Frankenstein

A star down for long theatrical shakespearean sentences. But I know it cannot be helped since it's been written 200 years ago.

I think Mary and I would've been great friends. The way she speaks in this book and pours her inner thoughts and heart into it is very similar to mine. A great book that gave birth to science-fiction genre.

However, I've no idea how does Kindle count the pages. It's supposed to be 126 pages long but they're either the longest pages I've ever encountered or it counts two pages as one. Because this book is waaaaay longer than it seems.

It's a shame I could never get around to reading this - because this is a masterpiece, in the truest sense of the word.
All of us know the gist, as Frankenstein's monster is a huge part of popular culture - Victor Frankenstein, a committed science student, discovers the secret of ‘animation' - the process by which life is injected into a body. He then attempts to create a sentient creature, and does so - but repulsed at his own creation, he deserts the creature. What happens in the novel is simply repercussions for the same.
But what really made the novel work was its maddeningly beautiful prose, and the sheer tragedy of the villain, Frankenstein's monster. Deprived of human affection due to his monstrous appearance, you feel for him, even though your sympathies are strongly tested. But Shelley's command of the language is unparalleled - you can visualize the downfall of both Victor and his creation, and it is just heart-rending to witness.
Another striking thing about the novel is the pacing - it is simultaneously beautiful and wretched to witness. It is an exercise in futility to think of all the ‘what-ifs', alluded so casually by Shelley at numerous parts of the novel. In fact, at some point, you just have to stop to take a deep breath, because it is so pulse-pounding.
I was thinking Frankenstein would be another one of those ‘classics', solely read because it's on all of those ‘best of all time' and ‘trope creator' lists. I will gladly admit though, that I have never been more glad to be proven so wrong.

As many others, I was already familiar with Frankenstein in pop-culture, but I didn't really know what to expect going into the novel itself. I was pleasantly surprised. The book is immensely sad and tragic, much more complex and philosophical than the standard tropes would lead one to believe. The language is a little hard to read, but after a few pages, I became accustomed to it.

Well, my feelings about this book are not defined yet. The media campaign has been done around Frankenstein made ​​me think it would be a horror story but I was very disappointed because the story was too slow and heavy. At times I seemed to be reading the story of a suicidal-manic rather than a scientist. The narrative was too boring and Victor Frankenstein a man appeared weak and with overly dramatic feelings. It seemed as if all men were too idealized characters and they seemed more passionate about the exaltation of suffering and pain. Moreover, at no time mentioned the real name of the monster and I don't understand why everyone calls him with the name of his creator.

However, I found interesting from the point of view of the monster. It made me think of a facet of humanity in which I hadn't pondered before. In conclusion, I still don't know if I hate or love this book.

Hey look at me! I finished Frankenstein!

I almost don't want to rate this book. It's clearly fantastically written and an essential classic. Everyone should read it!

Having said that, I found myself pushing my way through the story at the end, and I really just hate Victor Frankenstein. He's a spoiled little jackass.

3/5 stars for me, but with a deep respect for the literature and with a full understanding of how this could be 5/5 for others. Glad I read it!!

I can't imagine there's much left to say about Frankenstein that hasn't already been said elsewhere, so I won't go on too much.

When I first read Frankenstein as a teenager I thought the language was quite stilted, and though I appreciated the story at the heart of the book I found the text difficult to concentrate on. In contrast, on this read through, I was blown away by how beautifully written this book is and I wanted Shelley's prose to go on forever. Such is the difference between adult and teen, I guess.

Despite being two hundred years old and having been done to death in countless retellings, the sad story of Frankenstein and his monster still comes across as somehow modern and fresh. It does not suffer from the tedium that accompanies so many books of the early eighteen hundreds, and remains a relevant cautionary tale for this day and age.

This book is a true classic that has resoundingly withstood the test of time, and I loved every minute of it.

I liked this book a lot more the first time I read it, but this time around all I could see were the holes in the story (this might reflect more on me than on the book). My main problem was with the way the creature learned language, which was completely unbelievable. If you can get past that and a couple other flaws in the plot it is a good read.

I'm left mostly feeling confused by this book. Where others find beauty in the elongated descriptions of vistas and apparently-complex emotions, I had to really trudge to get through them. Where others come away believing Frankenstein is “The REAL Monster,” I am left perplexed to his courses of action and effectively saddened at the chain of events that made up the book. While I'm frustrated by The Monster's reactions and actions, I certainly don't think he's wrong on certain points, and find it hard to blame him for his behavior.

Spoiler tag for safe>sorry. The book really picked up for me when Frankenstein and the Monster had an actual conversation and we learned the Monster's story. While I have not consumed the horror movies that have led others to read this book, I still had an idea where it was going, but the most emotion this book got out of me was when Felix encountered the Monster holding on to his father and attacked him, resulting in their leaving their cottage. In this, Monster and Frankenstein had the same problem: why not SPEAK? You could have told Felix you were his ally, doing work to help him and his family. Frankenstein could have TOLD Clerval or Elizabeth about his experimentation resulting in an angry person capable of violence, and might have spared their deaths.

