The Complete Stories (The Schocken Kafka Library)

Great

Kafka is probably my favorite existentialist author now. His writing seems bursting with applicable commentary on life. The Penal Colony is one of the most gruesome, sad, and extraordinarily interesting tales I've ever read. Would definitely recommend.

Arrived way before the expected time, the book is as good as new, overall great purchase!

Fast service, as described. Baffling book!

Great item! Superfast delivery and recommend to all buyers :)

good condition and a good price

These three novels are justified classics... maybe Kafka is *slightly* better in short story from, but Amerika, The Castle, and in particular the Trial are all great examples of his talent and uniqueness. And all in one volume - hurrah. Buy, buy, buy.

I believe that book reviews should be more about the content of the book rather than a particular edition. However, in this case I'll make an exception - My comments here are intended to help any prospective purchasers of the currently (as of March 2016) shown version of this book: Random House - Shocken Books ISBN 978-0805210552. Amazon UK's current listing of this edition does not make clear that it comes with a deckled finish (sometimes called "rough cut" edges). Bookbuyers in the US will have seen this on a small number of new books. It is practically unknown on run-of-the-mill modern books printed for the UK mainstream market. Deckling of new books inspires a "Marmite" reaction, with some loving and some hating. I personally dislike it. Deckling of 21st century books, (which is supposed to make a new book have an old "style") is to me a tacky, pretentious gimmick. OK, I'd make exceptions in the very different case of expensive special-edition hardbacks, where it's appropriate, and done well. But the idea of taking a modern finished book and then passing it through an additional machine to "unfinish" it, and thus offer the pretence of a style from 100+ years ago ... when you're talking about a ~£10 "mass market"-type paperback ... is just mind-meltingly nonsensical. In this case, the effect is the "book equivalent" of sepia tinting in modern photos. If you're not familiar with deckle-edged books, apart from subjective opinions on aesthetics, there's 3 main issues: i) they are harder to thumb through/find a particular page than a standard modern finish book (so not ideal for a short story collection!) ii) they attract/hold dust more readily and hence.... iii) they are more likely to suffer from bookworm (in older books) As far as this particular book goes, even if you do like the deckling effect on modern books, in the case of this one, it just isn't very well done. Some pages are deckled, others have a thoroughly modern 21st century precision cut. It's not been done very "realistically" (...note the somewhat Kafkaesque absurdity of that as a complaint). Perhaps the printers need to tune their deckling machine? I was so disappointed in my copy I wanted to send it back. The seller (Book Depository) was prepared to offer a refund but even though the book was clearly not listed/sold as deckle-edged, they insisted I would have to pay return postage if I wanted a refund. As I said, I know book reviews are best directed at "the content", but I imagine most other buyers of this book would be as disappointed as I was on receiving it (although perhaps some may actually like the deckled finish). Hopefully this review will provide a bit more information to others before they buy and so help them avoid similar disappointment. I'll come back and comment on the stories when I've got a nicer copy to read - this one is going to the charity shop (where it's possible they'll take one look at it and bin it).

The book is almost perfect but has some small imperfections along the spine and on the corners. Overall i decided I will keep it.

Não são contos completos! Absurdo!

includes all the stories which i wanted nice book but has a bit of ok book quality but if you are a Kafka's fan then yes please go for it and if not then also you should give this a try i am sure you will definitely like it

An excellent collection of stories about humanity from a point of view that must be added to any that you already have acquired in your life. How does one reconcile the contradictions we encounter everyday? Kafka doesn’t answer that question, but after reading his work you will not be able to ignore the presence of the contradictions.

Es un libro que reúne los cuentos de Kafka a un gran precio. Además de que ya había comprado libros de esta editorial, como "The Trial", y me encanta que sus libros sean intonsos (que las hojas no estén uniformes). .