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MY FAVORITE SHORT NOVELS I READ THIS YEAR

 I am a slow reader but I live for the sense of achievement that comes with finishing a book.  Anna Karenina is pretty daunting with its eight hundred pages lying on my shelf staring at me while I read ten different books that are two hundred pages each. The little books are the best things to exist. This year I read some really interesting ones that blew me away. I am listing down my favorites in this blog .


1. The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka 


The Metamorphosis is very close to my heart. I love Kafka and this was my first time reading absurdist fiction. The protagonist turns into a bug and the story revolves around his self-loathing , isolation , guilt and slowly becoming an object hated by his own family .It is remarkable and intense. Bizarre as it sounds, but I feel like we all could relate to being a giant disgusting bug laying all day at some points of our lives, or maybe it is just me and Kafka. Nevertheless this book will either make no sense to you or you will absolutely relish it . It is merely 70-80 pages long and is totally worth an hour of your time. 


2.  Demian by Herman Hesse 


I read this book while travelling. I could not put this down the entire flight. Such a page turner ! The book is about a boy who befriends an intriguing boy Demian , his classmate and enters a world of crime and revolt . This is a psychological portrait of a young person's journey towards self awareness. The book consists of everything , religion , crime , guilt , depression and eventually spiritual fulfillment. It was difficult for me to understand the ending, but the book is deeply interesting and justifies it being a classic . Merely around 150 pages long the book undoubtedly lays an impact. 

3. Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoevesky 












This one is my favorite books of all times. I cannot talk about this enough. I read this after I read Crime and Punishment and fell in love with Dostoevsky's writing. His characters are the most complex and interesting men that you can neither love nor hate. Notes from underground is from the point of view of a man who is isolated from the world , he calls his home his 'underground' . He is narcissistic, depressed , angry and intelligent. The story is intense and grows on you. I love the character of the underground man , I hate him too , worst of all I could relate to his existential dread. The book is short and fast paced. I recommend this book to everybody and am very happy I discovered Dostoevsky. 

4. The Stranger by Albert Camus
 


Albert Camus was a famous French philosopher. His book , The Stranger is about a man who commits a murder and never feels remorse. The story is written in short ,blunt sentences but if you can figure out the dark humor within it , it is a very enjoyable book. Again, this book depicts a deep existential crisis of a man. The ending lays down the question of whether the murderer is sentenced for his crime or for never showing the remorse and guilt that the society and justice system expected him to. Only a few hundred pages long , it is a worthwhile read . 

5. No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai 



This is a recent book I ended up reading because it kept showing up on my instagram feed. This book is about a man who spends his entire life trying not to look crazy and ends up being labelled as crazy. The character goes through an existential crisis, he cannot understand his emotions and cannot react to the situations he ends up in. He is a hollow human being and his diary unveils the great ordeal of being alive. If you want to feel absolutely awful and distressed you should surely read this. I really loved it, but it felt like a less intense version of Notes from Underground. Amazing read nevertheless. 


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