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A review by isabellarobinson7
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
3.0
Rating: 3 stars
Stuff I knew beforehand:
- Mary Shelley, wife of poet Percy Shelley, wrote the book while stuck in the Villa Diodati mansion during a huge storm. The occupants got bored and tasked one another to write the scariest story they could, and Mary wrote Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus
- "Frankenstein" who the title is referring to, was the doctor who made the monster, not the monster himself (yes internet, I pay attention). The doctor got a whole bunch of pieces of people and stitched them together to make the monster
- The green colouring and metal bolts are a film creation and were not present in the book
- Who the real monster of the story is is up to interpretation
Frankenstein is one of the more personable classics I have read. Maybe I've just been reading the wrong ones, but I find that books from the 1800's tend to be rather dry and lacking in character depth, but Frankenstein was full of personality, from Victor Frankenstein to the monster himself (who I started calling "Frank" in my head). I think that last point of my "stuff I knew beforehand" list was the strongest part of the book, because Shelley was a master of the unreliable narrator. There are three different accounts of events in the book, each having its own biases and opinions that effect its validity, so which tale is the actual truth is more or less left up for you to decide (I'm just going to take the easy road out and say it was a combination of all three).
As for enjoyment, yes, I liked it, but it would be more accurate to say I appreciated it. It's solid, but not a new favourite. Maybe I say this only because I am looking at it through a modern lens, but I'm afraid I physically can't read it in any other way.
Stuff I knew beforehand:
- Mary Shelley, wife of poet Percy Shelley, wrote the book while stuck in the Villa Diodati mansion during a huge storm. The occupants got bored and tasked one another to write the scariest story they could, and Mary wrote Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus
- "Frankenstein" who the title is referring to, was the doctor who made the monster, not the monster himself (yes internet, I pay attention). The doctor got a whole bunch of pieces of people and stitched them together to make the monster
- The green colouring and metal bolts are a film creation and were not present in the book
- Who the real monster of the story is is up to interpretation
Frankenstein is one of the more personable classics I have read. Maybe I've just been reading the wrong ones, but I find that books from the 1800's tend to be rather dry and lacking in character depth, but Frankenstein was full of personality, from Victor Frankenstein to the monster himself (who I started calling "Frank" in my head). I think that last point of my "stuff I knew beforehand" list was the strongest part of the book, because Shelley was a master of the unreliable narrator. There are three different accounts of events in the book, each having its own biases and opinions that effect its validity, so which tale is the actual truth is more or less left up for you to decide (I'm just going to take the easy road out and say it was a combination of all three).
As for enjoyment, yes, I liked it, but it would be more accurate to say I appreciated it. It's solid, but not a new favourite. Maybe I say this only because I am looking at it through a modern lens, but I'm afraid I physically can't read it in any other way.