The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
It has been a long time since I read anything classic. I have been reading crime fiction these days and I stumbled upon a free e-book of Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka on Planet PDF. Downloaded it yesterday hoping to read it in some time in future like all the free classic e-books I download from Gutenberg or other such sites. I just opened it in the morning to see if the PDF version was readable quite literally. But as I started reading it I found it gripping. What happens when you wake up one day and find yourself metamorphosized into a well not so human thing? First thing first, wouldn’t you wonder how you would get about? How would you go to work with this tiny little legs that seems hardly able to support you? You are the sole bread winner of the family, you couldn’t possibly rest but how would you go to work. Maybe you could get up and try and maybe everything would be alright. Only you realize that everything is not alright. The mother who adores you now is disgusted of your sight and your father from whom you took the mantle of the household wants you to disappear from his sight. Your sister, your loving sister, for whom you have dreamt so many things some of which would be a possibility very soon, is the only one who seems to understand. But even she can’t clearly stand your sight. She feeds you and keeps the room clean. But things don’t remain the same. Do they? Your broken father has to get a job, your mother works doubly hard and even your little sister has to go to work to bring food to the table. They are put to all this hard work because of your failure to deliver. Well, because you changed. You changed from a hard working human being into something that has many tiny legs and a huge body. Something so horrible that it has no name. Come to think of it, the change has done something good for the family. The family is doing quite well without you. Your metamorphosis has made it possible for a metamorphosis in others. But you ugly disgusted thing nobody wants you. Wow! What a story! Every bit as plausible as it could be. Yes. If you would change into an insect, vermin or whatever that is not human this is what will happen. There is no other way it could have happened. Small novella just 96 pages long and really the best I have read in quite a long time maybe after Heart of Darkness that wrenches your heart.
What? 