Abacus A Cage Went in Search of a Bird Ten Kafkaesque Stories.

by Ali Smith, Tommy Orange, Charlie Kaufman

A collection of brand-new short stories written by prize-winning, bestselling writers and inspired by Kafka - to commemorate one hundred years since his deathFranz Kafka is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most enigmatic geniuses of European literature. What happens when his idiosyncratic imagination meets some of the greatest literary minds writing in English across the globe today? From a future society who ask their AI servants to construct a giant tower to reach God; to a flat hunt that descends into a comically absurd bureaucratic nightmare; to a population experiencing a wave of unbearable, contagious panic attacks, these ten specially commissioned stories are by turns mind-bending, funny, unsettling and haunting. Inspired by a twentieth-century visionary, they speak powerfully to the strangeness of being alive today.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Anthologies, Contemporary, Science Fiction, Literary Fiction, Audiobook

256 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2024

About the author

Ali Smith is a writer, born in Inverness, Scotland, to working-class parents. She was raised in a council house in Inverness and now lives in Cambridge. She studied at Aberdeen, and then at Cambridge, for a Ph.D. that was never finished. In a 2004 interview with writing magazine Mslexia, she talked briefly about the difficulty of becoming ill with chronic fatigue syndrome for a year and how it forced her to give up her job as a lecturer at University of Strathclyde to focus on what she really wanted to do: writing. She has been with her partner Sarah Wood for 17 years and dedicates all her books to her.

Reviews

[emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

rip franz kafka you would have loved real estate brokers

some of these stories were really good and really captured the kafkaesque scary grueling monotony of bureaucracy in modern life: undergoing MRIs you don't think you need, that elif batuman rendering of buying an apartment.

some of these were really good but not kafkaqesue: yiyun li's carrollian dialogue between punctuation, tommy orange's look at k-holes.

some stories were not good, but kafkaesque, which is kind of a compliment in and of itself really — rarely do you break from actual kafka to take the time to be like, wow, this is so lovely.

and some of course were neither good nor kafkaesque.

that's the trade you take, i guess.

bottom line: i mostly read this as an excuse to say kafkaesque, in case you couldn't tell.

(thanks to the publisher for the e-arc)

---------------------
tbr review

an all star lineup of authors writing like kafka? am i dreaming

[Krista · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the inverted world of Franz Kafka, guilt precedes sin and punishment precedes trial — so naturally, the cage precedes the bird. “A cage went in search of a bird,” he wrote with enigmatic flourish in 1917, when he was convalescing in the pastoral town of Zürau in the wake of his tuberculosis diagnosis. Two years earlier, he had abandoned The Trial, which begins with an abrupt arrest and ends with a roundabout admission of guilt; five years later, he would start The Castle, which begins with a series of vague recriminations and ends with a series of even vaguer wrongdoings, at least insofar as it can really be said to “end” at all. Strictly speaking, both novels are still unfinished: neither satisfied the famously implacable Kafka, whose perfectionism was a crucible, and both were incomplete at the time of his death. They are certainly cages — clenching, claustrophobic — and perhaps they are doomed to remain forever in search of their birds.

In her Introduction to A Cage Went in Search of a Bird (quoted above), literary critic Becca Rothfeld notes that this collection of ten short stories was written to honour the hundredth anniversary of Franz Kafka’s death, explaining that many of these stories, “treat precisely the kind of entrapment that obsessed him: the kind that follows us wherever we go.” I found some of these stories ironically funny, some claustrophobically intense or recognisably “Kafkaesque” in their arbitrary, indomitable bureaucracy, and some…were less successful for me. My favourites were from Elif Batuman (The Board), Keith Ridgway (The Landlord), Leone Ross (Headache), and Charlie Kaufman (This Face Can Even Be Proved by Means of the Sense of Hearing), and as I’ve never read anything else by these authors, I am delighted to have sampled their writing here; I’ll be looking for their novels. As for the concept behind this collection: Most of the authors used their space to make commentary on the absurdities of modern life — or the absurdity of all human interaction — and I think that for the most part, they recognisably build on Kafka’s work. It’s an interesting mix and I am happy to have picked this up. (Note: I read an ARC through NetGalley and passages quoted may not be in their final forms.)

