The Metamorphosis
⭐⭐⭐
This book is not particularly enjoyable to read. It starts depressing and just gets worse. I’m going to have spoilers today, but to be fair the book came out over a century ago. If you aren’t familiar, The Metamorphosis follows Gregor, a salesman miserable in his chosen profession who wakes up one day to find he’s turned into a human-sized roach. Unsurprisingly, neither he nor his family handle this well. The initial reactions are on point - screaming, crying, existential dread, and bargaining all come and go as everyone tries to understand what’s happened.
Stage two is what killed me - Gregor just… pines, hoping his life will revert but making no real effort to adapt to or change his new circumstances. Similarly, his family gets trapped by indecision - they’re too afraid of his new form to comfortably live with him but too family oriented to force him
out or kill him. They land on a horrible middle ground where everyone in the household feels like a prisoner, and their lives all slowly deteriorate. Eventually Gregor starves to death, too depressed to eat and wounded by his increasingly violent family.
If this book isn’t pleasant, it makes up for it by being Literary™. If you’re in the mood it can provide endless fodder for discussion over each decision made by a character, each word chosen by the author. I can hear the college freshman now discussing if Gregor is a victim of his circumstances or his passivity or if the story is about his decline or his sister’s growth.
If you enjoy Serious Literature, depressing novels, or analyzing the smallest details of a book this is definitely one for you. If you mostly just feel like you should read it because you’ve heard of Kafka but never read anything by him then hey, at least it’s short. (And to be fair, I do think its good for all of us to periodically read things way out of our comfort zone/preferred genres.) I personally was not a fan because I don’t think bleak novels are particularly interesting nor do I enjoy passive main characters.
I made up for the book by picking a cool cocktail to pair it with! I wanted an absinthe cocktail to honor Kafka’s bohemian roots and match the hallucinogenic mythos with the paranormal aspect of The Metamorphosis. The Absinthe Suissesse was delicious! It almost tasted like an almond milkshake, but the absinthe gave it some kick. Its marketed as a breakfast cocktail which I think also fits with the feel of The Metamorphosis, but I don’t think I can recommend drinking it that early unless you’re really committing to the day.
Absinthe Suissesse
Ingredients
1 1/2 oz absinthe (I used State 38’s Damn Smooth Absinthe Verte - affordable and delicious!)
1/2 oz orgeat syrup
1 egg white or 2 tablespoons pasteurized liquid egg whites (optional)
1 dash orange flower water (optional)
2 oz half-and-half
1/2 cup crushed ice
In cocktail shaker, combine absinthe, orgeat syrup, egg white, orange flower water, and heavy cream or half-and-half. Add ice and shake vigorously for at least 20 seconds. Strain into a chilled highball glass with or without ice from the shaker and serve. And if you cen think of a good garnish, let me know! It was a delicious cocktail but I hate that it kind of just looks like milk.
