Cook ColeridgeCritiques

I'm not entirely convinced if this was a success ...

The beginning of the book started of really intriguing and funny. Much in the same way as the original work ( maybe that's the reason it was good ?)
But the further along I got in the book ( and the further it strayed from the original plot) the less interested I was. It felt long and boring and a bit thin.
The Images in the novel oh man ! I'm fond of surrealistic collages and the ones in this book hit the mark ! They definitely show the weird dark vibe that the book is trying to bring across.

This was a short read that had a few humorous and thought provoking moments. However, the promising premise of using a kitten instead of a bug in Kafka’s tale of transformation did not live up to its potential. Ultimately, it added little to the original story.

Not nearly as good as the other quirk classics. Maybe because Kafka was so weird to begin with.

A quick, cute, fun, little giggle. Very fun take on Kafka (which let's face it, is no mean feat!) I especially like the section at the end about Kafka's "real" life and his strange magnetism to cats.

Despite the substitution of a cute and cuddly kitten for a cockroach, the Meowmorphosis still has the basic theme of the original story. Having read the story before in high school english, I was unfamiliar with the trial by the court of cats, which I am assuming is added material, perhaps from another Kafka work. The kitten doesnt make the story any less depressing. I always felt bad for Gregor since he had been providing for his family, yet in the end they were so ungreatful to him!

I have never had an easy time reading Russian authors, the flow of the writing or perhaps the verbosity makes it difficult. I have never mangaged to put my finger on what makes Russian literature so hard for me to understand. Ahh well, on to the next book!½

considering I don't particularly like the original Metemorphosis, I just expected this to be silly parody of that story. Which it was, but it is still nothing spectacular.½

This is the first literary “mash-up” I’ve ever read…a new format that combines classic texts with a modern twist. Quirk Classics have produced these, and Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and Android Karenina were early successes. I was a little hesitant at first, having found Kafka’s The Metamorphosis so intriguing.

In this mash-up, the anonymous writer “Coleridge Cook” twists Kafka’s tale of a man waking up to find himself as a bug into a tamer form: he wakes as an adorable kitten instead. Gregor as a cat experiences the same sort of issues as Gregor the bug, except that he’s more inclined to nap than scuttle around under furniture.

Staying fairly true to Kafka’s outline, it really does change the way you react to the scenes. It makes it wickedly funny to see his family react with such outrage and fear to what should be normal: a fat and lazy housecat. In this retelling, aside from his irresistible urge to sleep, Gregor does get out and has a run-in with some other cats. This ties into another Kafka story, The Trial, which I haven’t read but which Cook is clearly familiar with. I think I lost a bit of meaning here because I could sense that the names and actions of the other cats is important to understanding this version. My friend Lisa Hayden discusses the important relevance between The Trial and Kafka himself in her review of the book and read her explanation of the connection between both Kafka books at her blog. She’s smart like that!

"...which all led to the conclusion that for the time being he would have to keep calm and --with patience and the greatest consideration for his family--tolerate the troubles that in his present condition he was now forced to cause them."

"He had never acted according to his desires alone, but only according to the dicta of his kin, his duty, and that great filial ledger that ruled his life....That difference of spirit he had always felt on the inside was now evident on the outside..."

Now if you’ve never read The Metamorphosis, I think you’d enjoy this version for its play on images. Having read it recently, however, made me feel that the overall take from the story is just too different to get the same meaning as Kafka intended. For all of his images of absurdity with the bug, the idea of a man waking to find himself a horrifying insect was not the point of The Metamorphosis. What I took from it was more how absurd his family reacted and raised the question of why Gregor had put up with their dependence long before he turned into a bug. In this, the question is still there—but the cat contrast distracts a bit from the actual horror of his family situation.

I think this would be an excellent way to introduce someone to Kafka’s work, and since you can hardly find a book that isn’t described as “Kafkaesque” these days, it might be a good way start, as the majority of it stays very close to Kafka's telling. The illustrations are a fun addition as well...who doesn't love a cat?

I'm afraid this book proved what someone once told me - that many of the Quirk Classics are best enjoyed for their title and cover.... I read Metamorphosis first so that I would be familiar with source material (and it was pretty much what I expected). Unfortunately this book did not improve on the original in a way I enjoyed.

