Kafka's interesting look into the unknowable and oppressive legal and bureaucratic systems.

Our protagonist, Josef K., is accused for a crime that he is never privy to. And so we go through K.'s case which is filled with senseless procedures, inscrutable rules and offences, and a labyrinthine court that is different somewhat to a standard legal court. One motif I loved was how self-perpetuating the system is: how people go about it with question, even to the point where some secrets and jobs of this vast court system are passed down between family members and only those family members.

Kafka navigates the surrealism of his story to mixed effect. There were some passages that were overlong and made my attention stray (possibly in part due to minimal paragraphing) but one thing I loved was the oppressiveness he illustrates through locations. There are genuinely laugh-out-loud scenes where K. is navigating progressively narrower hallways and stairwells to get to the courts, which are hosted in people's residences. There are a lot of absurd details that are brilliant and understandably why his name endures.

The prevailing criticism is that it sort of just ends. I can only say this to some extent as he never finished it and to my mind, despite it being a short book it didn't feel like it.