Normally I am hesitant to compare a book and a movie but this book is neither a novelization nor a stand-alone work. This version of METROPOLIS was written in conjunction with the screenplay for the classic silent movie (which was written with her then husband Fritz Lang—Director of Metropolis). While the novel does allow certain parts of the story to breathe more—allowing time for understanding—much of it is written at a gallop. Almost every emotion is fevered and every response emphatic. Easier to adapt to on the screen—kind of understood that the language of silent films involves overly dramatized activity. Though initially interesting to read in detail the motivation for each hyper-response, reading it in book form actually minimizes much of the overall drama. There is some odd repetition in the book as well. Multiple times I thought….didn’t they just discuss that in another scene. Biggest disappointment in the book is the lack of focus on the robot—a delightful focal point of the movie. In the book the transformation is barely discussed and the actions of the robot are often referenced vaguely as if “oh yeah, this is going on too”. This sucks all the drama out of the section at the end where their dueling identities come into question. The similarities to the movie are stronger in the first half of the book—as it diverges from the movie, the book tends to get somewhat repetitive and less focused. The world building and presentation of the tangible is well done. The skyscrapers and machines and the underworld all spring to life. And the less tangible, the various hypnotic reveries (which there are many—generated by dreams, illness, exhaustion and terror) are creatively visualized. As there are too many dramatic reactions, the number of reveries fallen into can wear thin as well. Another place where the book differs, is how largely religion looms. In the movie, the church as a building is a large physical presence on screen—and that is the majority of it’s role. Religion is an aspect of man, but the gist is man getting along with man. In the book, religion seems to be another form of madness or a structural trapping to wear and discard randomly. The movie managed a narrative through-line. The book managed to run in circles for awhile and end up roughly in the same spot--more a curio than admirable work.