From Lilac Wolf and Stuff

This review is very hard for me to write. The cover is cute, and this is another of the Quirk Classic mash-up, and Kafka is a big name. Hey, I like cats, I was looking forward to this one. A way to get my classic lit into my reading diet.

I like the cat change...in the original the guy turned into a big cockroach. So what Cook Coleridge did, worked.

However, Kafka...what were you writing? I think he is a writer that intellectuals say they love so they don't look stupid. The book didn't make any sense right from the beginning. The character is working for this awful company as a traveling salesman to work off his parents debt. Yet they live in a nice house with a servant girl??? And why would he HAVE to work for the company, just get the job you want and pay it off. Here's a thought, since Mom, Dad, and sis don't work, let them cook and clean. You would pay off that debt even faster!

So he wakes up one morning and he's a kitten. More afraid of losing his job than anything else. I'm pretty sure the morphing into a kitten would be my TOP priority. And even with the original cockroach I'm not sure what the point here is. Unless he's saying all salesmen are the most disgusting bugs...I think lawyers and politicians are worse. lol

I hate writing a bad review, but I do think I'd give Cook Coleridge another chance on his own work but Kafka...you and I are done. (Ok my husband just told me that it's an Absurdist novel and it's not supposed to make sense so I guess...job well done?)

I am not sure exactly why I picked this book as one I would want to review...I was not really a fan of the original Metamorphosis, but maybe I thought it would somehow be cute because it involved kittens instead of a bug? It may also be that since I had enjoyed Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, I just figured I would enjoy this one as well? I have tried to finish reading it since I received it, but am finding it difficult to stick with the book, and find myself turning to other books rather than finishing this one...I think it is a strange blending and find that I just do not enjoy it. I had hoped for cute and maybe funny but in my opinion, I'm afraid it's neither.½

I felt at a bit of a disadvantage as I have not read the original work by Kafka, but in reading The Meowmorphosis, I felt like the rewrite did a pretty good job of adapting the story for the new species. The book was a little hard to get through, but I imagine that's because the source material is also a little hard to get through! Overall, not a bad book.

“One morning, as Gregor Samsa was waking up from anxious dreams, he discovered that he had been changed into an adorable kitten.”

I absolutely tried very hard to like this book. Really.

This novel starts with a potentially amusing idea, and then completely fails to develop it in any of the ways that would actually make it amusing. The author's modifications end up flat and boring in some places from too closely copying the original in others, and in other places they deviate so far from the spirit of Kafka that the entire work loses coherence.

I'm not sure what I was supposed to get out of this book but I am pretty sure I didn't get it.

I have not read Kafka, I could never get myself into the "right" frame of mind so I thought this would be a fun introduction. I have stopped and started on numerous occasions and finally have given up on finishing. The story for me was boring and the character Gregor was difficult to care about even a cute kitten. the best of the Quirks was Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, action packed and silly.

I really enjoyed the Pride & Prejudice & Zombies trilogy from Quirk Classics, so I was super excited that I won this one. I had never read Kafka before but I had been meaning to, so this was the perfect kick in the butt to finally get to it. I read "The Metamorphosis" right before reading this one, so it was pretty repetitive at the beginning. Essentially, Coleridge Cook replaces the word "insect" with "kitten" and leaves the rest of the story the same (except for some descriptions of how cute and cuddly Gregor has become) until about the middle of the book, when he escapes from the apartment and has an adventure with some other cats in an alley. After reading some other reviews and looking around online, I found out that this middle section is a retelling or twist on Kafka's other short story "The Trial" (which I have not read yet). I really didn't like this part. Josef K (the leader of the businessmen-turned-alley-cats) goes on and on with rambling, pointless, nonsensical speeches that last up to six freaking pages. I almost gave up on the book around that point, but since I had had such high hopes for it I pushed on and finished it.

I had several problems with this retelling of "The Metamorphosis." (1) Why does Cook glorify cats so much in this version? Kafka never glamorized insects (in fact he rarely even mentioned the fact that Gregor was a bug, except when it posed problems and Gregor was forced to look at himself and figure out how to move in his new state). The whole cat society thing just seemed like a monumental waste of time and space, a filler to flesh out Kafka's original novella so that Cook could market this as a novel. (2) Cook somehow manages to butcher Kafka's story and make it boring and meaningless. The words are minced and made fluffy to accommodate kittendom and the problems it poses but Cook seems to get lost in the hierarchy of the crazy cat society and the pointlessness of their trial. I think Cook tried to put too much Kafka and kitten history into one story and ended up with a hot mess. Whereas the P&P&Z trilogy added fun, wit, and adventure to the Austen original, this version just falls flat.

