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Frankenstein: The 1818 Text

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley,

Charlotte Gordon (Introduction)

Start date: January 1, 2019

Finish date: January 31, 2019

Discussion: After the Book Discussion

Why we're reading this: Oh the Horror challenge book January 2019
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What Members Thought

Feb 15, 2020 Roger rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

Wow. I have so much to say about Frankenstein. This book was written over two-hundred years ago, and still holds up quite well today. I warn you I do not think I can write this review without committing some SPOILERS, so beware. Even though this is an older book I will try to keep it to a minimum.

If you are like me your impression of Frankenstein was formed by the cinema first and foremost. The novel is a thrilling story, though the book is radically different from the innumerable films of the Wow. I have so much to say about Frankenstein. This book was written over two-hundred years ago, and still holds up quite well today. I warn you I do not think I can write this review without committing some SPOILERS, so beware. Even though this is an older book I will try to keep it to a minimum.

If you are like me your impression of Frankenstein was formed by the cinema first and foremost. The novel is a thrilling story, though the book is radically different from the innumerable films of the same name. I retain quite a bit of fondness for the films, especially the James Whale version. But I can picture every English teacher who ever taught this novel in their class posing this essay question: "Describe how the Frankenstein Monster is created." And then flunking every kid who decided he could get away with watching the movie. One of the things I enjoyed about the book was the nod to Victor Frankenstein's skills as a chemist. It is obvious that chemical not electrical means are used to grant life to the Monster. Any predilection for grave robbing is neatly glossed over and there is no one named Igor ("It's pronounced Eye-gor" and you read that in Marty Feldman's voice) to be seen.

I need to take a moment to talk about the character of Victor Frankenstein because there is something here that bothers me. Victor is essentially a polymath. This towering intellect proves to be...an idiot. He creates new life and never gives so much a whit of thought to what will happen after he does so. He makes no provisions for his creation-so when he is described as the proverbial mad scientist I cannot help but agree. Yes there is enough blame to go around-the Monster may have been born an innocent but he makes a lot of questionable moral choices (that is the most oblique way I know of stating it) and he seems quite cognizant of the difference between good and evil. But I feel you can trace it all back to Victor's bad act-one commits sins of omission and the other therefore commits sins of commission.

I also am driven to point out something: Hey! Bad news for every Gamer-Gater or chauvinistic fanboy or nerdy incel out there-all the things you profess to love, such as your video games or the fantasy or science fiction genres? You owe it all to a woman. Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley was a bigger badass than you'll ever be.

Here is a note I am including just for myself that is not directly related to this review: Frankenstein is one of the few books I own more than one edition of. I own a nice compact Airmont Classics edition (I buy these whenever I can find them, as classics are a neglected sub-genre of literature these days you can usually find them dirt cheap and in great shape.) I also own an edition illustrated by the late Berni Wrightson which I will never part with-if you have a few minutes you should do a Google search to look at some of the images he created as they are stunning. And I own the 200th Anniversary edition which my son got me as a gift, so of course that is the one I read from.

Five stars and I am adding this to my favorites shelf. ...more

4 likes · Like · see review

Jan 12, 2019 Tracy rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: actual-book, own-it, paranormal-urban-fantasy, horror, classics, read-in-2019

This book was hard for me to get through. I am convinced now, after reading several classics in my adult life, that I am just not a fan of the writing style of most classics. That being said, even though parts of this book were so slow for me, I thought this was a good book. Lessons within that are still relevant today and everyone should probably give this book a read. Also the edition I own has illustration by Lynd Ward which I really loved.

2 likes · Like · see review

Jun 12, 2012 Elizabeth rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: preternatural, historical-fiction

I wasn't crazy about this book, but I definitely found myself sympathizing with, not Frankenstein, but his monster. This book was less of a horror and more of a sad thriller. Frankenstein's creation just wanted to fit in and I think any of us would've gone a little crazy if people screamed every time they saw us. I was a little annoyed at how many stories they fit into this tale. For instance, the cottagers' fit into the story, but we didn't really need to know about Felix and Safie and all that ...more

1 like · Like · see review