by Ian McEwan
First published 2019
Gregor Samsa opens his eyes one morning to discover his body has become that of an enormous cockroach. His limbs are now spindly insect legs. His back is a hard shell. The transformation is complete and inexplicable. His family reacts with shock and disgust when they discover what he has become. His parents and sister must decide how to live with this creature that was once their son and brother. Gregor finds himself confined to his room, dependent on others for food scraps. He watches his family through the crack under his door as they debate his fate. They are caught between their memories of who he was and their revulsion at what he has become. As days pass, Gregor feels his human thoughts and emotions fading. The story follows his psychological transformation as his insect nature takes hold. McEwan examines how quickly love can turn to burden when someone becomes unrecognizable. The novel explores what happens to family bonds when one member can no longer participate in human society.
Genres: fiction, literary-fiction, 20th-century, 21st-century
Vibes: dark, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Apartment
Period: 20th-Century, 21st-Century
109 pages · Kindle Edition · Anchor Books
Content warnings: body-horror