Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

  • The Metamorphosis

  • By: Franz Kafka
  • Narrated by: Ralph Cosham
  • Length: 2 hrs and 3 mins
  • 4.2 out of 5 stars (1,014 ratings)

$0.00 for first 30 days

Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
The Metamorphosis cover art

The Metamorphosis

By: Franz Kafka
Narrated by: Ralph Cosham
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £7.99

Buy Now for £7.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Listeners also enjoyed...

The Metamorphosis (AmazonClassics Edition) cover art
The Picture of Dorian Gray cover art
The Trial cover art
Brave New World cover art
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde cover art
The Metamorphosis cover art
Short Classics Collection cover art
The Metamorphosis and Other Stories cover art
The Trial cover art
Dracula cover art
Metamorphosis cover art
The Bell Jar cover art
Wuthering Heights cover art
Crime and Punishment cover art
Frankenstein cover art
Thus Spoke Zarathustra cover art

Summary

“One morning, as Gregor Samsa was waking up from anxious dreams, he discovered that in bed he had been changed into a monstrous verminous bug.”

With this startling, bizarre, yet surprisingly funny first sentence, Kafka begins his masterpiece, The Metamorphosis. It is the story of a young traveling salesman who, transformed overnight into a giant, beetle-like insect, becomes an object of disgrace to his family, an outsider in his own home, a quintessentially alienated man. Rather than being surprised at the transformation, the members of his family despise it as an impending burden upon themselves.

A harrowing - though absurdly comic - meditation on human feelings of inadequacy, guilt, and isolation, The Metamorphosis has taken its place as one of the most widely read and influential works of 20th-century fiction. As W. H. Auden wrote, “Kafka is important to us because his predicament is the predicament of modern man.”

FRANZ KAFKA (1883–1924), one of the major fiction writers of the twentieth century, was born to a middle-class German-speaking Jewish family in Prague. His unique body of writing, much of which is incomplete and was mainly published posthumously, is considered by some people to be among the most influential in Western literature, inspiring such writers as Albert Camus, Rex Warner, and Samuel Beckett.

©Public Domain (P)2011 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

“In The Metamorphosis Kafka reached the height of his mastery: he wrote something which he could never surpass, because there is nothing which The Metamorphosis could be surpassed by - one of the few great, perfect poetic works of this century.” (Elias Canetti, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1981)

Love Books? You'll Love Audible.

Transform your day

Transform your day

Replace endless scrolling with endless listening. Chores can be fun.

Listen everywhere

Listen everywhere

You can’t turn pages while you drive—but you can press play.

Carry your entire Library

Carry your entire Library

Your stories go where you go. Audiobooks don’t weigh a thing.

Listen and learn

Listen and learn

Discover stories that can change your mind, your well-being, and your life.

Reach your reading goals

Reach your reading goals

Download titles to listen offline, wherever you are in the world.

Find your niche

Find your niche

WIth thousands of titles to explore, there’s something for everyone.

Try for £0.00 £7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

What listeners say about The Metamorphosis

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    483
  • 4 Stars
    306
  • 3 Stars
    172
  • 2 Stars
    40
  • 1 Stars
    13
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    500
  • 4 Stars
    231
  • 3 Stars
    105
  • 2 Stars
    21
  • 1 Stars
    10
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    430
  • 4 Stars
    241
  • 3 Stars
    137
  • 2 Stars
    38
  • 1 Stars
    16

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

short but sweet

A funny little tale, and I couldn't help feel sorry for the protagonist who wakes up as a bug. He reminded me of a shy dog/naughty child. The ending ends ambiguously as I am sure Kafka intended. I loved this cute, short and fun yarn and you can takeaway what you feel from it and not what you are told to think. A classic for a reason

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars
  • LC
  • 17-08-21

An unusual and significant story

Takes you through an unpleasant and challenging experience that explores aspects of experience you’d probably rather not think about. Well worth reading to explore this experience if you can face it.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Incredible

Kafka catches the essential conundrums, binds, moral and relationship utility of modern life. Oh glorious civilisation is explored masterfully through the texture of experience. And an excellent reading

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Constant metaphorical description of a real world situation.

I found this masterpiece to be very interesting and relatable. Also, it is sort of eye opening!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

The detailed description of the situation.

Very nice and peculiar book. I definitely recommend to listen. The book is definitely fictional but it’s made to the level that you could well believe it

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Beautifully read, captivating despite its fantastical premise

Beautifully read. It’s a strange and surreal story, but somehow psychologically compelling. It’s also a very short book!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

A not so exciting classic

Quick "read" but not too exciting, very well written but did not live up to the hype.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Well-narrated classic

It's a long time since I read this and I really liked it. An unusual book.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Finally heard it!

I've been meaning to read this for some time and then recently somebody was saying it was one of their favourite books and then I noticed it on Audible so decided to try it as an audiobook. I think I was expecting something more like The Fly but it was nothing like it and I really enjoyed it.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

delightfully absurd!

Amazing to think this was written over 100 years ago, and the absolute absurdity given the times!! a fantastic book that I never tire of reading!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!