Where did it go? What did the surgeonremover do with the carefully removed life-serum? How could you protect it wherever you stored it, from everything? the disastrous heat, the gutter dirt, the pollution, the things that changed, the terrible leavetakings, the journeying? ~Art Hotel

Honourable mention to Ali Smith, who opens the collection: in a strange and authoritarian (?) near future — in which a mother must say goodbye to her children with her eyes to evade the notice of CCTV cameras (as she pretends to be her sick sister in order to save her job at an “art hotel”, with people posing as statues and still life paintings for the amusement of the rich? It’s all a bit confusing) — a family leaves their house when they discover it has had a red line painted around it while they were away; and when the campervan they drive to a parking lot has also had a red line painted around it while they slept, the mother’s friend decides they will simply start walking.
What if they paint the line right over my shoes?
What bright red shoes you’ll have if anyone does that thing to you, Leif said.
Like I said: I found this one confusing — it might very well be the strongest of the collection — but I didn’t really connect with it (yet I do enjoy being challenged by Ali Smith).

As I paused to examine the bush, which appeared to be planted directly into the sidewalk, it turned to face me, and I realised with astonishment that it was, in fact, the broker: a young and emaciated man in a textured, shrubbery-colored coat. ~The Board

In Elif Batuman’s story, a woman is desperate to buy a flat in the city in which she has lived for eleven years (indeed, her family elsewhere is counting on her to succeed), and the narrative becomes increasingly absurd (as she is led up four flights of stairs in an apartment building in order to access the secret entrance to a ladder that would lead her down to the sub-basement), and between this woman’s powerless position and an unanswerable interrogation by the building’s board, this felt the most Kafkaesque. I especially liked the few times an item transformed into a person — the shrubbery was the broker, a cashmere scarf an old man — and this woman’s story is the story of anyone who doesn’t understand the rules of where they find themselves.

Had he been stealing from Kafka? He had never read this Octaviato whatever whatever. Had he? He was certain he had never heard of it. But his memory was going. He understood that much. If this unhoused woman knew it was from Kafka, someone else would, too. Were there other stolen things in the book? This was going to ruin him. ~This Face Can Even Be Proved by Means of the Sense of Hearing

Both Charlie Kaufman and Keith Ridgway write from the perspective of men who are unstable in their identities (with Ridgway’s protagonist being the more menacing, with “an axe in my trouser leg, a knife in my sleeve”), and they felt knowingly Kafkaesque (as was Leone Ross’ female protagonist, up against medical red tape: “She understands bureaucracy: if she can just find the right administrators she’ll get a box unticked or a screen changed in no time.”) And while I really liked this, I was kind of ambivalent about Joshua Cohen’s Return to the Museum — in which a Neanderthal in the prehistoric display makes ironic commentary on the museum’s patrons, including commentary on pandemic lockdowns:

Opinions, theories, paranoid conspiracies lowbrow and high-brow and all brows in between and even now I’m not sure that everyone here accepts the official explanation that there had been some sort of plague running rampant globally and everyone was staying away and home so as not to die and the government had ordered the shuttering of everything nonessential such as businesses and schools, strip clubs, places of worship, and concert halls, along with all museums, which as an interested party — as a beneficiary of museums — I’m not going to argue are non-nonessential . . . I’m evolved enough for that . ..

It felt like the main point was to equate pandemic lockdowns with Kafkaesque bureaucracy (including even a Neanderthal questioning the efficacy of masks upon the museum’s reopening), and Helen Oyeyemi’s odd text-message-epistolary story Hygiene seems to be a commentary on cleanliness and what was learned — even to obsession — in the pandemic. Tommy Orange’s The Hurt imagines that the next pandemic will be psychological, while Naomi Alderman’s God’s Doorbell (set in the future, with human-serving AI going rogue and building a new Tower of Babel) and Yoyun Li’s Apostrophe’s Dream (the punctuation tiles in a typesetter’s cabinet bemoan their increasing irrelevance in modern communication) share similar themes of humanity’s tools regarding us as their cold and distant gods. Overall: a strong collection of stories by celebrated authors; much to like here.

[Blair · Rating 3 out of 5]

This anthology has a starry list of contributors but it’s full of so-so stories, the kind where you think ‘hmm, that was fine’ and then promptly forget everything about it. Best of the bunch is Helen Oyeyemi’s weird and entertaining ‘Hygiene’, told through messages and emails, in which a man suddenly finds a conversation with his girlfriend hijacked by a friend who makes a series of bizarre demands. It’s both original and genuinely Kafkaesque, where many of the stories manage only one of the two (or neither).

