Book review: Metamorphosis and other stories

Title: Metamorphosis and other stories
Author: Franz Kafka
Pages: 299

This is a collection of the influential German writer Franz Kafka’s works that were published in his lifetime. He set very high standards for himself. So much so that he wanted all of his unpublished writings to be destroyed after his death. His best friend decided to disregard Kafka’s wish and published the stuff.

The preface of this book said something about Kafka being universally accessible and that anyone can read and appreciate him. I beg to differ. Very often, Kafka’s metaphorical style makes it difficult to understand exactly what he is talking about or referring to.

Some of the stories like “A Fratricide” were beautifully and clearly written but others like “A Little Woman” are so obtuse that I found it torturous to continue reading and had to skip them.

Tip: I had incorrectly used tortuous instead of torturous in the sentence above. Tortuous means winding/twisting whereas torturous means unpleasant/painful.

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