The Trial

Author: Franz Kafka

I learned something about myself reading this book. It hit me while reading that I don’t really enjoy books or movies that are set around trials, legal proceedings, etc. Ironic considering my 6th grade yearbooks cites me wanting to be a lawyer when I grow up.

The book is about a person named K. (that is all we learn of their name) who wakes up one day to two men entering his home and stating that he is under arrest, but he doesn’t know why, and is not told why. The arrest still allows for some freedom, as in he is allowed to stay at home, and can perform his work. However the legal battle becomes more and more all consuming. K. spends a year battling the convoluted and confusing legal system trying to figure out why he is being arrested. It grows increasingly frustrating for K. as he deals with the endless bureaucracy and corruption and he ends up doing things that make him appear guilty to the courts based on how his irritation progresses. The courts ultimately decide that he is guilty (we still don’t know of what). The book ends with two men arriving at his door one morning, taking him outside and killing him.

That’s it. That is the entire book. It’s the parts between the original arrest and the killing that are a bit of a drag. Maybe Kafka just did too good of a job describing the bureaucracy but it was just kind of annoying to read. Probably intentionally so. I have to say though, I can definitely get behind a book advocating for less bureaucracy no matter how poor or well written it is.

Hear me, this book isn’t written bad. It’s just not really my style.

You ever hear people say something is Kafkaesque? Kafka’s writing has such a distinct “brand” that when something is complex or mysterious, or maybe bizarre or illogical, it can be described as Kafkaesque. That is definitely the vibe of this book. The mysterious crime that K. (mysterious in himself as we don’t even know his name) committed is never revealed. The book details the bizarre and illogical court processes and proceedings.

I think I would like a Kafkaesque vibe better in some sort of murder mystery plot as opposed to a legal preceding.

I just don’t have the energy or passion related to the content to write out more of the plot.