Gregor Samsa does indeed make for a precious, cuddly kitten, but this novel failed miserably to entertain me or do the original any justice at all. My recommendation is to just read the original and stay away from this one. (2 stars because it includes cute pictures of kittens in human clothes)

A remake of the classic The Metamorphosis, instead of waking as a vermin, Gregor Samsa finds himself transformed into a cute kitten. The book follows the same path as the original, with kittenish behavior instead of bug-like behavior. There were some cute cat-like thoughts that were enjoyable, but the story veers from the original slightly when Gregor escapes the apartment and meets other cats, I liked this at first, but it dragged on and seemed as if it was only added to try and explain the story. That I did not like, the whole point of reading is to make it personal to you, you can read as much or little into the story as you wish, but I skipped much of this off shoot until Gregor returned to the apartment and the story continued as before. While I am not a big fan of stories like The Metamorphosis, I can understand why it is a classic... it makes you think, The Meowmorphosis did not disappoint. I loved the strange biography of the author, and the discussion questions at the end. I probably will not read this book again, but I am glad I read it.

Same as with Android Karenina, this book mash-up was a let down. I expected so much more from a novel with so much potential, but it just felt lacking and left me pushing myself to finish it. The story-line didn't even remind me of Kafka's original masterpiece. Not impressed with this new-age twist.

Continuing the classics-with-extra-bits trend that began with Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, here we have the tale of The Metamorphosis where instead of turning into a giant bug, Gregor Samsa awakens to find himself transformed into an adorable kitten. It’s been a long time since I read the original, but I think there were also portions from The Trial included as well. Either way, it doesn’t work very well. There are a few good lines here and there, but by and large you’d be better off just reading the original, which is absurd enough on its own. I did, however, very much enjoy the appendices: a snarky biography of Kafka and some hilarious discussion questions. Those are worth reading on their own merits.

“The Metamorphosis” was a book I suffered through in high school. OK, suffer might be an extreme term. It definitely wasn't a story I enjoyed. It seemed to the story of this loser of a salesman who woke up and found out he was a cockroach, and thereafter his life sucked. Yet, his life had sucked pretty hard before his transformation, because he was a dull sort of man, so it was just depressing from start to finish Not exactly riveting to my sixteen year old self.

Well, I've been enjoying the various titles published by Quirk Classics ever since “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies,” so I hoped that an infusion of cattiness combined with my adult maturity (ha!) would make this tale more palatable. Unfortunately, “The Meowmorphosis” was no more delightful to me than the novel on which it is based.

It seems as though Coleridge Cook took several passages from “The Metamorphosis” and made no changes except switching out the word “insect” for “kitten” and replacing any descriptive words with “fuzzy,” “cute” and other cuddly kitty words. The trouble is, a giant cockroach and a giant kitten simply don't move the same way, so many of the problems Gregor encounters don't make sense. Heck, even his size is inconsistent – on one page, he's too large to get through his doorway, and yet he is able to hide under a sofa a few pages later. It doesn't work. The author states again and again that he is a large kitten, but how large is that? Full-grown cat size? Dog-sized? Man-sized? It's never made clear. Also, I think that people wouldn't react to a giant kitten in the same way that they react to a giant bug, so the Samsas' reaction to Gregor seems awkward and not quite right.

Another change the author made was to insert an extended scene not in the original novella, in which Gregor escapes and meets up with other cats that were formerly men. He's put on trial and convicted of....something. I forget what, because to be honest I was pretty bored throughout this sequence. Anyway, it's supposed to be based on another work of Kafka, but I wasn't familiar with the source material so I can't really comment on it.

