I loved the premise of this book, but sadly it didn’t hit the mark for me.

The main, unnamed protagonist is supposed (I think) to be some kind of spiritual hero, living alone, focussing on training her body and subsequently her mind, but she just came across and rude and self-centred. The story is told from the perspective of three people who know her. One is a loner who thinks he’s in love with her, the second is her mother, who doesn’t seem to think a lot of her and one is a colleague, who is desperate to be accepted by her, but is ultimately just used and then discarded when she is no longer needed.

Some of the PT and gym training descriptions were unrealistic - a PT who doesn’t even ask his client what their goals are, would never be successful, yet Simon is portrayed as some kind of fitness god. All quite strange really.

2 ⭐️ Thanks to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for an ARC in return for an honest review.

I read this following Anna Metcalfe's selection as one of Granta 2023's list of young authors to look out for. I am very much looking forward to attending the event at Foyles where Anna Metcalfe will be speaking this weekend.

An unusual story of a woman's transformation following a difficult childhood and abuse in adulthood. The structural choice of writing from multiple perspectives works really well and successfully and meaningfully adds to the narrative.

I found the novel well-written: original, compelling and unsettling. The one criticism I have is that I could not visualise the main character. A contemporary novel that explores a number of current social issues: abuse, women's voice, social media, mental well-being, single parenting, female relationships amongst others.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC.

Compelling character study from Anna Metcalfe.

I finished this a few days ago and haven’t managed to sort my thoughts on it. The TLDR of it is that I loved it.

Chrysalis paints a picture of an unnamed woman from the perspective of her lover, her mother and her friend. She is enchanting, she is manipulative, she traumatised.

Really interesting stuff on independence vs community, society’s expectations of women and ‘wellness’ - a good pick for book clubs.

I think fans of Sally Rooney, Natasha Brown and Ottesha Moshfegh might enjoy this book.

Pick up this book up if: you’re looking for a disquieting, hypnotic and intimate novel / no plot, just vibes.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This is such an absorbing book with a unique layout as were instead watching the main character through other characters eyes and seeing how she is perceived instead of her actual POV. You always feel like somethings missing, maybe from the protagonist, the story of the POV's yet this draws you in and creates a mysterious atmosphere almost as you also become drawn into this woman's bubble knowing there's something not quite right but you can't put your finger on it. I have to say this was written in such an incredibly intelligent and skilful way, especially as this is a short story as you finish this thinking you know a lot yet not knowing what's happened simultaneously. Chrysalis is just a great, intriguing read.

I absolutely loved this. It is strange, gripping, upsetting, enigmatic, unique. It's told in three parts, none of which are from the perspective of the 'protagonist'(?), all of which are brutally honest whilst remaining teasingly incomplete. The absence at the heart of the novel ought to be annoying but I found it rather brilliant. The writing is extremely good and I can't wait to read more from this debut novelist.

My thanks to Granta and NetGalley for the ARC.

What a great book! I was absorbed and engrossed from the start and read it almost in one sitting.

I like books written from different points of view and here we see the main character who is an intriguing and very individual woman. through the eyes of her ex lover (i won't say boyfriend) her mother and her friend. The narrators are all clearly voiced and their parts all add to the story.

I suppose there is not much of a plot as such but, like the narrators, I found that i was absolutely intrigued and fascinated by the woman they described, a woman who is determined to be her authentic self, however unusual that self might be, and who is single minded, self absorbed and even careless of others in her quest to simply be as she wants to be. I was fascinated throughout. The writing is vivid and I can easily picture all the characters.

Many of the books I have read recently seem to very padded out and i don't often say this but I feel that this book could have been longer, i would like to have known more about Bella's paintings and what happens to Elliot and Susie.

It is interesting at the end when there is a slight hint of selling out perhaps when the video website goes offline and comes back slicker and changed to make it easier to buy things and i would like to know what went on there behind the scenes.

It is a sort of behind the scenes book as I am not sure exactly why this woman wants so intensely to be the way she is. It seems to me to be like The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes in that, at the end, having been swept along, you are somehow not quite sure what exactly has happened and why and you feel that the easy prose has somehow led you to miss or overlook something important. It also reminds me of Emily St John Mandel's earlier books before The Sea of Tranquillity.

I can hardly believe this is a first novel because I felt straightaway that the author was in full control of her story and the writing is assured. I have read a lot of not so great books recently which seem, in a way, amateurishly written with obvious errors and factual inconsistencies but I could see nothing like that in this book. From the start it is a book that even if you don't like it, you feel that it is well written.

