50 ratings (4.90 avg)
3 reviews

Hal Gallagher

Add friend

https://www.goodreads.com/win95os

Hal’s Bookshelves

to-read‎ (64)
currently-reading‎ (5)

read‎ (101)
did-not-finish‎ (0)

set-aside-for-a-while‎ (20)
charlies-recommendations‎ (14)

books-i-own‎ (9)
reading-list-2025‎ (4)

Stats | More…

Hal is Currently Reading

Hal Gallagher is currently reading

Wuthering Heights

by Emily Brontë

bookshelves: set-aside-for-a-while, charlies-recommendations, currently-reading

Reading for the 2nd time

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

progress:

(page 102 of 373)
— Aug 03, 2023 04:18AM

Aug 10, 2023 03:28AM

Hal Gallagher is currently reading

Moby-Dick or, The Whale

by Herman Melville

bookshelves: set-aside-for-a-while, currently-reading

Reading for the 2nd time

read in August 2023

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Apr 14, 2026 05:12AM

Hal Gallagher is currently reading

Metamorphosis

by Franz Kafka

bookshelves: charlies-recommendations, currently-reading

Reading for the 4th time

read in May 2023

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Hal Gallagher said: " I really enjoyed reading The Metamorphosis and I’ve read it multiple times now, despite what some other reviewers here think, this is a monumental book, with a very rich and deep meaning that changes depending on the reader interpretation. I feel as I really enjoyed reading The Metamorphosis and I’ve read it multiple times now, despite what some other reviewers here think, this is a monumental book, with a very rich and deep meaning that changes depending on the reader interpretation. I feel as though people read books like this because they ‘have to’ or it’s seen as an important book, and while it’s true that I personally believe The Metamorphosis is an important piece of fiction people should read, if you’re forcing yourself through the book, you’re never really going to fully appreciate it for its worth.

The book gives a beautiful outlook on how people often suddenly ostracized from society feel, and as a chronically disabled man, it really hit home in painful areas. Theres also the obvious interpretation and understanding that The Metamorphosis is about the ostracization of Jewish individuals, which has sadly always been a present problem in history, I however am not Jewish, and I don’t fully understand the extent of this, so I’ll leave it for someone more eloquent and informed to fully discuss that interpretation. The book covers Gregors inability to care for himself at a time his family needs him, and whilst they were more sympathetic to him at first, their hatred slowly grew over time, eventually leading to his death; which is incredibly reminiscent of my experience as a disabled man, people tend to be courteous and kind when first learning of your disability, and offer help in ways they can, only to slowly get tired of constantly having to plan around a disability, and tend to isolate the disabled individuals they know, due to not wanting to ‘plan around’ an ‘inconvenience’. But that’s just my interpretation. You could also view this book as a queer metaphor, I don’t believe that Kafka ever intended for his work to be viewed through a queer lens, but I did non the less, and the same ‘becoming something others despise, isolated for this’ cycle is something many queer people are all too familiar with.

Though not a crucial review, but after discussing the title of the book with a close friend of mine, we started to talk about the reasoning for the translation from the German Die Verwandlung (The Transformation) to the English The Metamorphosis and came to a conclusion it’s the intend of the words. I noted that in English, the term metamorphosis was inevitable, something you couldn’t stop, whilst a transformation could be taken as a choice, whereas they said it was the opposite feeling in German. Not completely important, but interesting non the less.

Overall, I love The Metamorphosis, it’s a favourite of mine, and I often recommend it to people, even if they don’t like classics because it’s a fun read, and it’s not too long either. ...more "

Apr 14, 2026 05:11AM · see review

See all 5 books that Hal is reading…