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Chrysalis

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Once again, I heard the receptionist point her in the direction of the changing rooms. Then, when Simon was finally located, he too asked if she wanted to change her clothes. Depending on her mood, she could move differently. She could make words sound different in her mouth. She'd tell me about her plans – which friends she was seeing, what time she'd be home – and though the parts of her life were familiar, I'd have the feeling of talking to a stranger.” Did I like this style? I’m not sure. This is a difficult book to distil, and I don’t know that I have actually understood its meaning or taken away its essence. I tried to grasp some philosophy but its like trying to cradle sand in your hands.

Things have changed a lot since that first day. She's kind of famous. Or at least, she has a lot of followers online. People admire her authenticity, her focus and determination. They say the way she holds her body is a kind of truth.” AM: I quite respect her artfulness in being able to put together these beautiful scenes. When I imagine the kind of content she’s producing, I imagine something that’s very artfully done, enjoyable to look at, considers things painters consider like where the light’s coming from, what the composition is. I think there’s a huge amount of skill in putting together a beautiful video. The book allows you to get this sense of there being troubled psychological reasons for her only wanting people to access a specific part of her life and a complete rejection of anything that is messy or difficult. It’s understandable, but problematic. The internal dialogue she has with herself of what is public and what is private and how she’s constructing her new self is reflective of the way in which people often use social media to become a different person. Chrysalis is a savvy exploration of one woman’s desire to inspire others, and how self-presentation can tip into obsession. Although Metcalfe’s three perspectives offer a nuanced portrait of an online sensation, they are similar in tone. Her health guru rises from the ashes of an abusive relationship, but also discards those who’ve outgrown their use. Metcalfe is insightful about the world of contemporary influencers, voyeurism and the rise of narcissism, but it’s hard to warm to her aloof heroine.It was hard to be in the present, she said, but if her body were heavier and more in control, then her thoughts would clear and her mind would recover its power.

AM: Completely. I suppose it’s embedded in the way we often talk about transformation, especially in the world of self-help. There’s a lot of discussion around how you can transform yourself, as if you exist completely in a vacuum. It would be more helpful for everyone who’s talking about transforming themselves to talk together about transforming things that might benefit everybody, transforming the social sphere. But there’s way more rhetoric about social transformation and taking control of the things you can control, that only affect you. It does suggest that we are all isolated dots that never really see each other or that you can, in some way, control everything for yourself and everything that affects you in your life. It’s just not true. The effect of the novel’s triptych form feels like looking at the protagonist through the lens of a kaleidoscope, each segmentdazzling, but ultimately fractured, leaving compelling gaps in our perception of who she is.” — Electric Lit Anna Metcalfe’s Chrysalis deliberately reworks aspects of Han Kang’s The Vegetarian. Like Kang’s novel it’s divided into three parts in which the same, nameless woman is viewed from different angles. Metcalfe touches on concerns that frequently surface in discussions of strands in contemporary western society: from the role of social media influencers and fandom to the wellness and self-sufficiency industries through to transactional relationships, narcissism and voyeurism. Each of her narrators is witness to an aspect of the nameless woman’s transformation from floundering, and possibly traumatised, to seemingly-invulnerable colossus. Two of these three are people who’ve met the woman as an adult, Elliot with whom she has a brief sexual relationship and Susie her former work colleague, the third is her mother Bella.This was a very strong debut novel. The success of the novel hinges on the reader engaging with the mysterious aspects of the central character; there’s no plot as such, and we’re told up front about the influencer she becomes, and so the only thing really driving the narrative is the details we’re given gradually about her past and the way she acts. This might sound like a hard sell, but Metcalfe really pulls it off - the characters are believable, their interactions are engaging and you really do find yourself caring about the little moments of intrigue. The central character’s behaviour is compellingly odd, and the sinister undercurrent running through the novel from the start is really effective - leaving you with the sense that, though you can’t entirely identify just what has happened, something dark is going on. AM: It’s very liberating. It made me start to wonder: What are the good responsibilities? And what are the bad ones? There’s a great Toni Morrison quote about how “Freedom is choosing your responsibility. It’s not having no responsibilities; it’s choosing the ones you want.” I thought a lot about that idea of what freedom is, if freedom requires the abandonment of social convention, if it requires to be free of the kind of complexity and nuance and messiness of interpersonal relationships or if freedom has to exist positively within some of that, you just have to be able to choose for yourself.

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