Frankenstein
Ratings1,265
Average rating3.8
Three stars for now, but it really only gains that high of a rating because of its significance to literature and horror. Over time I'm sure my opinion of it will sink lower. Some other people have reviewed this book much more eloquently. I feel too brain numb from it to write a detailed review.
I never say this, but: Just watch the movie, friends.
Una obra profundamente romántica, con una perfecta representación de la naturaleza humana, el contraste entre el bien y el mal. Se muestra la evolución de Victor Fankenstein, pasando de la ambición hasta la desesperación y la locura. Además de los sentimientos de su “monstruosa” creación, tan humanos, pero despreciados por su apariencia.
Todo se envuelve en un aura de melancolía, solemnidad, y oscuridad, con paisajes grises, tempestuosos, representación del alma humana ante lo infinito y lo sublime.
This book is really slow paced. I really enjoyed the concepts and the craft of the story itself but I did not like the pacing at all. For a relatively short book, it dragged on and on. Overall I enjoyed it but I wish the pacing didn't feel so sluggish.
A must read for any true science fiction fan. Given that this was written over 200 years ago, the prose is understandably dated and, although this shouldn't detract from the novel, I struggled with the pace of it. I'm sure that if I read it again I would have a different interpretation and so would be able to reconcile many of the elements that I saw as inconsistencies but, for now, I can't say that I enjoyed it.
Frankenstein's monster has one of the best villain origin stories ever. Queen Mary Shelley really invented the science fiction genre at age 19
Admittedly, in certain parts of the novel Frankenstein can ramble a little repetitively and sometimes the story is oppressed with an overly melodramatic tone but over all I really enjoyed this story. Unlike the Hollywood counterpart this story is very different. Frankenstein (the creator not the monster) is found and saved by adventurer Robert Walton and through this framed narrative we learn of Frankenstein's creation and the horrible fate that envelopes Frankenstein in the consequences of such a creation. I love the conflicted nature of the narrative and how at the end of the book you are conflicted about who the monster really was. I loved the depth given to the character of the monster and the strong themes within the novel of Religion, Philosophy and Science as well as Revenge and Ownership. This book was dark but utterly enthralling and intoxicating. This book certainly deserves a re read in the future to glean the most from Shelley's impressive storytelling! A pleasant surprise to read. A 4 and a half star read!
Update: I need to reread this because only now I realized this is an early fictional text with vegetarian themes :0 shooketh.
This book is about an unnamed creature and his overly emotional dad who prefers vacations over spending time with his son.
It uses romanticism to describe locations from all over Europe, the characters take away a lot of value from them, there are locations to which the author has been. The book makes the reader think about what influenced the characters to act the way they do because characters reflect on themselves a lot. The main characters are deeply flawed and aren't afraid to show feminine sides of themselves, it's a good exercise in empathy.
There are themes of science and nature, idleness and action present.
It is a very melodramatic, slow-paced read. Sometimes it is very engaging and a breeze to read, sometimes the reader wants more to happen because of wordiness and repetitiveness. A character lamenting their misery for ages is what you should expect here, that being both good and bad.
Page upon page of vainglorious whining. Wasn't aware that the author was so young when she wrote it, but it makes the melodrama more understandable. Utter crud.
There is so much to admire about this book...the dynamic vocabulary...the structure of a story within a story within a story...the sadness of the disappointment and eventual horror of creating a disappointed and eventually desperately sad being...the resonating depth of the implications of creation...a brilliant work.
The story is of a man on boat, Walton, in the cold regions of the world who comes upon a man by the name of Frankenstein who is almost frozen; Walton rescues Frankenstein, and the two develop a friendship based on their common interest in the powers of science. Frankenstein begins to tell Walton his story as a cautionary tale, and the full horrors that are potentially in creation are revealed in Frankenstein's story of how he made a human and how his creation went awry.
The final takeaway from this book is that of all good stories: this story keeps you thinking about the implications of the story for many days after you have finished reading the book.
I LOVED this edition of Frankenstein and I find Mary Shelley to have been a genius of a writer to have written this at the age of 19 (she had a baby too around the time which makes it even more incredulous to me).
I really liked how she details in on human emotions and not just the expression of them, rather their reasons as well. Something that stood out to me were instances where education was discussed and I find that even about 200 years ago, a lot of the problems and thoughts concerning education were the same. I found that there was a lot a person could take from this book if they wanted to, or merely read it for the plot and that would do too.
It's a short novel but having a nice audiobook version (one by Cori Samuels) made my experience even better.
Mary Shelley is an impeccable writer. A tormented man blessed with life and a tormented monster cursed with life, who is more human?
I absolutely despise Victor Frankenstein and I feel he deserved all of his torture. While I feel bad for the innocent people who were killed, the agony it caused Frankenstein was justly deserved. I feel so terrible for his creation and I genuinely wish that it had found love and friendship. This was an incredibly exciting read and definitely a favorite!
3.5?
Parts of it was exactly what I wanted: man's nature, what it means to create and to be responsible for our creation, difficult decisions, man v man, man v self, man v nature, eloquence, gothic fiction...
At other times it was long winded about things that did not connect (or at least did not seem to) such as the level of detail about the people the creature spent time with. At least when Hugo went on and on about the Paris sewer system it connected in the end.
