Metropolis

By: Thea von Harbou

Narrated by: Romy Nordlinger

This remarkable novel, the basis for the world's greatest science-fiction movie, has long been a rare but ardently sought-after collector's item. It is an unforgettable vision of the 21st century and the awe-inspiring city of the future. Metropolis has been compared to such classics as George Orwell's 1984, H. G. Wells' The Time Machine, Samuel Butler's Erewhon, and Karel Capek's R.U.R. Science fiction writer and editor Forrest J Ackerman called it "a work of genius", noting, "The language of the novel is sometimes as thesauric as Shiel, as kaliedoscopic as Merritt, as bone-spare as Bradbury, as poetic as Poe, as macabre as Machen.... You will have an experience in reading that will last you all the rest of your life."

Public Domain (P)2021 Oasis Audio

Melodramatic Exposition

The extensive metaphoric descriptions of every person, location, object, and action gets a little exhausting after a while and makes the story feel like it is 99% exposition. The dialogue and action is sparse by compari. Sort of like the opposite of a silent film. Or a silent film that is mostlitertitle cards. While the imagery is compelling, the tone is uniformly epic which makes it hard to tell what moments are supposed to be impactful. It almost feels more like a very long movie pitch instead of a story.

Mesmerizing, lyrical, reflective

The mesmerizing narration and lyrical prose immersed me in deep reflection, watch movie first as it matches the text and the text provides a depth the movie only hints to.

Slog to get through

The events feel at times scattered with little to no explanation on how a character got to a particular area. The narrator takes loud breaths very often. I had to speed up the audio to 1.5x to minimize the effect, it grated on my nerves. I only listened to this because I had seen the silent film many years ago and wanted to compare it to the book. This is, thankfully, one of the very few books I've ever read or listened to that was very difficult to make it through to the end.