. However, in the parts that did appear to be taken a bit too seriously, I became bored. Perhaps it's because my first introduction to Kafka was in high school when I was forced to read The Trial with less guidance than I needed at the time (which, by the way, did afford me the ability to smirk and even chuckle at the trial homage), but I just couldn't get into the thick of some of the narration.I know enough about The Metamorphosis to have gotten the cockroach jokes and such, but I don't feel like rushing out and tackling Kafka's original now. I think it's kind of like when I finished Anna Karenina last summer and then couldn't stomach "reading it again" through the Quirk Classic. I know enough about The Metamorphosis (even moreso than I did before) that I feel that I can function fully and intelligently without having to read the original.Though I did have some laughs while reading, my general reaction to this book was lukewarm; reading it felt more like a chore than I would like for my summer reading, and I was actually put to sleep a few times during my attempts to finish the book. Oh well. It wasn't a wholly bad experience, just one that was less-than-stellar for me.ETA: I had not read the "Discussion Questions" before writing this review. I must say that I enjoyed them immensely - in fact, more than many portions of the book itself.

[audramelissa_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I love Kafka and that may be why at times I struggled to finish this book. However, there were a number of enjoyable bits and I would still recommend it to those who have enjoyed other lit mashups. The pictures and discussion questions were probably what I liked most.

[mrsmich02 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Thank you to Quirk Books for providing me with a copy of this book. I was dismayed, at first, to find it such a thin book...and then I started to read. The main character, Gregor Samsa, wakes up to find he's been transformed into a kitten. He's confused and honestly so was I pretty much the entire way through the story. From what I could gather, Gregor finds his life so frustratingly confining he transforms into a cat which to him embodies freedom. I felt conflicted by all the characters. Half the time I felt pity or empathy for Gregor, the other half I just wanted to scream "snap out of it". His parents are just dysfunctional from start to finish. At times, his sister Grete is loving and other times just plain mean. I'd want to run away from them and his work responsibilities as well. Gregor is just so wishy-washy. Decide already! Do you want to take advantage of this magical freedom you've been gifted with or do you return to the environment that was suppressing and depressing you in the first place? I still don't know what to make of the ending. One way or another, at least Gregor will finally be free.

[pensivecat · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I read this book in one day. Of course, Kafka's Metamorphosis was not exactly novel-sized, so I don't feel like I rushed through it. It's my first of the 'Quirk' Classics - I wasn't going to touch the Pride and Prejudice butcherings, but I figured since the only Kafka I'd ever read -The Trial- was not a favorite of mine I wouldn't mind a bit of quirk thrown in. But I was confused, because I didn't quite get how big he was supposed to be. Then I had to go back to the original, because I wondered why Kafka would have stuck The Trial into this story. Actually, the was Coleridge Cook's doing. Guilty! As a fan of LOLcats, this wuz grate! As a classics reader, it was okay. As not such a Kafka fan...whatever.I want to frame the picture of the Gregor Samsa getting a bath. I'm a little scared of framing pictures now, though - look where it got Samsa!

[commodoremarie · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Too much mash up, not enough substance. Sort of? I think this is one of the better literary modifications lately, and with it's relatively short length, more approachable. The author is clearly familiar with Kafka, and perhaps more importantly, respects him as an author. But there's not enough to justify the adaptations. The novel starts off strong, presenting an interesting twist when Samsa, rather than being transformed into a horrifying bug, becomes a small, fluffy kitten. However, the addition of "The Trial" is confusing, unnecessary, and off-purpose. Samsa's journeys are prolonged and muddled, with varying descriptions of his cattish size and surroundings. He remains unlikeable - despite being a kitten, something more understandable when he's a bug - and his own attitude is no different from his original's. And for that reason, the book just staggers until it finally dies, much like our protagonist. Honestly, if you want all the gloom and despair inherent in Kafka, and if you want kittens go look up pictures on the internet. I fear that while well done, this mash-up brought very little to the table - nothing quirky, nothing terribly clever. If you haven't read the original works, this will make absolutely no sense, and perhaps even leave you a bit bitter.

[hippielunatic · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

So, niche, yes. An interesting turn on Kafka's original tale of man turned bug, but not as great as i might have been hoping. When taking a classic and making it quirky, I had hoped that more might have been added to the original, giving it a life of its own. Here, however, I will be honest, in saying that I was left a bit cold.I enjoyed it at times, but there was not enough meat to this retelling to make me feel like it was a fully valuable use of my time. I am all for classics, and I am all for twists. Though, pairing them in this mash-up left me hungry for a bit more.

[jlparent · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Newest from Quirk Classics (Pride, Prejudice & Zombies, etc) - Kafka's Metamorphosis is altered into a feline soul-search. The book is more overtly humorous in the beginning, as Gregor finds himself newly kitten-ized, but then mostly remains - to me - rather whiny and overblown and excessively long. Also, I was not familiar with 'The Trial' but it's is also mashed up within this story and I felt it added more heaviness to an already weighty story. I think I enjoyed the special notes on Kaka's life most of all (found after the ending) - they were beyond sharp and biting and the link to cats made me laugh. However, the reader discussion points were weak and unfunny. To me, overall - the final word for the entire book = uneven.