[Teresa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of my favorite contemporary writers are included in this collection, and I was reminded of that after finishing Ali Smith’s Gliff. Her story “Art Hotel” leads off the volume and is an excerpt from Gliff. Because I read the story after the novel, I can’t judge how it works as a standalone.

I feel like I enjoyed bits and pieces of most of these stories much more than I enjoyed any of those as a whole, which is probably how I feel about Kafka too. Again, as with Kafka, a few of the stories—or parts of them—felt tedious to read. I’m also struggling to remember most of them, even though it’s been just a few days since I read the book and it didn’t take long to finish.

The last story “This Fact Can Even Be Proved by Means of the Sense of Hearing” by Charlie Kaufman is an exception. It grabbed me from the beginning and kept me with it completely. It’s not a shocker that a story by Kaufman is metafictional—it even has meta-layers—or that the character has strange, though interesting, thoughts about his brain; or that the story is humorous. At least it was funny to me, especially in the beginning with the narrator-author at his book launch. It turns into a story about getting older, still funny in the way that funny turns tragic when you turn it around to see the other side.

*

Coincidentally, the day after finishing this, I found a very nice (free!) copy of A Country Doctor: Short Stories on the porch of a brand-new independent bookstore in the town I was visiting.

[Ben · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe 'Kafkaesque' stories are better when they're not explicitly trying to be 'Kafkaesque'...? I've read better strange tales over the past few years that could bear the same descriptor, but weren't written to specifically evoke his style/content; at least, not that the author admitted! A few of these are OK and none of them are poorly written. But it's enough of a mixed bag to wind up being kinda forgettable. Or maybe the print is better than the audiobook?

[carly · Rating 2 out of 5]

i wanted to love this so much! there were a few enjoyable essays (my favorite was god’s doorbell), but the collection as a whole just fell a bit flat for me. as a lot of other readers mentioned, some of the works were good reads, some were kafkaesque, but few hit both points

[Archie Hamerton · Rating 1 out of 5]

Inane. Each story had me bored by its first page, and by its last I was only irritated at having wasted my time reading the pages in between

[Mika Travis · Rating 1 out of 5]

this gets one star for the story “god’s doorbell” which i actually genuinely enjoyed, and gave me a false sense of optimism that there might be another good story in this book if i only kept reading it. reading through the rest of the stories felt like i was pulling hair from my scalp.

[Elle Benning · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good idea, an interesting anthology, but I admit I did expect more based on the stature of the contributors. I enjoyed the stories by Elif Batuman, Helen Oyeyemi, and Joshua Cohen. Some others were forgettable. I'm not sure I "got" Ali Smith's story although I usually like her, and I think it was unfair on one of the contributors, who is a less well-known and clearly less talented writer (I won't name them as it feels mean) to be included among such heavyweights. Becca Rothefeld's introduction is excellent and made me feel more interested in her essay collection than I had previously been.

[Jane Fudger · Rating 2 out of 5]

* ABANDONED BOOK*

I read about sixty pages of this book of short stories but unfortunatelyI had to give up because I could not quantify the stories with the subject they were supposed to represent.
The book was compiled to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Franz Kafka's death. I have read quite a lot of Kafka and whilst I appreciate that his npvels/stories are difficult to read especially with this "topsy turvy" plots.However the stories in this book were in some ways distopian they completely lacked the finesse and method of Kafka's style

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Honestly a thought-provoking and paradoxical collection of short stories. I particularly enjoyed God's Doorbell & Apostrophe's Dream -though it's up to you to read them all and find the ones you love the most.

[Matt Bender · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a stellar line up of authors and the stories are skilled and memorable. I found them sufficiently surreal and sadistic to satisfy my expectations that they be Kafkaesque. I, at least for one, went in to this expecting to be disappointed (how could this live up to expectations) and was surprised by the quality and consistency.

Ali Smith and Charlie Kaufman (who was an entirely new author to me) deliver stories that are really in the Kafka sphere. Elif Batuman probably extends Kafka’s tone and cultural influence the most tactically with a story about a would be tenant and an absurd apartment studio and coop board. Tommy Orange’s story probably has the widest scope in his ambition and he successfully touches on issues of identity and victimization with a story that is most distinctively within his own oeuvres.

I would have appreciated a more ambitious introduction and at least some effort to link these authors together, or their approaches and interests as individuals to Kafka. Something along the lines of Joshua Cohen’s essay on the Perils of Reading Kafka would have added a lot of value, but I guess we have Google (and through it I discovered Batuman’s substack article on her essay fyi). There is in fact an excellent introduction of this sort for Batuman’s story, The Board” posted to Electric Literature’s page.