A really absorbing and memorable read and a book which I will read again. I would have given it 5 stars but for the fact that I always felt a little detached from the characters. I'm not saying that is a bad thing but I prefer to know or be able to work out why people do what they do and the woman's motives remain a mystery to me.

A perfectly formed short novel that begins as a more literal, though forebodingly intrusive, story about watching someone at the gym - and becomes something more like a fable, almost, as our understanding of one woman's life both progresses further through time and fills in gaps of time passed, and something deeply uneasy becomes a natural progression.

Well-placed on any best new fiction table, with strong potential crossover appeal between the literary audience and the more mainstream.

This is a very strange book. Three people in turn tell us their impressions and experiences with a woman who has some kind of weird influence over their lives. They can barely explain it and from what they tell the reader it is hard to understand how this woman can be so influential, because she seems pretty awful and entirely selfish. It poses more questions than it answers and much like the narrators, you are left at the end, peculiarly unsatisfied and feeling like you are missing something crucial that if you just understood it, would be the key to everything else making sense. It's really well written. It's astonishingly mature for a debut novel. I can't say I enjoyed it. I was definitely intrigued by it.

I have mixed feelings about this one! Three individuals reflect on their experiences with an unnamed woman who is going through a fairly unsettling metamorphosis. The Allure of the Influencer is its own genre at this point, but I thought this was often refreshingly unexpected, especially in its treatment of what it means to live in a body. I’m never a fan of multiple perspectives and in a book like this—heavy on the narration, light on the dialogue—the voices begin to blur. The second section (narrated by the woman’s mother) was by far the most compelling, I would have read a whole book about her.

This book is a mixed bag for me but maybe in a good way?
I was completely floored with the writing and the story. Although there are some parts of the book that felt a bit grey area, I kinda wished there was a narration from her perspective.
But I definitely I’m gonna recommend this book cause it’s a great read and am looking forward to read more from Anna Metcalfe

🐛 REVIEW 🐛

Chrysalis by Anna Metcalfe

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Publishing Date: 5th April 2023

Chrysalis is the story of a mysterious woman, changing her body and lifestyle to remove herself from society and focus on herself, mainly through stillness and meditation. Her story is told through three perspectives: Elliot, her admirer at the gym who is completely enamoured with her and how she carries herself; Bella, her mother, who reflects on her childhood and worries about her as she changes; and Susie, a friend and colleague who helped her out of a dark place, and is transfixed by her metamorphosis.

This book was an absolute fever dream, and I have never read anything like it. The storyline is so unnerving but the writing is brilliant, matter of fact while remaining eerie and mysterious. Watching as this woman, whose name is never given, extricates herself from society, and builds herself into this new person, and showcases this person and her philosophy online, it’s completely captivating. I was honestly left quite speechless by this book, and had no choice but to give it five stars for the way it left me reeling.

Chrysalis is released on 5th April 2023 and I cannot urge you to buy it any more, especially if you’re a fan of mysterious, female cult, fever dream vibes.

Chrysalis is a delightful novel, exploring the process of metamorphosis in an individual, and how one person undergoes this process more than once in a lifetime. Through the eyes of a short-lived romantic partner, her mother, and a close friend, Metcalfe beautifully illustrates this process our protagonist undergoes, to become somebody new and distinct from who she was before.

The technique of using three distinct narrators to tell this story is an intelligent means of exploring how the same changes in and individual can be observed in completely different ways depending on the context of the observer. Elliot sees her for the first time in the gym and spends a good while going out of his way to see her again, developing a deep interest which is bordering on creepy. Their eventual relationship is short-lived, and the supposed changes in her which he seems to view as a metamorphosis into somebody he did not know, struck me as less to do with a rapid change in her personality but more a reflection of how the more one comes to know a person, often the idea they have built of them becomes less and less true, and true colours shine through.

This is in stark contrast to the development of her relationship with her mother, the story of her childhood told through the eyes of her cold and emotionally distant mother, who seems to struggle to keep up with her child's rapidly developing personality. The envy she feels over her daughter's close relationship with a schoolteacher seems to shadow her as her daughter grows into a woman, and upon flying the nest, both seem to breathe a sigh of relief.

In the final section, friend and roommate Susie explores the deterioration of our protagonist's relationship and the progression of her lifestyle changes, beginning with a desire to tune her body in order to better be able to protect herself, rapidly descending into what many would describe as a dangerous obsession with health and bodily autonomy.