[punkeymonkey529 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I won this from the early reviewers program.I haven't read the original novel first,but this sounded so good I had to read it. At times the book seemed to read a little slow, but I stuck with it to the end. I was as the publishers name goes [Quirk]y but it was very enjoyable. Who really would turn down a book with adorable kittens in it?

[crybel · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

If you like kitties and philosophical discussion then "The Meowmorphosis" is your book. This mash-up has got to be one of the boldest that Quirk Classics pulled off (and that is saying something when they have already added zombies and sea-creatures to the Jane Austen prim and proper universe). You have to read this if you are either a fan of Franz Kafka "Metamorphosis" and or you are a fan of Quirk Classics.

[lizzybeans11 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book was surprisingly entertaining. I hadn't read Kafka's Metamorphosis but I knew the general premise. Once I got into The Meowmorphosis I became obsessed with comparing it to the original so I sought it out and skimmed for a comparison.Quirk Classics has added a rather large section in the middle which was interesting at first, but really weird. When the story steered back to the original plot it was a little clunky. The illustrations were horribly awesome.Ultimately I enjoyed this book because I find kittehs are more palatable than bugs, but of course the ending was still gross.

[doskoipanda · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Unlike their earlier offerings, Quirk's latest tackles a novella which already included an element of horror - the salesman, Gregor Samsa awakening to find himself an insect - with the intention turning the tables by replacing insect with kitten. While this starts well, it just doesn't carry through as easily as the notion of zombies roaming the 18th century English countryside, and it feels more like an attack on Kafka's work than an imaginative retelling. Cook also breaks from the orginal novella by including at least one other work - "The Trial" - which serves to further berate and belittle Gregor Samsa the kitten.I tried to like this, and actually was looking forward to reading it after having flipped through and seeing the illustrations (which are funny. Or at least fun). Sadly, between the feeling of Kafka bashing, the peculiarities of dropping in "kitten" for "insect", and the general lack of mirth to be found in the orginal text (that's all Kafka's doing. I agree with Cook; he was a joyless man and that comes across in his writings), this was nowhere near as enjoyable as the Austen mashups.Sent to me by the publisher, as part of the LibraryThing Early Reviewers

[slysionnach_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

"Be grateful, I say. I once knew a man who woke up a cockroach." - Franz the Policecat.I have a soft spot for Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis. I have a strong feeling that it has less to do with my love of depressing literature (of which I have none) and more to do with the fact that it was the first book that I got on that level deeper than, "Wow, this guy turned into a bug!"In this mashup, Gregor has turned into an adorable - but humongous - kitten. His sister coddles him, his mother is scared of him, and his father hates him. I'm not sure who can hate an adorable kitten but there it is. It follows the trials of Gregor Samsa as he tries to figure out how to adjust to being a kitten and all the new sensations. Not being a kitten myself, I can only speculate that Cook figured it out. The kitten in my house agrees.Funnily enough, this book actually takes symbolism and insults it. Literally. Josef K goes on and on about it in chapter three (or four). But it's not a bad book. It deviates from the original, as it most certainly must, in long rambles of why Gregor is a cat. And why he is convicted of being a bad one. And why that doesn't mean much in the cat world. In a few places, the book earned a few chuckles because there are obvious references to both the original novel, other novels by him and Kafka himself.But be warned - just because there is now a cuddly giant kitten, this book is not happy. Nothing Kafka writes can really be said to be "happy." And, I think that since Samsa was a kitten this time instead of a bug, it made the family's treatment of him all the more poignant. As a lover of the original work, I will put this book on my shelf beneath it (because there is no room beside it) and point to it as, "And that's the cutsey cat version."

[elvisettey · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Meowmorphosis is the latest from Quirk's hugely successful line of mash-ups of classics, this one penned by a fantasy writer writing under a pseudonym. This one is a gutsier step than some of the previous mash-ups: no staid Austen here. This time, we're doing the Kafkaesque as Kittenesque, which is a whole new liteary territory (modernism) taken to a whole new level of surreal.What works well is that, for the most part, Cook doesn't just try to swap out "kitten" for "bug." The Metamorphosis plot trajectory is there, but there's not a one-to-one identification, which would have been simplistic and would have left out a lot of good jokes (such as Gregor's sister's overwhelming adoration for her cuddly kitten brother). The book fortunately didn't go for the LOLcat humor, as I feared it might, which would date an otherwise "classic" mashup. It takes advantage of Kafka's gloomy modernist glumness and sense of the absurd and makes us see them through the eyes of a tortured kitten's soul, and the results are hilarious.There's a departure in the middle of the book that lampoons The Trial. For readers who are familiar only with The Metamorphisis, this is going to be confusing and potentially boring. I wouldn't edit it out because it adds absurdist meat to the text and builds up Gregor's character and his torments, but readers who are only casually interested in Kafka may want to be advised.The biographical note on Kafka at the end deserves special note; it's a riot. Satirical and biting, it finds a shocking thread in Kafka's life (cats!) and lampoons modernism at large. Don't skim over it-- it's a nice little treat waiting at the end of this novel.Quirk does it again.