In the end, I thought that the new author didn't take enough liberties with the original story – it has the same ending, for those who are familiar with “The Metamorphosis” - and tried to be a little too clever with references to Kafka's life within the text. He does ape Kafka's style admirably, so fans of the original story will appreciate the homage, but it just wasn't a successful or entertaining book to read.½

I read other Quirk Classics and was thrilled with them so was excited to get my hands on this one as well. I was hoping the original material would be made better with the mash-up like other Quirk classics but in this case, I can't say that it was. The original was so dark and bizarre in it's own right - I actually enjoyed "The Metamorphosis" - but, in my opinion, the changing of the insect-like creature into a cat really didn't work all that well. I guess adding lightness and humor to a dark book doesn't have the same effect as adding darkness and despair to a light book does.

I was excited to win this book, having a deep affection for cats, as well as enjoying the 'resurrection' of classics into modern soft-horror fiction, i.e., Pride, Prejudice, and Zombies. However, with Meowmorphosis, I found myself laboring to continue, and eventually gave up and moved on. I just could not get into the story. Rather than adding an unique element to the story line of a classic, placing established characters into unique situations as a result, Meowmorphosis simply could not sustain an engaging story line.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the author through the Library Thing Early Reviewer Program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255 [...] : "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."½

Coleridge gets kudos for chutzpa, the cover and blurb that actually had me hooked enough to pick it up.

Having never endured the original, I can honestly say that the adaptation was at once cuter and more fluffy, and still just as horribly deep and depressing as I expected. I admit, I skipped ahead to assure myself that yes, indeed, Gregor met the fate I expected. Despite the advance knowledge, I found myself caught up in the flowing prose as the tale unfolded - although I was ultimately left with absolutely no desire to ever re-read it. Bizarre and outrageous as the original must be, the sheer, unbearably adorable ridiculousness of Gregor's feline predicament lends a macabre sense of the absurd to what otherwise must be a supremely bleak and horrid classic. (Gregor certainly meets a predictably pathetic end, although arguably I expect his sister will get what's coming to her, as well.)

And of course, the afterword in which the reader is invited to picture Kafka running a Eastern Block version of the Fight Club? Priceless.

I enjoy the concept of Quirk Classics, modifying a classic work of literary fiction by changing a set of characters to an interesting (usually fictitious) creature. In the case of Meomorphosis, it is the main character only that is changed and the changes are minor in comparison to the others. Since the original Kafka book "Metamorphosis" already includes the quirky human-turned-cockroach main character, there is little gained by adjusting this character to be a cute kitten. In fact, I think the awkwardness of a cockroach is much more interesting than that of a kitten. The modifications dealing strictly with the thoughts and actions of the kitten were quite amusing. Honestly, I think I enjoyed the quirkiness of the original more so than this re-quirked Classic.

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a review.
Quirk Classics has done it again, turning classic literature into a B movie. This time, Franz Kafka’s classic The Metamorphosis has lost the creepy bug and instead features a cute kitten. While the story stays fairly true to the flavor, themes, and general plot of the original manuscript, it gets a little odd in the middle.
I finished this book a while ago, but I’ve had a hard time putting my feelings for the book down. To some degree, I enjoyed the silliness of being turned into a kitten. The lolcat references and general ridiculousness had me laughing a bit. While I have read the original, I’m not a huge fan of Kafka. This might be why I didn’t enjoy the story as much as I have other Quirk mashups. That said, it was still well done… and I’ve already loaned my copy to a friend!

I love Kafka and that may be why at times I struggled to finish this book. However, there were a number of enjoyable bits and I would still recommend it to those who have enjoyed other lit mashups. The pictures and discussion questions were probably what I liked most.

Thank you to Quirk Books for providing me with a copy of this book. I was dismayed, at first, to find it such a thin book...and then I started to read. The main character, Gregor Samsa, wakes up to find he's been transformed into a kitten. He's confused and honestly so was I pretty much the entire way through the story. From what I could gather, Gregor finds his life so frustratingly confining he transforms into a cat which to him embodies freedom. I felt conflicted by all the characters. Half the time I felt pity or empathy for Gregor, the other half I just wanted to scream "snap out of it". His parents are just dysfunctional from start to finish. At times, his sister Grete is loving and other times just plain mean. I'd want to run away from them and his work responsibilities as well. Gregor is just so wishy-washy. Decide already! Do you want to take advantage of this magical freedom you've been gifted with or do you return to the environment that was suppressing and depressing you in the first place? I still don't know what to make of the ending. One way or another, at least Gregor will finally be free.