Ellen Allen Writes

I read a review this week on the great book blog It’s All About Books of Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis about a man who wakes up one morning and finds he has turned into an insect. She didn’t love the book but like all good book blogs, I was intrigued by the review. It sounded like something I would love; quirky, interesting, funny, well-written and a bit nuts. I wasn’t wrong.

There’s a good analysis of the book here, regarding Kafka’s feelings of alienation and jewish ancestry (better than the normally good wiki analysis here) and it’s just – in my opinion – a great short story that means so much more. Like The Lottery and The Alchemist, both of which I’ve read lately about completely different aspects of human nature, short stories really can sometimes be so much more powerful than longer ones; they’re quicker to read and they can leave a greater impression.

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