Chrysalis

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She’s particularly adept at dealing with ambiguities, in each of the interactions with her unnamed woman it’s difficult to discern whether these are relationships grounded in mutual or one-sided exploitation or based on fantasy and projection borne out of each individual’s unfulfilled desires – the narrators’ recollections are often far more revealing of the observers than the observed. Metcalfe was recently included on Granta’s list of the 20 Best Young British Novelists, and this debut proves that this is a worthy inclusion.

Metcalfe's debut is a tribute to The Vegetarian, and her non-conformist unnamed protagonist is reminiscent of Ottessa Moshfegh's transgressive women. She is observed by her former colleague Susie, who offers her sanctuary and support as she leaves her partner and her job and rebuilds her life, transforms her body, and reinvents herself online. Ranging from online obsession, to mothers and daughters, to the very nature of selfhood, the whole thing is strange and warm and, crucially, very funny. The frantic scrabble for meaning in the modern world when you have nothing to rely on and nobody depending on you.A cool take on a kind of radical self-care and what that looks like for different people, a small dig on the viral nature of wellness fads.

I’ve become very good at finding the quietest possible time to do anything, and I’ve been a regular at the gym for a while. Then your life imploded because of them and it turns out that they destroyed what you thought you knew to be the best life. The background noise fades out and the crackle of the breeze is replaced by the tinkly piano and a haunting voice. These four main characters, including the focal woman herself who I don't think is ever named, all fixate on her as a source of ultimate meaning.It is about controlling the body and the mind, about the place of the individual within society and what is means when someone choses to leave society behind. As a child, her restlessness made others uncomfortable but after her metamorphosis, her stillness made people uncomfortable.

It takes controlling the body and mind to a whole new level and the transformation of one woman, as well as her influence on others throughout her journey. This is a sharply-wrought, surprisingly tender book about how our internal changes create external change. The idea of it gave me a queasy feeling—a tingle that ran through my arms and made the weights drop down with a crash.Her transformation, only truly beginning after leaving an abusive relationship, is something stark and seemingly otherworldly. Elliot is a slightly unnerving character, aspects of his behaviour and his fascination with the woman reminded me of Frederick in John Fowles’s The Collector - possibly intentionally since both books deploy imagery related to metamorphosis and butterflies.