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Originally Posted by CharlieBird
You have nailed exactly why I have been having so much trouble w/this book...Joseph is such an unsympathetic character, a complete jerk.
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Well, Joseph's character may be part of the explanation, but I doubt it's the whole story. I suspect if you thought about it you probably could recall books that you enjoyed without liking the principal character.
Quote:
Originally Posted by CharlieBird
It's probably the case that I am not an allegorically (is that a word?) inclined reader.
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This is probably more to the point. The genre, whatever it should be called, seems to be the problem for a lot of people. It's just not to everybody's taste. You have to be willing to enter an unpleasant world. Kafka was not interested in making his readers comfortable.
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Originally Posted by Vector
How would it change the book if Joseph were more likeable or admirable?
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I'll take a stab at answering my own question. If Joseph were a much better person, it would risk turning the story into a simple tale of persecuted innocence. If Joseph were much worse, say a murderer, it would risk turning the story into a simple tale of crime and punishment. As it is, the book is no simple tale of anything but something provocative and disturbing.