Erik Idris Lane

David Lynch thinks of Kafka as a relative. A blood brother to be exact. Which surely indicates a propensity for similar ideals, mannerisms and trauma responses between them both. Reading The Trial, it's evident why David believes this. Kafka guides us through the life of an individual swallowed up by something larger than himself, a corporate system constructed to drain the life and humanity out of individuals. He leads us along, and we think we know where he's going. We expect chaos and destruction, but Kafka goes left when we expect a right. We continue to follow but more left turns where there surely should be rights. Kafka tugs harder at our arms and we are now running where we should be walking. Before we know it, we are lost in this stone-walled maze and feel helpless in the struggle to find our footing. By the end of the book, we find ourselves knocked down, breathless, and in shock of what we've witnessed. It's only when we pick ourselves back up and look down do we see what Kafka has sketched in the footprints of our minds. The entire system, the structure of madness and oblivion. Humanity dissolving within the walls of bureaucracy.

Fiction writing offers the reader an otherworldly escape and a longing for discovery in the present. It offers deep introspection and reflection in hindsight. This book is a great example of this. Characters you fall in love with, humour that catches you off guard, a plot that leaves you hungry for more and fourth-wall breaking insights into what the author is trying to **say** about life in the time of his writing. A must read for lovers of fiction and fables.

This book was incredibly fun and light-hearted in nature. However with this being true, Rushdie manages to engage in topics regarding our modern world. Ranging from politics to racial discrimination to current media consumption (social media, netflix reality shows). His characters are so indelibly thought through and their stories (as with most Rushdie novels) intertwine in ways that leave us grinning in awe. Also, the references to Cervantes' Don Quixote were hilarious and still somehow unpredictable. A lovely novel.