Saturday, October 14, 2017

Thirteen of the unluckiest characters in SFF

At B&N Reads Jeff Somers tagged thirteen of the unluckiest characters in science fiction & fantasy, including:
Gregor Samsa in The Metamorphosis, by Franz Kafka

I don’t think it needs to be explained that waking up to discover that you’ve been transformed into a giant roach is bad luck of the highest order. When the story goes downhill from there, it really kind of redefines being born under a bad sign by a mind-blowing order of magnitude. When your death actually solves everyone else’s problems and no one mourns you for even a moment, you have crossed over into fields of bad luck no other living thing has ever inhabited.
Read about the other entries on the list.

The Metamorphosis is among five books that changed Andy Griffiths, Jason Diamond's fifty most essential works of Jewish fiction, and Thomas Bloor's top ten tales of metamorphosis; Avi Steinberg says it is one of six books every prison should stock.

--Marshal Zeringue