( 4 reviews )
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Posted: Sep 25 2008
The Barnes and Noble edition of this book provides some great comprehensive reading tools-a short biography on Mary Shelley, a timeline of all the literary happenings during Shelley's life, a comprehensive introduction, non-intrusive footnotes, endnotes, comments and study questions. The story in and of itself is dark and well spun, but in the end it leaves one feeling more dead than alive. Unfortunately, I don't think there would be a more fitting way to end a story like this. An ingenious classic, but a tragic one at that.
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Posted: Sep 3 2007
It is pretty surprising that something come up with almost on a whim toprovide a diversion has come to be such an important text for twogenres, both horror and science fiction.Victor Frankenstein's obsession with the creation of life ultimately ends in tragedy and death for those around him.
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( 2 of 3 found this review helpful ) Posted: Dec 20 2005
Victor grew up reading the works of Paracelsus, Agrippa, and Albertus Magnus, the alchemists of the time. Toss in a little natural philosophy (sciences) and you have the making of a monster. Or at least a being that after being spurned for looking ugly becomes ugly. So for revenge the creature decides unless Victor makes another (female this time) creature, that Victor will also suffer the loss of friends and relatives. What is victor to do? Bow to the wishes and needs of his creation? Or challenge it to the death? What would you do? Although the concept of the monster is good, and the conflicts of the story well thought out, Shelly suffers from the writing style of the time. Many people do not finish the book as the language is stilted and verbose for example when was the last time you said, "Little did I then expect the calamity that was in a few moments to overwhelm me and extinguish in horror and despair all fear of ignominy of death." Much of the book seems like travel log filler. More time describing the surroundings of Europe than the reason for traveling or just traveling. Many writers use traveling to reflect time passing or the character growing in stature or knowledge. In this story they just travel a lot. This book is definitely worth plodding through for moviegoers. The record needs to be set strait. First shock is that the creator is named Victor Frankenstein; the creature is just "monster" not Frankenstein. And it is Victor that is backwards which added in him doing the impossible by not knowing any better. The monster is well read in "Sorrows of a Young Werther," "Paradise Lost," and Plutarch's "Lives." The debate (mixed with a few murders) rages on as to whether the monster was doing evil because of his nature or because he was spurned?