So I guess I'm glad I finished it, mostly for having read Frankenstein, and I can appreciate the humanity and fallibility of the characters, but it just doesn't reign among my favorite books I've ever read.

This book is like a bad dream.

A passionate scientist in the early 1800s embarks on a mission to create life from non-life, resulting in disastrous consequences.

All I remember from the abridged version, I read as a kid was a man made a monster and may or may not have made a female companion for him. I'd forgotten that Frankenstein was the scientist, not the monster. I haven't watched any of the movies. So I read this with untainted perspective.

For people expecting a sci-fi - there are no technical details. A ‘spark of life' and ‘chemical instruments' are all he needed to make a live being. That was a disappointment. It was clever though. Technicalities would have been pretty soon outdated. It was either none or nonsense. The book is long enough, and I'm glad she chose none.

Passion
The book begins with passion, goes through a lot of emotions and ends in tragedy.
“nothing contributes so much to tranquilize the mind as a steady purpose - a point on which the soul may fix its intellectual eye” -from Robert's letter.

The creature is a direct consequence of the fiery passion of Frankenstein.
“A new species would bless me as its creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me. No father would claim the gratitude of his child so completely as I should deserve theirs”
And then when the big guy starts moving, like a switch was flipped, Frankenstein's feelings change. Working on this project for 2 years, and only when it starts moving the dream bubble pops; his heart fills with “breathless horror and disgust”. It was not a deed or a conversation or the countenance that made him loathe it. It was the mere sight of him ‘alive.' When it was merely a science project, a goal to achieve, the ugliness did not matter. Did he foresee the ‘completely understandable havoc', the big guy was gonna wreck? Or was it simply because he was ugly? If the latter is the reason, which is more likely, then that was a pathetic turn of events. He did not even have a chance. With the power to meddle in nature's affairs comes responsibility to deal with the consequences, which I think is the point of the story.

“A human being in perfection ought always to preserve calm and peaceful mind and never to allow passion or a transitory device to disturb his tranquility. I do not think that pursuit of knowledge is an exception to this truth”

It is a socially acceptable psychosis when a scientist puts so much into work or a students prepares really hard for a test and everything around them ceases to matter. Full-on passion levitating you off ground reality is cool until you hit the ground with a thud.

Nature
Throughout the novel, the author spares no words in describing the grandeur of nature surrounding, encompassing our lead character, who is comparatively miniscule - the magnificence of the mountains, the raging avalanches, the torrential downpour, thunder, the winding river and the unrelenting wind, through which this lone man, a dot in the vastness, tries to wade through.
The apparent insurmountability is subtly intended.

Who's right.
Definitely the big guy. What was he to do? He was reasonable. Frankenstein could have atleast made him an infertile partner, they might have happily lived ever after. (If it was in the 21st century there is a slight chance of her going woke and spouting ‘I'm not made for a man' nonsense. Anyway...

How a fully grown ugly looking infant would survive in the wilderness of the society would be an interesting thought experiment. Other than the crash course on everything and anything else, he learns as a peeping tom on a whole family, our big guy has had no parenting. He believes he owes his compassionate personality to his ‘protectors', and if they were soldiers instead of a ‘loving family', he would have had a completely different outlook on life. Frankenstein refuses to believe the effect the nurture on the big guy; he calls him a daemon, a wretch and doesn't believe that his nature will change(?)

Is this just real lifeis this just fantasy
Is any of it real?
If not written as a recording of Robert's experience, this surely could be considered under the heading of ‘unreliable narrator'. Just for the sake of it, if we consider the story without Robert in it, everything following Frankenstein getting sick from too much work could be just dreams and hallucinations.

This book is like a bad dream. Why? Because the story goes everywhere.
There's a guy climbing mountains during rainstorms and avalanches, jailbreaking, enjoying the vista while sailing, a murder investigation, romance, capital punishment and making 8foot tall live being. Like dreams where you are chasing down the bus you just missed one moment, and the next moment you are in class, pantless; it appears incoherent from the outside but coherent from the outside.
And for some reason, the Kindle edition of this book I got was typed(?) twice; the book was over when I thought it was only half way through. I'll admit there was a sigh of relief, because things couldn't get worse, and there was nowhere the novel could go from there. Still unexpected abrupt endings are disappointing.

It's a tragic novel. There are plenty of literary effusions, so much of emotions that might seem a little over the top. The images are sharp, emotions intense, it was a novel idea at the time and there's nothing quite like this since or before this. As a ‘sci-fi' venture during the romantic era, Frankenstein surely deserves the unique status it has in literature.