Kafka, Franz & Coleridge Cook: The Meowmorphosis
The Meowmorphosis (2011)
Written by: Franz Kafka & Coleridge Cook
Genre: Classics/Spoof
Pages: 206 (Trade Paperback)
This book was received for review by the publisher via LibraryThing's Early Reviewers Program
Why I Read It: If you haven't noticed by now, I'll just tell you: I'm not a fan of these classic/monster mash-ups, and I never thought there'd come a day where I was actually interested in one. But when genrereviews first posted the announcement that Quirk Classics would be mashing Franz Kafka's classic tale of The Metamorphosis with kittens, I died laughing. But I realized, too, there's no way I'd spend money on it, so it's a good thing LibraryThing's Early Reviewers Program offered me a chance to read this, because the whole idea of the mash-up amuses me to no end, for two reasons. 1) KITTENS and 2) I've read The Metamorphosis at least twice, possibly three, times. I'm no stranger to the original.
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.
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, but if you're uber-paranoid, then skip to "My Rating." Everyone else, are you ready to see how well kittens fit into Kafka's The Metamorphosis?
I've got to get one very obvious but very interesting thing out of the way. All of the Quirk Classics I've seen have taken normal tales and twisted them into monster stories. I mean, adding zombies to Pride & Prejudice? Sea Monsters to Sense & Sensability? What's next, adding werewolves to Wuthering Heights. Now hey, that could work! Werewolf Heights! Quirk, if you use that idea, I want royalties, damn it! ***
But seriously, my point is made, right? But with The Metamorphosis, we already have a monster tale. It's a surreal piece in which Gregor Samsa wakes up to discover he's a giant cockroach. The tale that follows is dark and depressing, which is to be expected.
So really, making Gregor Samsa into a kitten versus a cockroach really isn't giving us a frightening tale. In fact, the very first line of the story, as quoted in the premise, is frankly hysterical, and I think that's what I wanted most out of this. Since I haven't read a mash-up before, I didn't know what to expect, but what I wanted was to see how Gregor's story changed based on being an adorable kitten versus a cockroach. I wanted to see how he'd still end up miserable, despite not being a monster.
I didn't get what I wanted. Coleridge Cook is pretty well married to the source material, often simply exchanging the buggish words for kittenish ones, and while sometimes that was cute (kittenish antics are always amusing), only once did we see a departure from the text (please note, when I say text, I'm referring to BOTH The Metamorphosis AND The Trial), when Gregor's mother pretty much scoops him up with glee upon seeing him as a kitten for the first time, and from that point on, the tale pretty steadily confines itself to Gregor's spiraling depression over the fact he cannot care for his family, and his family is terrified/hates him.
Seriously, what's so hateful about an adorable kitten?
Yet, as I was perusing reviews for this, I realized that while I do wish Cook had taken this mash-up and made it funnier, I realize that by turning Gregor into a kitten, it makes it far more obvious just how much Gregor's family despised him. They didn't despise him because he suddenly turned into a monster (be it cockroach or oversized kitten), but they despised him before, resented him for being the caretaker while simultaneously taking every dime they could. His transformation throws everything askew: he can no longer provide, and they resent him for it, obviously, but I also think they resent themselves and their own sloth, and therefore turn that resentment and hatred out on Gregor, who's a constant reminder of what ugly people they are.
See, in the original, the ugliness was made manifest in Gregor as a cockroach. Making Gregor a kitten makes just shows us how absurd that ugliness really is. You'd think the family would be grateful, but no. Gregor used to take care of them, but now they have to take care of him.
That's my take. Mind you, I've read the original a few times and who knows what long-forgotten lectures are bubbling in my unconscious brain. But seriously: he's a KITTEN. Unless you're allergic to cats, why would you hate a kitten, even if said kitten used to be your son/brother?
I was really excited by the departure from The Metamorphosis, though, because it wasn't until I finished the book that I learned that the departure was actually mashing up The Trial, and I'll be honest: some reviewers complain that section was boring and dragged on and made no sense, but I was rather fascinated. This is where viewing the thing from the perspective of a cat, which should be alien to human logic, makes a helluva lot of sense. From what I understand, in the original The Trial, the main character is tried and convicted, but he's never told his crime. Here, thanks to Josef K's speechifying, I understood what Gregor was being tried and convicted for, even if Gregor was clueless: he's found guilty of not embracing what it means to be a cat, and therefore, he's not worthy of the body he wears. That's what I got, and it worked for me. Did the section go on a bit long? Sure, but I enjoyed what I got out of it, especially the nods to the original The Metamorphosis:
Be grateful, I say. I once knew a man who woke up a cockroach (page 103).
Awesome!
And while I don't know if dreams and their metaphors are discussed in The Trial, I did enjoy learning what differing feline's anxious dreams were that led them to waking up as kittens. I can't put my finger on why that worked, but it did. Especially the dream of a cockroach who wakes up as a man is despairs over being made a monster. That's just genius, and kudos to whichever author gets that credit.
The Trial portion also made me wonder how much, if any, of it was influenced by Neil Gaiman's Sandman stories and spin-offs. Gaiman's a lover of cats, and there's a particular issue that's told solely from the cat community perspective, and I was reminded heavily of that issue ("A Dream of a Thousand Cats") while reading this section. However intentional or unintentional that was, I was amused.
Still, the absolute hatred for Gregor as a kitten, especially by his father, is just infuriating, especially for someone who loves cats. That's why the book doesn't quite gel the way I wish it would: Cook follows the events of the source materials far too closely, and I wish that it'd been his family's sudden, undying affection for him (they adore him as a kitten, but hated him as a man when he could provide for him), would instead lead to his depression, despair, and eventual death. Maybe these mash-ups aren't supposed to stray THAT much from the source material -- I don't know, since this is my first one, but regardless, that's what I wanted. This book could've been a lot smarter and therefore a lot funnier, but it wasn't. That's not counting some of the visualization problems I had: wondering just how giant a kitten Gregor was, and why, when he was outdoors, people weren't freaked the hell out as the family was indoors.
One thing to note is the Appendix in the back, which gives a farcical account of Franz Kafka's life. I read this assuming most, if not all, was bullshit, but it was still pretty damn funny. Especially the allusion to Fight Club, which had me gleefully delighted, and then this little tidbit:
Again, even the casual reader must be impressed with Kafka's visionary and forward-thinking approach to life, working a dead-end job, talking to a disinterested woman over long-distance communication, and living with his mother (page 200).
HA!
*** = a quick glance at Amazon shows that someone, not Quirk, has capitalized on the idea. But it's self-published, so whatever. It does go to show you, though, that there's such a thing as the creative conscious, and usually, the most immediate idea for something is the most obvious.
My Rating: It's a Gamble: You 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.
Cover Commentary: This cover kind of freaks me out. I wish they'd done a better job making the kitten's head more proportional to the body it's been PhotoShopped on. Maybe the neck needs to be shorter? Oh well, it still makes me smile, while creeping me out.
Next up: Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson