Initial Conditions

Unfortunately I decided to name another post I wrote as “the trial” so I kind of burnt some bridges there. But anyway, on the train to Brum I managed to finish Kafka’s most well-known opus (tragically only the first from my list of things to read- it’s taken me three months to read one 200 page book, it doesn’t bode well for the rest).

Anyway here’s a small precis- an ordinary bank worker wakes up one day to find that he is being arrested for an unknown crime and is thrown into a world of paranoia and bureaucracy is about how I can best sum it up.

I have to say I was very disappointed by it, not because it wasn’t a classic, but more because it wasn’t really how I expected it. The problem I had was that there didn’t seem to be enough “action”, and this is none-better realised than when K., the main character, is speaking to a painter who can help him out and (later) a priest, both of whom seemed to talk at length and saying the same things over again without really keeping my interest. But that might be due to my being easily distracted by scenery and “train managers” (why aren’t they called conductors any more?) more than the book itself being uninteresting. It required some serious concentration and memory recall at times, and I guess this is why it’s loved by academics. The fact that some parts were unfinished doesn’t really help.

It has some plus points in that it is funny in an odd sort of way and the books themes are well put forward, and probably would be an entertaining read with some tea and a quiet room. What is most satisfying, however, is the finishing of the first of my pile of books and I look forward to something less cerebral in future.