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A review by peelspls
The Unhappiness of Being a Single Man: Essential Stories by Franz Kafka
3.0
No beetles were harmed in the making of this anthology
This is a solid collection of short stories for those who want to be introduced to Kafka's style without the commitment of an entire novel. There are some common themes across all of the stories: the pursuit of perceived justice, anxious bureaucracy, absurd situations that leave you with unresolved anxiety and the metaphorical study of systems as living beings. The text meanders during some short stories, and some of them are merely one to two paragraphs long. I want to say that some of them could have used editing to get to the point faster, but Kafka also seems to put in effort in creating the environment within which the absurd makes sense.
This is a solid collection of short stories for those who want to be introduced to Kafka's style without the commitment of an entire novel. There are some common themes across all of the stories: the pursuit of perceived justice, anxious bureaucracy, absurd situations that leave you with unresolved anxiety and the metaphorical study of systems as living beings. The text meanders during some short stories, and some of them are merely one to two paragraphs long. I want to say that some of them could have used editing to get to the point faster, but Kafka also seems to put in effort in creating the environment within which the absurd makes sense.