Amerika by Franz Kafka Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Amerika
Book Review: Just Great
Summary: 5 Stars
This is by far Kafka's funniest novel. Read this when your not interested in the depressing and "life altering" mood. One of the best parts of this book was the tone that Karl always seemed to be in. At the beginning of the book Karl starts out in a very polite and careful tone even though he was writing or thinking to himself. As the book went on he started to get more and more like an.. "American" who says and does more to what he feels like. Its a comic adventure alright and its also a book I would recommend you read.Book Review: Kafka and humor?..great combination..
Summary: 5 Stars
"Amerika" was the first book by Franz Kafka that I read, and it was definitely a treat.Poor Karl Rossman, shipped off to America by his parents for having a child with a maid, has his first adventure on the boat in New York's harbor. Helping a stoker who feels he's being treated unfairly, he (Karl) happens to find his Uncle Jacob on the boat. The very Uncle Jacob who was waiting for his arrival!
So it's the cushy life for Karl right? Weeeell, not exactly. It starts out that way but eventually Karl ends up on his own.
"Amerika" has more humor in it than Kafka's other novels and it may have you chuckling and cheering for Karl on his journey. It did me.
What happens to Karl and how exactly does he end up in Oklahoma? You're going to have to read the book to find that out. Oh, and make sure to notice all the "cramped" situations Karl gets stuck in. Very amusing!
Book Review: Kafka's Absurd America
Summary: 5 Stars
Franz Kafka could be a very funny writer. Amerika shows him at his most poignantly absurd.
This book also gives a key to seeing the humor which runs just under the surface in his "serious" novels, The Trial and The Castle.
Kafka's Amerika resembles the writing of John Dos Passos or Woody Guthrie - a rambling, disjointed narrative told in deceptively simple prose. What Kafka adds is a an absurd undercurrent that swells as the book progresses.
Amerika should stand with his other two novels as monuments to his genius.
Book Review: Kafka's Amerika
Summary: 3 Stars
This was the first novel by Kafka that I read and I wasn't terribly impressed. However, being his lightest novel it was an easy and entertaining read. Amerika is a tale of Karl Rossman, a recent emmigrant to America from Germany and his mis-adventures. Karl gets himself into many precarious situations which were the only real sources of entertainment in the novel. Otherwise all of Kafka's characters are very simple and none are none of them are devloped to satifaction, not even Karl, whom I would consider emotionally flat. Even when presented with pitfalls that would be devastating to most anyone, Karl reacts with little emotion. All the reader sees of Karl is a young man with good morals and motivation to improve his lot in a new and strange country, but we know nothing of Karl's heart and soul. This makes it difficult to get in tune with Karl and consequently the novel as a whole. Still, when reading Amerika you can sense Kafka's potential and Amerika has motivated me to read his more celebrated works such as The Trial and The castle.Book Review: Kafka:The mental Traveller
Summary: 5 Stars
Kafka never set foot in America, Yes, it's true. He writes however quite valiantly about the American lifestyle of the era in a manner that suggests that he had been there. As far as importance, this novel might not rank high up there in terms of the Kafka canon, but it is perfect for those who have just started. If you've never read Kafka, read this book first, and then move on to anything else-- you will literally feel yourself falling off a literary cliff. There are reocurring instances where the main character precariously falls into the most atrocious situations, of which he has no control. Trust me, you'll be hitting yourself over the head, this is a fairly comical book, and only a pit stop for other things to come.