Kafka is definitely one of a kind. If you took the visual flair of David Lynch and mixed it with the desperate lonliness of Melville or Salinger...that's the the way I would descibe him. the Metamorphasis is a good start, but I think the meat of his writing is in The Trial. Also, a really excellent film made by Orson Welles! I guess he reads a little slow, but it feels properly paced. I would definitely not pick up a book by Kafka and expect it to be finished by the end of the day. I wouldn't even say that about his short stories. That's not because he's boring, but because his ideas are so beautiful that you want to read them very carefully.

He's also got daddy issues. That's always good stuff.