It helped that I had recently read a graphic adaptation of the story; they helped make sense of each other.
Okay so, overall I loved this. At the start and all the way towards the middle I mentally had already put this in the four star-range, but then towards the end I just got a bit frustrated with everyone's actions (or lack of actions) and how overly lengthy some parts were.
I like the story. I actually like Frankenstein (in a way that I find him very interesting, even if extremely flawed). And I like the questions it gives you about life.
But it just got very muddled towards the end. It started to lose me a bit during The Creature's tale which went on a bit too long, and then when Victor finally decided to take some action against the creature, and didn't realize what exactly the Creature had meant with "I will be there on your wedding night". Why oh why wouldn't you suspect that he wouldn't just harm you?? Also, how disrespectful towards Elizabeth to promise to tell her everything the day after their wedding, so if she wanted to back out after hearing it all, she couldn't.Also, as sorry as I felt for Victor overall, man, he sure didn't think things through. As soon as The Creature was created and he wasn't what he had expected, he just goes "screw this, I'm outta here" and leaves it there and then that's it. I was fine with that, because for him it was a surprise for him and like, what do you do in that situation, but that sort of inaction went on for way too long and it got very frustrating, I thought.
I do have to say, I am very glad I read/listened to this. I'm slightly interested in the classic gothic horror stories, but especially with Penny Dreadful, it's fun to get more into them. And this is still my favorite of the (albeit few) ones I've read by far.
I also love how much Penny Dreadful took from this (because of the adaptations I've seen, it's amazing how many just plain ignored a lot of stuff concerning The Creature). Especially him asking for a companion and being able to speak fluently after having taught himself. I loved that.
I listened to the Audible version, narrated by Dan Stevens, and I probably wouldn't have had it any other way. He was excellent and it wouldn't have had the same effect on me if it had been someone else or if I had just read it. His voice is great for storytelling and it helped a lot in the immersion.
3.85
Keep in mind, this was a first read-through. I'll probably reread it later in life and enjoy it more. It took me a while to get through the book - not necessarily bc Frankenstein is super boring (although it did have its moments - giving background info, setting a scene, etc) but you have to be in the right mindset to really enjoy the book.
For anyone not familiar with the Frankenstein story, I'll try not to spoil too much but read at your own discretion
♦ Victor is 100% a narcissist and loves his family and best friend as much as he possibly can.
» That was another thing that threw me off for a bit! Since the families used to arrange marriages and stuff, people - specifically guys - would create these super close bonds - they're basically brothers. So the way that they talk about each other is kind of romantic bc the language at this time was kind of extra. Don't get me wrong it's pretty, but if you're not expecting it, it's weird.
» It's funny how little people have changed tho... After making his creation come to life (and realizing what he had actually done), he decided to just go to bed and hope that his problems would go away... and then only when he absolutely HAD to did he deal with it. I feel like we as a society do this all the time and I'm fairly confident that Mary wrote her characters in certain ways based on other people and what she saw but I could be wrong.
♦ The Creature was a super gentle being! (If a little grotesque and 8 FEET TALL - still cant get over how he just walked out of a college one day - IN THE LITERAL MORNING - and NOBODY noticed anything strange!) He just needed a friend... Like Victor at college.... and Walton...
You don't understand how intricate this book was! It was crazy - layer upon layer upon layer! And it would never stand up in court bc it's literal letters... so it went a little something like this:
sometimes the Creature
Now, I still have a few questions about the book, but my biggest one: What about Earnst??? What happened to him? This poor middle-child kept getting forgotten in the storyline and I'm just- where did he go?
Sometimes when driving, you wind up in a roundabout, and your destination is right after the first exit. You could just simply go, or you could take five whole spins around the roundabout and then go to the destination you needed to go. Unnecessary, but you still wound up in the same place, despite the extra miles being meaningless.
This book does just that, a whole page's worth of boring, unnecessary, repetitive descriptions of trivial things that add nothing to the story, in reality, it only seems to drag it down. Despite having interesting themes, it fails to grasp interest where it matters. Yeah, I get it that little Frankie boy feels remorse and horror, that the monster is the most human character of all, and that he wanted companionship with a Ms.Monster. But I don't feel any sympathy for these characters when they monologue for almost 2 entire chapters and it doesn't feel... real. The dialogue looks so out of place, no real person talks like this.
Imagine you are dying in your bed, and you talk super eloquently while having immense pain. Does not happen, ever.
My favorite part was when he said “It's Frankensteining Time!”
Amazing emotion. Not like any Hollywood movie. The monsters story is touching and profound.
I'm on monster's side. The little shit deserved to die, and Frankenstein deserved to live without a loved one, just as he condemned his creation to live without love.
And having stood on ice for weeks and knowing that they will certainly be dead unless they return, and then tell them they are cowards and should continue... what an arse! No, I do not consider Frankenstein in any way a good man, or having any noble qualities. He should have blamed himself and sacrificed himself to live with his creation and be a father to his son, instead of deeming him evil just because he looked horrible. HE didn't create himself!
I don’t know why this book says it is two authors because we all know that’s not true. As far as the book goes. It was great story with an absolute great tragedy. I really enjoyed it but did have a tough time with the old world English. Great literary classic.