As our protagonist finds online success, an influencer specialising in guiding her followers towards self-sustenance and freedom from societal obligations, Metcalfe raises serious questions on where we draw the line between harmless life coaching and more sinister, cultish intentions. This book is an enthralling look at society and social media, and how these things shape who a person will become. It is also a book about isolation, physical and emotional, and the transient nature of relationships. I could not put this down, truly found myself invested in the characters and I will absolutely be recommending this to others!

This is an oddly compelling book, centering around the metamorphosis of the central female character seen through the eyes of her mother, lover and "friend". Its difficult to think it's a debut novel as the writing is so polished and thoughtful. Ms Metcalfe manages to lead the reader through a wide range of emotions, while exploring contemporary issues of Internet influence and the age old emotions of human relationships.
Certainly an author to take notice of.
Thank you to netgalley and Granta for an advance copy of this book

This novel is very different to some that I have read recently it deeply looks into the elements of a persons character and how they develop .The author has a really good understanding about psychology and how we are all influenced strongly by the people closest to us
The novel looks at several women one on particular who we see from childhood as she is initially closeted and suffocated by her mother but ultimately finds strength in obsessive gym and yoga practices which strengthen her muscles and harden her body which changes as much as she grows mentally stronger
The author has a clear easy to read prose style making the book an enjoyable thought provoking experience to read
The background stories are interesting and the comparison made early on to the metamorphosis between caterpillar pupae and butterfly is clear and fascinating
I read an early copy on NetGalley Uk the book is published in the uk by Grants publications on 5th April 2023 .This review is also published on my Wordpress account BionicSaeahsbooks

The main character in Chrysalis, Anna Metcalfe's thoughtfully contemporary debut novel, is a compelling figure who weaves a mesmerizing web around three independent narrators. Each takes a turn trying to define her, but their impressions diverge, producing a stuttering report and the wobbly outline of a character. The backstory, articulated by the mother, is the middle segment of this trio, sandwiched between the accounts of two of her acolytes. This structure flips the viewpoint of the panopticon, the model of a wheel-like prison, where the inmates do not know when they are being watched by anonymous guards, stationed in a central hub. These narrators gaze inward to this unknown center. There, the nameless "she" also looks inward, alluringly enigmatic, indistinct, and changing. The accounts are entangled, but the narrators are oblivious to one another. All their focus is on this person—this thing in a state of transformation. They cannot confer. They are alone, enclosed in their wedge-like cells.
If these narrators are imprisoned, it is because they want to be locked in her orbit. The theme of incarceration is disturbingly constant, embodied in the constraining chrysalis of the title, its binding simultaneously planned out and inevitable.
In the book, captivity is captivation, an obscure and fantastical metaphor for the unattainable lifestyles of internet influencers: ideal people, perfectly formed from perfectly disciplined lives, sustained by legions of devotees who know them, do not know them—who want to emulate them but are too malformed, stupid, untidy, and uncommitted. Unlike the classical ideals of the past, fixed in flawless blocks of marble, shaped by the force of another's vision, Chrysalis's "she" is a shapeshifter, a nobody special who sculpts her body in the gym and her mind through the relentless purging of her relationships with people and things. Continual transformations make her an amorphous essence, a defined physique, but defined according to what criteria? The others who tell the story are, by comparison, blob-like people living their lives in a miasma. It is a haze of places crowded with reactive people. At least they have real bodies and occupy solid space. They use worktops and fitness apparatus, slam doors and savour aromas, they feel rage and seek kindness, want hygiene and dislike muck. In Chrysalis, the tangible effects of the world are navigated in a vague and general way. Work is unspecific and pointless. A job comes in. There is nothing to say about it other than it's a big one. Done, it flies out. There is admin, success, routine, all shimmering in an inattention to detail.
Meanwhile, "she" lives her life in impossible poses. Her’s is a life that cannot be sustained among other people. It is the life of a psychopath able to decode what others desire—their wish for stillness, withdrawal, and focus. She lives it out, but without empathy, without humanity. Breaking free of the chrysalis is Zelenskyy-like, an aesthetic of remorseless oppressive war waged hungrily to achieve the freedom to feed a remorseless oppressive war. All other lives are the collateral of a singular immaculate emergence.
Chrysalis is clever, curious, and magical, but why read it? There is no better way to understand the clever, cunning, and malign way our contemporary diet of propaganda promises to reveal good and evil, working at our cracks, flaws, and imperfections, making us prisoners of its unimpeached vision.

An un-named woman transforms herself, watched closely by an acquaintance, her mother, and her colleague following the ending of an abusive relationship. Unsettling, and leaves the reader with questions that seem unanswerable.

A fascinating study of trauma response, how we relate to eachother even when we choose solitude, transformation, and a really exciting debut from Metcalfe!

