The Cockroach Hat

by Terry Bisson

When Sam Gregory wakes up to find he has turned into a big cockroach, he is understandably dismayed. Luckily, the condition appears to be a little contagious.

Genres: Short Stories, Fantasy, Humor, Fiction

11 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 1, 2010

About the author

Terry Ballantine Bisson was an American science fiction and fantasy author best known for his short stories, including "Bears Discover Fire" (1990), which which won both the Hugo and Nebula awards, as well as They're Made Out of Meat (1991), which has been adapted for video often.

Adapted from Wikipedia.

Reviews

[karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sam Gregory woke up one morning and found, to his dismay, that he had turned into a big cockroach. “Oh, no,” he thought. He had some idea of what was happening because of the Kafka story. He hadn’t exactly read it, but he had heard all about it back when he was in college.

fun with surrealism! and metafiction! and ... bananas! this is a super-weird, short, breathless piece that is kind of like listening to a child telling a story, all loose in form and block-printed with nouns and verbs, summarizing whole chunks of plot skimmingly to land and dwell on a very specific bit of minutiae. but it's very funny, and very well done in terms of how consistently the big-picture adventures take a backseat to the trivial details. i imagine it's hard to write a story shaped like this, while still engaging the reader, but he pulled it off, and even though i have found myself impatient with surrealist stories in the past, when it's done right, it's kind of a hoot.

quickie review for a quickie story!

read it for yourself here:

https://www.tor.com/2010/05/26/the-co...

come to my blog!

[Tadiana ✩Night Owl☽ · Rating 3 out of 5]

A weak 3 stars for me. This surrealistic, absurdist short story is one of those that I feel like I should love but just don't. It just never really engaged me. I read it twice because karen really liked it, but it was only marginally better for me the second time.

Still, if you love absurd humor, or if the idea of a parody of The Metamorphosis sounds like it might be your cuppa tea, give this Tor online freebie a shot. It only take about 10 minutes to read.

[Melki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Then I met this old Jew. It was in the park. He almost stepped on me, then he picked me up and put me on the cuff of his shirt and started talking to me. It was in Hebrew but that was the least of my problems.

A surprisingly light and breezy tale of life, cockroaches, and the pursuit of happiness.

[Sterlingcindysu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmmm...would would I do if my husband turned into a cockroach?

Well, I probably wouldn't step on him. But I wouldn't feed him either.

Harder question. What would I do if a baby turned into a cockroach?

Discuss between yourselves.

[Igrowastreesgrow · Rating 1 out of 5]

An odd story at best.

[حسناء · Rating 3 out of 5]

that's a bloody weird story . funny . and full of hidden stuff .

[Daren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Available free from TOR.com, here.

This is a short, surreal and bizarre story about a man who wakes up as a cockroach. It has an interesting writing style, where the author focuses on describing the minor detail, while skipping over some of the major plot elements.

Like most TOR short stories, the cover artwork is cool too - even if the cockroach looks as much like Bono as it does a cockroach...

4 (surreal short story) stars.

[Badseedgirl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read for free at tor.com.

If simply written, short, weird short-stories are your thing, this one is for you. Think The Metamorphosis on crack with a speed highball.

[Ahmed Oraby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thanks to hasnaa for the beautiful recommendation.

[S.A Reidman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Y'all know that giph of Matthew McConaughey in that movie where he is going through it and he takes a big drag of cigarrete and his eyes read very clearly WTF...cmon you know it. Yeah, that was me reading plot twist after plot twist in just the opening page like: "What the hell Sam???"

Also, yeah casually saying oh no to turning into a cockroach is next level ennui but also...you gotta applaud the levelheaded approach to the whole situation:

✔️Get away from partner who might smash him with a broom
✔️Go to Brooklyn, cockroaches being what they are
✔️Find the metaphor folks- writers.
✔️Of course be chastized for atrocious spelling your sixlegged carapace can't help
✔️Figure it out with a Rabbi/Ancient Jew?

That Character: Sam is hilarious
That scene: I'm picturing a cockroach using a leaf as a boat to get to Brooklyn I can't envision a damn pigeon as a dragon Imma need wine for that. Those birds...don't get me started.
Favorite /Unique Quotes:
🖤 “We quickened our steps. We had forgotten to step on the baby.” (Uhm...I feel like I got a contact high reading this)
Curious/Unique Concepts:
■ Kafka-esque metaphor transmuting into something real
Cover Cause I'm a Bird: ancient Rabbi chilling with a roach, color me curious
Re-readability: yeah yeah hmm okay so I'm gonna need to so I can wrap my head around all that hullabaloo
GR Rating: 3⭐
CAWPILE: 6
StoryGraph Challenge: 180 Books by 2027
Challenge Prompt: 150 Short Storues by 2027

[Carolien · Rating 3 out of 5]

https://www.tor.com/2010/05/26/the-co...

[Peter Tillman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very odd, but pretty entertaining. And short.

[Kieran McAndrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sam wakes up to discover he is a cockroach. Luckily, he's not alone.

Kafka mixed with dark comedy. Funny and surreal.

[Andrew Brooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yes, it's bizarre. But you have to keep in mind it's a blatant tribute to Franz Kafka, whose best known works include the novella The Metamorphosis and novels The Trial and The Castle. The term Kafkaesque has entered English to describe absurd situations like those depicted in his writing.[7]
When you're writing to give a nod to Kafka, the head has to come off and fly around a bit, and possibly never hit the ground at all.
NOT my favorite kind of stories, but he does hit the mark he aimed for

[MollyK · Rating 4 out of 5]

That was odd. And a lot, yet spare. Still. Much more enjoyable than actually reading The Metamorphosis. Surrealist fiction for the post digital age.

[Nicole Miles · Rating 2 out of 5]

IMHO, kind of awful. Not for me. Full review pending? (If I can be bothered.)

I don't know why I've read so many The Metamorphosis spin-off/fanfiction-esque stories lately. It actually is just a coincidence.

edit [19 Dec 2014]: I gave this piece of comic surrealism a second try, and it was OK. I take back what I said in June. I can see why people would enjoy this if really silly, fast-paced (almost ad-lib feeling) humour is your thing.

[Greta is Erikasbuddy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this fast paced story about a man who becomes bug and finds love in the strangest of circumstances.

The writing is a bit simple but I think that's what the author was going for :) Loved it!

[Kimikimi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another Tor.com short story

This gets a low mark more because of the failure of the reviewer (me) than because of a failure in the work. It's obviously well done surrealism, I just really don't like it.

[Maggie Gordon · Rating 1 out of 5]

Making a bunch of literacy allusions in a flippant manner does not a great story make. At all. Some people seemed to have enjoyed this modern approach to The Metamorphasis, but I found it poorly conceived and lacking in anything interesting to say.

[Leslie Fisher · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was weird. I'm not sure if I liked it or not. I just don't know what to think about it. You can read it at http://www.tor.com/2010/05/26/the-coc....

[Maggie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesomely ridiculous! So awesome.

You can read it online, here:
https://www.tor.com/2010/05/26/the-co...