Any novel (or novella, in this case) which features the words “uneasy dreams” in the first sentence will inevitably face or draw comparisons with Kafka. Here, McEwan does two things. First, he takes the “metamorphosis principle” but inverts it; a cockroach is turned into a human (before returning to his original form at the novel's close). This in itself is a clever take on a well-trodden route. However, McEwan is not content to stop there. The human “occupied” by the cockroach is the Prime Minister of the UK. Once “inhabited” in this novel form, the PM undergoes his own metamorphosis, shifting from indecision to action. Now we move into the realm of satire. McEwan's objective is to critique Brexit. Out goes Theresa May and in comes Boris. Trump features heavily, in a bad way, reading the absurdities in The Cockroach (and de facto embedded in Brexit). Swift comes to mind more than Kafka. The fairest analogue I have found for McEwan's work, though, was Dave Eggers's The Captain and the Glory. Trump in this novella is the unlikely captain of a ship which has lost direction. Both works make some good points, even if with a somewhat heavy-handed tendency. Liberals will always cry foul when populists dominate the agenda. McEwan may have been too ambitious trying to pack so much into a short work (where there are some inconsistencies), but it is a short and pleasing diversion, if nothing else. 7/10.
By Ian McEwan