From the Bookshelf of The Roundtable…

The Castle

Franz Kafka

Start date: December 2, 2015

Finish date: December 31, 2015

Discussion: Novel: A Biography 2015/2018

Why we're reading this: To celebrate the official conclusion of The Novel project, a few of us will be reading The Castle. Franz …more
[close] To celebrate the official conclusion of The Novel project, a few of us will be reading The Castle. Franz Kafka is covered in the final chapter of the book.

Find A Copy At

Libraries

Group Discussions About This Book

Showing 2 of 70 topics — 4,405 comments total

Novel: A Biography 2015/2018

This topic has been closed to new comments.

* The Novel Revisited 2018 Discussion Links
By Lise · 1 post · 41 views

last updated Jan 22, 2018 09:21PM

The Novel Chapter 30: Portraits and Caricatures of the Artist
By Lauren · 71 posts · 44 views

last updated Jan 24, 2021 10:20PM

showing 10 of 10 topics view all »

What Members Thought

Sep 21, 2010 Zadignose added it · review of another edition

Shelves: stuff-to-share, 20th-century

Upon rereading this after maybe one or two decades:

K. is a hero, and we must love him. Sure, at times he is a base, contemptible blunderer, but his audacity and lack of prospects make him infinitely admirable.

It only causes me a little despair and anguish to realize that not all people agree with my assessment of this brilliant book.

---------------
The remainder of this review will be an oddly compiled salad of excerpts from my comments on this book in a recent discussion. They have been cut, pas ...more

22 likes · Like · see review

Dec 16, 2015 Wendy rated it liked it

Shelves: blooms-western-canon, classics, 1001-books, in-translation

Reading The Castle is an interesting glimpse into Kafka's writing process. He abandoned it, and I admit that in the second half (where things take a turn for the stream-of-consciousness) it became apparent where he was forcing himself onward on nothing but steam and sheer force of will. (If you've ever taken part in November Novel Writing Month, you may have experienced something similar. I have, and I, too, upon reading my 50K lines on December 1st, promptly trunked it for good. Not all ideas c ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Nov 24, 2015 Gill marked it as unfinished

I really wanted to like this book. I enjoyed and was fascinated by the first chapter, and was interested in the second. By the time I finished chapter 7, I'd had enough. It was not as atmospheric as The Trial, which I read recently. The absurdities reminded me of Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass. I'm feeling that I missed the point of what is a famous book, but it just didn't do it for me. ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Dec 16, 2016 Pamela rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: boxall-1001-read, guardian-1000-read

If Kafka had lived to finish and to edit this book, I may well have given it five stars. The frustrations of K and the absurd situation of his unending quest to get away from the village and have contact with the occupants of the Castle, are engrossing. I enjoyed the bizarre and contradictory behaviour of character such as the assistants, Frieda, the schoolmaster and the landlords. The Castle is always that elusive goal, never clearly defined, and progress towards it is obstructed by villagers a ...more

1 like · Like · see review