[bookaddictdiary · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

When Quirk Classics revealed that their latest mash-up was going to be based on Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis, I wasn't really sure what to think. After tackling Jane Austen's popular classics and the fairly well-known Anna Karenina, I thought this was a very strange choice for a mash-up. Kafka and The Metamorphosis don't seem to be as well known, so it makes me wonder why Quirk chose this novel as the next in their classics series -not only that, but cats? Either it was a gutsy decision or a stupid one.In Quirk's feline mash-up The Meowmorphosis, Gregor wakes up one morning and finds that he has been turned into a cat. Gregor now finds that his world has complete changed, and his family can't accept it -even though, of course, he's incredibly cute as a now human-sized kitten. Gregor must escape from his family's home and make his own away -even as an adorable cat.I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised by The Meowmorphosis. I thought it was would painful and downright terrible. Though it does start out a little slow, once the story gets past the intial set up, and further away from the source materia,l and, ultimately, spiral out of control for Gregor, it only gets better and better. Cook, which is acutally a pen name for a fantasy novelist, does an excellent job of taking the source material and injecting it with plenty of whimsy and action that makes the story go quickly. Cook did a particularly good job of describing Gregor's life as a cat and making it feel authentic -not to mention hilarious to the reader.Though I did have to warm up a little to the idea of using The Metamorphosis as the source material, I quickly grew into this hilarious book -even as someone who prefers dogs over cats. Recommended for fans of the mash-up and the Quirk Classics line.

[devilwrites · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The premise: ganked from BN.com: “One morning, as Gregor Samsa was waking up from anxious dreams, he discovered that he had been changed into an adorable kitten.”Thus begins The Meowmorphosis—a bold, startling, and fuzzy-wuzzy new edition of Franz Kafka’s classic nightmare tale, from the publishers of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies! Meet Gregor Samsa, a humble young man who works as a fabric salesman to support his parents and sister. His life goes strangely awry when he wakes up late for work and finds that, inexplicably, he is now a man-sized baby kitten. His family freaks out: Yes, their son is OMG so cute, but what good is cute when there are bills piling up? And how can he expect them to serve him meals every day? If Gregor is to survive this bizarre, bewhiskered ordeal, he’ll have to achieve what he never could before—escape from his parents’ house. Complete with haunting illustrations and a provocative biographical exposé of Kafka’s own secret feline life, The Meowmorphosis will take you on a journey deep into the tortured soul of the domestic tabby.My Rating: It's a GambleYou will be entertained or you won't, and even if you're entertained, this isn't high literature by any means. I'd recommend it only under two conditions: 1) that you've read The Metamorphosis and have an appreciation for the text and 2) you are utterly amused by the premise of Gregor turning into a kitten instead. If the very first line doesn't make you grin like an idiot, you probably don't need to read this book. It's not something that'll endear you to Kafka either, if you haven't read Kafka before, so I don't recommend sampling the author via this mash-up. I was mostly entertained and it was a relatively quick read (but a tick long, considering), but I'm glad I got this sucker for free (with a free poster!) rather than spent any money on it. OH!!!! But the interior illustrations are vastly amusing. Weird, but cool.Spoilers, yay or nay?: The Meowmorphosis actually is a mash-up between Kafka's TWO classics, The Metamorphosis AND The Trial, all blended with kitten absurdity. I should state plainly: I've read the The Metamorphosis, but NOT The Trial. That said, the following review will do a little comparing to the original, but not much, because it's been YEARS since I've read the original, so don't expect any academic discourse or anything. I'll also say there's really nothing to spoil except how The Metamorphosis ends, so don't read further if you want to remain spoiler-free. The full review is at my blog, which is linked below. As always, comments and discussion are most welcome. REVIEW: Franz Kafka's & Coleridge Cook's THE MEOWMORPHOSISHappy Reading!

[lilacwolf · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

From Lilac Wolf and StuffThis review is very hard for me to write. The cover is cute, and this is another of the Quirk Classic mash-up, and Kafka is a big name. Hey, I like cats, I was looking forward to this one. A way to get my classic lit into my reading diet.I like the cat change...in the original the guy turned into a big cockroach. So what Cook Coleridge did, worked.However, Kafka...what were you writing? I think he is a writer that intellectuals say they love so they don't look stupid. The book didn't make any sense right from the beginning. The character is working for this awful company as a traveling salesman to work off his parents debt. Yet they live in a nice house with a servant girl??? And why would he HAVE to work for the company, just get the job you want and pay it off. Here's a thought, since Mom, Dad, and sis don't work, let them cook and clean. You would pay off that debt even faster!So he wakes up one morning and he's a kitten. More afraid of losing his job than anything else. I'm pretty sure the morphing into a kitten would be my TOP priority. And even with the original cockroach I'm not sure what the point here is. Unless he's saying all salesmen are the most disgusting bugs...I think lawyers and politicians are worse. lolI hate writing a bad review, but I do think I'd give Cook Coleridge another chance on his own work but Kafka...you and I are done. (Ok my husband just told me that it's an Absurdist novel and it's not supposed to make sense so I guess...job well done?)