12 Franz Kafka Books for Free! [PDF]

A doctor rushes through a snowstorm to see a sick patient, but nothing goes as planned. A Country Doctor is a strange, dreamlike story where duty and helplessness collide.

Franz Kafka wrote this in 1919, and it still feels unsettling today. You will read it quickly, but it will stay in your head for a long time.

A man sits in a cage and starves himself as a public show, but the crowds slowly stop caring. A Hunger Artist is a quiet, sad tale about what it means to dedicate your life to something no one values.

Franz Kafka finished this story shortly before his own death in 1924. If you have ever felt unseen despite giving everything you have, this will speak to you.

An ape learns to act like a human and gives a speech about how he did it. A Report to an Academy is a funny and unsettling look at what we lose when we try to fit in.

Franz Kafka published this short story in 1917. It reads like a joke, but the deeper meaning stays with you long after the last line.

A teenage boy gets sent to America by his parents after a family scandal. Amerika follows his strange journey through a version of the United States that feels both real and like a dream.

Franz Kafka never finished this novel, and he never actually visited America. That makes it even more interesting, like watching someone imagine a place from far away.

A man spends his whole life waiting at a gate he is never allowed to pass through. Before the Law is one of the shortest and most puzzling stories you will ever read.

Franz Kafka included this parable in his novel The Trial. It takes two minutes to read and much longer to figure out what it means.

An officer proudly shows off a machine that carves a prisoner's crime into his skin. In the Penal Colony is a disturbing story about blind faith in a system that has lost its purpose.

Franz Kafka wrote this short piece that reads like a nightmare you can't wake up from. It will make you think about obedience, punishment, and who decides what's just.

A mouse claims to be a great singer, but does her community really need her art? Josephine the Singer or the Mouse Folk asks whether artists matter as much as they think they do.

Franz Kafka wrote this strange, quiet story near the end of his life. It's a small tale that opens up big questions about art and belonging.

People turn into insects, starve themselves for art, and get trapped in systems that make no sense. Short Stories by Franz Kafka will make you laugh and feel uneasy at the same time.

Franz Kafka saw the absurdity of modern life before anyone else. His stories are short, strange, and impossible to forget once you have read them.

A man arrives in a village controlled by a castle he can never seem to reach. The Castle captures the frustration of dealing with a system that makes no sense and answers to no one.

Franz Kafka left this novel unfinished, which somehow makes it feel even more real. If you've ever felt stuck fighting rules that nobody can explain, you'll understand this book.

A young man writes a letter to a friend and then faces his father, who suddenly turns into a terrifying judge of his entire life. The Judgment is a short story that moves from calm to chaos in just a few pages.

Franz Kafka wrote this in a single night and considered it one of his best works. If you have ever felt trapped by a parent's expectations, this story will feel very real.

Gregor Samsa wakes up one morning and finds he has turned into a giant insect. The Metamorphosis is a story about what happens when the person who holds a family together can no longer function.

Franz Kafka published this in 1915, and it has been read as a symbol of everything from work burnout to family guilt. It is short, deeply unsettling, and impossible to forget.

One morning a man is arrested, and nobody tells him what he did wrong. The Trial is a story about facing a system that makes no sense and offers no escape.

Franz Kafka never finished this novel, but what he left behind changed fiction forever. If you have ever felt trapped by rules no one can explain, this book will feel uncomfortably real.