With thanks to Penguin Random House and NetGalley for the opportunity to review.

"She has a power over the people who find her; once you've known her, it's hard to go back to a time before."
While there is always an attraction to a manic, frantic, crisis-led novel, Chrysalis instead unfolds in a still, calm, and even slow manner. This works to maintain an altogether creepier atmosphere. It is unnervingly quiet and chillingly calm, yet through the building tension you just know that something bad is on the horizon. The way the odd events of the book are juxtaposed against this measured and methodical pacing helps draw the reader in and consider the book’s central thesis - can a woman both live in society and truly be herself?
Chrysalis is about one unnamed woman’s journey from a functioning member of society to a guru-like recluse, told through three people who knew her along the way. The main character is fundamentally uncompromising to the point of being unkind, yet manages to make those around her enable her bizarre lifestyle. Through this manipulation, she makes those around her fall in a sort of love with her - and this experience is reflected by the reader. While we can see this character isn’t exactly likable, she does hold a certain fascination that keeps you on side.
The fact we only know this character and witness this story as outsiders looking in helps the book maintain an air of mystery. We are forced to make our impressions of this character solely out of what others tell us, giving us a strange distant feeling from the overarching premise of the book. In fact, it raises a question about the inherent unknowability of all other human beings. "They fail to see that she is capricious, that like any god or archetype, she's as much yours as she is mine." Even as our main character clearly explains her ideology and motives, we still find it all oddly difficult to understand.
Outside of the incredibly clever way the book's form and content seem to support and mirror each other, Anna Metcalfe also takes on some other interesting themes in this small yet mighty novel. She reflects on influencer and wellness culture in a fresh and expansive way. One of the most common critiques of the world of social media content creation is how it’s riddled with fakeness, but Metcalfe considers this a little more deeply. As our main character curates her social media presence, she is also creating a new life and reality for herself, which is perhaps one of the least “fake” undertakings out there.
Metcalfe also examines trauma response. After coming out of an abusive relationship, our main character has to choose how to cope. And while her methods can seem a little extreme, it does open the old can of worms: how can any one of us deal with being alive and being a human?
The stark, almost barren prose of the novel gives it a small but perfectly formed energy. Rather than offering any didacticism on how to live, Metcalfe instead thoroughly explores her central thesis without drawing any unnecessary conclusion. Whatever you do, people will watch and judge, so is there some power and happiness to be found in living entirely for yourself? Is it even possible? "For a long time, I was convinced that everyone lived that way--trying hard to do the right thing while pretending not to try at all. It had never occurred to me that there might be something powerful, profitable even, in being exactly who you were.”

A woman transforms herself, seen through the eyes of others. Unusual and unsettling novel, thoroughly readable.

A very, very good read. The novel is constructed around different accounts (each a third of the book) given by three witnesses (a late acquaintance, the mother, the work friend) to the metamorphosis (obviously, given the title!!) of a woman from who she was onto who she wants to be through sheer strength and the building of that strength of body and mind. Who she has become, her fame, is the reason for the accounts... but we never learn to whom these first-person narrations are addressed or the actual event that has necessitated them as there is no clear interlocutor - they are internal monologues suggesting possible others.
The object of these reminiscences has become a Youtube sensation, a guru of a very personal and particular brand of physical and emotional empowerment.... I enjoyed the story, and read it as an entertaining and interesting fictional narrative of triumph over adversity (individual shortcomings, bullying, abuse) through an act of self-invention, as well as a persuasive allegory about aspects of our society . Reinvention and its impact is at the core of the story. Real and the virtual (and hidden) realities are explored in an engaging, worth reading way.
With many thanks to Penguin Random House via NetGalley for an opportunity to read this exciting new novel and writer.

I was drown to this story almost as strongly as the narrators were to the woman they talk about. All of them were able to observe her transformation, her chrysalis phase, before she set off to create her solo life. They were of major use to her, too: providing care, companionship, flattery, attention and inspiration.

As readers, we get to know the seemingly nameless woman's story through the eyes and interpretations of others: her mother, her friend, her part-time lover. Their voices, composed of their own stories and desires, combine the nuggets of information about the woman, the ones she decides to feed them. Because of that, we're not able to verify how genuine her accounts are and are left with more lingering questions.

Anna Metcalfe skilfully hints the issues of parentification, perhaps familial trauma, too, and how they may play a role in one's narcissistic tendencies, as well as result in hyperindependence that remains in conflict one's natural need of being cared for. However, the ideas how to get such care are not always in service of establishing genuine bonds, but serve one's desire to survive the gentle chrysalis stage.