Recently I went on a trip to Cape Cod with my family. While there we visited a local book store where I was determined to get something to read (or at least start reading) during the trip. In the literature section I noticed a book called The Trial by Franz Kafka. I had heard of Kafka before and was familiar with his general vibe, but I never read anything of his so decided to buy The Trial and give it a go.

I ended up loving the book and finished it sometime early last week. Since I also recently started this blog I decided writing a review would be a fun way to collect my thoughts on the book and encourage anyone who stumbles on this post to give The Trial a try.

Warning: I will not be avoiding spoilers in this post/review. If The Trial does sound at all interesting I would encourage you to read the first chapter and see how you feel. If you like it then you will probably like the rest of the book as well, if not that’s a good indication the book isn’t for you and I think you can safely put it down.

My Review

The Trial follows a man named Joseph K. (simply referred to by his last initial for most of the book) as he is charged with a crime the nature of which he is never told about, and forced to navigate a strange and complex legal system that exists outside the traditional courts and laws. One of my favorite comments I have read about the book came from Reddit in which a user said something like the following:

I hate this book. I am a lawyer and it deeply bothers me that K. is never told about his crime. Also K. keeps making more problems for himself which I find infuriating.

Even though this Reddit user didn’t like the book I love this comment because I think they totally got the point of the story. A legal system in which we aren’t told the nature of our crimes would be totally unfair and unjust, and the way K. chooses to navigate things (with arrogance and self-importance, rather than deference) almost always ends up making his situation worse.

One thing that made me appreciate The Trial even more was comparing it to my own challenges with obtuse systems and bureaucracies. At one point I was almost kicked out of college because my vaccination records were missing a stamp from my doctor which ended up taking weeks to get. I also lived in Germany for a year and anyone who has moved to Germany recently can tell you their immigration system is overrun and very difficult to navigate (it’s recommended you apply for visa renewals at least 3 months in advanced to get an appointment on time). These situations sometimes made me want to act like K. and lash out against the system, however I always played along and in the end things worked out for the best.

Another important note about The Trial is that the book was never completed. Kafka died before he could finish any of his full-length novels and The Trial (along with other works of his) were posthumously published by his friend Max Brod. I became aware of this fact while reading The Trial, but what caught me off guard is the book does have a definitive, albeit brief, final chapter. However, I found this almost disappointing. If the book had reached an unsatisfactory and inconclusive ending I think that would’ve been a great metaphor for the seemingly unending and indeterminate nature of the legal system K. faces in the story. Instead we do get an ending, but it feels as though we are missing the details of how that ending was reached and to me that felt worse than having no ending at all.

In the end I still greatly enjoyed The Trial, and at its best it lets the reader reflect on the systems we encounter in our own lives and how we choose to deal with them. I have since started reading The Metamorphosis, a novella and perhaps Kafka’s most famous work, and have been greatly enjoying that too. Perhaps I’ll post another review when I finish that book.