The Trial [Alpha DVD]

By: Franz Kafka

Narrated by: Dick Hill

The Trial by Franz Kafka is one of the great novels of the 20h century. Josef K. is an ordinary man who is arrested on his 30th birthday. He is prosecuted by a remote, inaccessible authority, yet the nature of his crime is never revealed to him. One year after his arrest he is executed. His last words describe his own death: "Like a dog!"

Public Domain (P)2010 Alpha DVD LLC

Good!

This was my First introduction to Kafka, and I think I will be exploring more. Wasn’t bad and the performer was excellent.

just listen

it's full of so many parallels with today's experience. I enjoyed the narrator. excellent recitation.

Excellent reading of a classic book

The narrator did an excellent job of adding to the already bizarre and disturbing story. If you like Kafka, you will like this translation and narration.

Great story, fantastic narrator

Much has been said about this laudatory tale that I need not rehash it here. But what I can extol is how Dick Hill so perfectly captures the true absurdity of K's experience. Perfect work.

Excellent match of text and performer--a steal

The Trial may be the greatest book ever written about the ruthless, logical absurdity of a bureaucracy at its most extreme. If you've ever gotten the run-around at the DMV or your insurance company, you will find the story of Josef K uncomfortably familiar. Dick Hill has just the right voice--a little older, precise, particular--to deliver this text in its cold, comic perfection. Well done.

Kafka is...

Never knew what to expect the entire time. Good read. Te narator did his job excellent!

Important masterwork, serviceable performance

Really important work of fiction. Very glad I read it. Dark and with occasional humor. It’s helpful to listen to a few podcasts for critical analysis immediately after finishing.

Dick Hill's narration makes it special!

Background to THE TRIAL: Franz Kafka died at age 40 in 1924 with The Trial and most of his other works unfinished. The Trial was published in 1925 with the abrupt ending with Josef K's execution without him ever learning (despite a full year of trying) what crime he was charged with. The sheer frustration of Josef K as he tried daily to understand what crime he was charged with and how he should proceed with his defense leaves the listener/reader almost as frustrated. The Trial was written in German which was Kafka's native language. Kafka was born and lived in Prague which is now the capital of the Czech Republic when it was part of the Austria-Hungary Empire. The 2010 movie by the same name is based on The Trial. The Trial deserves its designation as a classic.

When I decided to listen to The Trial I had a difficult choice of Dick Hill or George Guidall as narrator. (Scott Brick and Geoffrey Howard also narrate the novel. As much as i Like Scott Brick his voice just seems wrong to me.) Either would have been excellent, but Hill's voice seemed a little better fit for Josef K.

Even if you have previously read The Trial I believe you will appreciate the audiobook with Dick Hill narrating.

like a panic attack felt while falling asleep

a supremely descriptive style and details that cling to the mind. Joseph is SO HORNY.