Needed rather too much concentration to be a good audio book for the car. One I might come back to in print.

Thoroughly enjoyable book although at times the translation was confusing, I sometimes found I was guessing which character was being talked about in a paragraph; for example, I understood it was the son who found the cryptic note with symbols on, inside the worker's pocket when he had changed clothes with him, but later on it was the father who had the note, which the inventor revealed to be a map. And other times I thought the son had died working on the machine, but he hadn't; I thought Maria was the one burned by the workers, but it was her robotic clone instead. The plot reminded me mostly of HG Wells' The time machine when set in the future with the underground workers serving the privileged over-ground people, and images from Pink Floyd's The Wall with the workers walking in step, and serving the machines; and indeed Brave New World, with one man trying to change the structure of the society around him, and with his love for Maria.
Having finished the novel, I was glad to discover a review by HG Wells himself (of the film version) which he obviously didn't enjoy. The review amongst other things said tall cities would not be a feature of the future, which I found amusing, and I recommend reading both the Von Harbou book and the Wells review. ( )

So this is the book version of the famous film. Obviously its somewhat expanded beyond what they could show in a silent film but its also pretty similar in plot.
Its descriptions of machines are one of the oddest things about it. The workers are linked to the machines but you can't tell if it means literally or figuratively. Overall its fairly well written. ( )

Na cidade futurística de Metrópolis, a população divide-se em dois andares. No primeiro, uma elite dominante desfruta dos prazeres da vida; no segundo, subterrâneo, os trabalhadores lutam para sobreviver. Quando Freder, o filho do Senhor da grande Metrópolis e habitante do primeiro andar, se apaixona por Maria, da cidade subterrânea, começa a conhecer melhor as condições às quais os trabalhadores são submetidos. Uma revolta começa a surgir entre os operários, e só o que faltava para uma revolução era uma líder. Quando ela surge, nada pode conter a fúria dos oprimidos. ( )

see http://www.sfsite.com/04b/me126.htm ( )