The Trial

Penguin Classics

By: Franz Kafka, Idris Parry - introduction, Idris Parry - translator

Narrated by: Kobna Holdbrook-Smith

Brought to you by Penguin.

This Penguin Classic is performed by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, winner of the 2019 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical.

A terrifying psychological trip into the life of one Joseph K., an ordinary man who wakes up one day to find himself accused of a crime he did not commit, a crime whose nature is never revealed to him. Once arrested, he is released, but must report to court on a regular basis - an event that proves maddening, as nothing is ever resolved. As he grows more uncertain of his fate, his personal life - including work at a bank and his relations with his landlady and a young woman who lives next door - becomes increasingly unpredictable. As K. tries to gain control, he succeeds only in accelerating his own excruciating downward spiral.

Critic reviews

The Dante of the Twentieth Century (W. H. Auden)

This compelling, prophetic novel anticipates the insanity of modern bureaucracy and the coming of totalitarianism (The Daily Telegraph)

It is the fate and perhaps the greatness of that work that it offers everything and confirms nothing (Albert Camus)

It was Kafka who made me understand that one can write differently (Gabriel García Márquez)

Could not get into story

Just really disappointed in the entire story especially after seeing it was listed in the top classic must reads.

Outstanding voice performance of an incredible story

The story stands on itself as one of the best 20th century novels, in my opinion, but the voice acting in this performance really elevates rhe experience, and makes the dark humor of the story obvious. Brava!