[Huijia Yu · Rating 4 out of 5]

As always, a mix. Agree w the rest of the review that any story in the anthology can be (kafkaesque, not kafkaesque) x (good, not good). I did not love the commentary on the Covid pandemic and felt like it detracted from the kafka of it all

Great:
the board- elif batuman

I liked but can recognize they were ok:
This fact can even be proved by means of the sense of hearing- charlie kaufman
God’s doorbell- naomi alderman

[Jordan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Joshua Cohen / Elif Batuman / Naomi Alderman story run in this is superb so I'm glad they put those right at the front; the remainder of this collection ranged from just decent to headachingly dull.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

"The characters in Kafka's fictions may be enmeshed in an alternative and nightmarish logic - one in which accusations give rise to transgressions and cages give rise to birds - but at least they are not plagued by an absence of significance."

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this and was captivated by each story!! I really can’t believe how many reviews have called this “boring” but maybe Goodreads just isn’t the platform for me lol. My favorites were The Board, God’s Doorbell, The Landlord & The Sense of Hearing. All of them made me feel genuine unease! Headache was especially scary- about misogyny and misogynoir in the healthcare industry. Would for sure recommend!!!!

[Oisin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Have yet to read a short story collection with a hit rate over 50% but Charlie Kaufman's story at the end was perfect.

[Dylan Lawler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good standalone stories, but just alright in respect to Kafka.

[Jacob Van Baalen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ten stories which, by the end, didn’t feel particularly enlightening on the matter of what is”Kafkaesque.” The most Kafka stories in the collection, those with a strangeness and oppressiveness, are the least successful as prose while those with a sense of conclusion or even openness are more successful.

As a side note, I am not sure 20% of this collection needed to hit on pandemic themes. I feel this way with a lot of pandemic art, but it often ends up feeling obvious. Tommy Orange, who is fantastic, gets the better grasp on pandemic stories and strangeness. The story set in a natural history museum was like being hit over the head with 2022 themes.

Ultimately it’s just an OK collection, despite the star power on the title page.

[Claire Reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of these stories rocked, changed-my-life awesome! Some of these stories sucked super bad. The literary equivalent of an ex boyfriend who thinks that just because he’s an English major he’s smarter than you even though he isn’t.
God’s Doorbell, The Hurt, and The Apostrophe’s Dream were amazing! I also really enjoyed The Headache and Return to the Museum. I think there were 2 that I hated and the remaining 3 just didn’t do much for me.
I do think if I spent more time doing literary analysis (and knew more about Kafka), I would have gotten more out of the 5. I had a lot of fun thinking about what the cage was in each story😁 Except the 2 that I hated.

[Holly · Rating 3 out of 5]

In some of these stories I became quite lost, but I guess that’s really just the kafkaesqueness of it all. I liked how though for many of them you just had to read and go ‘yeah’ and not have to pull them all apart, mostly because you couldn’t. It was a handful of stories that made the book worthwhile, the rest made my head mushy 🧠🫠

[Louka Eben · Rating 3 out of 5]

This books was quite mediocre as for the last short story in the book written by Charlie Kaufman ‘this fact can even be proven by means of the sense of hearing’ ( I know, what a title).. this was a masterpiece.

[Abby Evancho · Rating 5 out of 5]

i loved these short stories they were so thought provoking and different and creative and up to interpretation but also about real tangible things while also being strange and abstract and the writing was so good and i want to read more by these authors

[Conor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ofc the Irish contribution is called 'The Landlord' and hits hard

[Adina · Rating 2 out of 5]

"The Board" and "God's Doorbell" were amazing, but apart from them, it's been a while since I have been so disappointed by a short story collection.

[Michael Jantz · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are some pretty good stories throughout, but even if I’d hated each of the first nine, the Kaufman story at the end would more than make up for the earlier disappointment.

[Daniella · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kafka(+covid). Sometimes, too smart. Apostrophe's Dream and the C Kaufman story were faves.

[Dorota · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars

[Potato · Rating 4 out of 5]

All stories well written and interesting but not all fit the briefing (to be Kafkaesque) as a result the compilation feels a little slapdash. All are short and worth reading regardless as there are other interesting aspects to the stories such as experimental form and playing with genre.

[Greg Bem · Rating 3 out of 5]

About half of these stories felt both riveting and thematically relevant.