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Frankenstein: The 1818 Text

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley,

Charlotte Gordon (Introduction)

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What Members Thought

May 13, 2010 Book Concierge rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: book-club, 19th-century, audio, science-fiction, england, movie, library, concierge, literature, horror

A classic "ghost" story. Victor Frankenstein pursues science to its logical extreme to create life, and he is immediately horrified at his own success. The monster, however, is intelligent and resourceful and comes to understand his own loneliness and therefore seeks revenge on his creator. There are many unexplained occurences (How'd the monster find the ship? or get Henry Clerval's body onto the very shore that Frankenstein would wind up on?) especially for today's more savvy reader, but it's ...more

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May 10, 2009 Alexia rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This book is a quick read, in both length and pace. It seems to pick up as it goes on, at the beginning I was thinking it's a three-star book but as I reached the end I felt it was solidly a 4-star book. The plot itself was good and at its core posed intriguing questions. Sometimes the writing in this book seemed filled with unnecessary diversions, though. I think it could have been strengthened by reducing some of that length. Possibly even making it a short story.
I really liked how both Frank ...more

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Oct 18, 2010 Tien rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: classic, horror, thriller

I remember reading this over a decade ago, in the middle of the night when everybody else in the house was asleep and thunderstorm outside. It was a fantastic atmosphere for reading this material.

Unfortunately, I didn't have the same sort of atmosphere this time around even though it was Haloween or maybe I've just grown up that it's just not scary anymore...

The format of the book is that of a series of letters written by Walton to his dear sister, Margaret. Walton is an explorer in nature & amb ...more

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Feb 22, 2010 Nadine in NY Jones rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: saw-the-movie-b4-i-read-the-book, fantasy-and-sci-fi, classic, 1001-books, zombies

On NPR's list of top 100 sci if & fantasy
http://www.npr.org/2011/08/11/1390858... ...more

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May 27, 2011 Erin WV rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, on-my-shelves, digital-read, 2010

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Frankenstein is not as awesome a read as its thematic soulmate Dracula, because Dracula has more action. Victor (AKA Dr. Frankenstein) is an incredibly passive character to hang this novel on. Early on, he narrates almost feverishly about the years that he spends studying, researching, experimenting to discover how to recreate the spark of life. Then he does, and his creature lives. He’s terrified of the creature, so he runs away—literally—and when he returns to his house, the creature has disap Frankenstein is not as awesome a read as its thematic soulmate Dracula, because Dracula has more action. Victor (AKA Dr. Frankenstein) is an incredibly passive character to hang this novel on. Early on, he narrates almost feverishly about the years that he spends studying, researching, experimenting to discover how to recreate the spark of life. Then he does, and his creature lives. He’s terrified of the creature, so he runs away—literally—and when he returns to his house, the creature has disappeared. And then a year passes while he tries to forget what he did. Later, after he’s seen the creature again, and the creature has demanded that Victor build him a female companion, Victor agrees. He spends a few months arranging a trip to England to work with some scientists there. He travels there slowly—in a downright leisurely manner–with a friend. Then they spend a few months traveling the English countryside.

From Derby, still journeying northwards, we passed two months in Cumberland and Westmorland. I could now almost fancy myself among the Swiss mountains.

Really, Victor, is that so? GET TO WORK. They’re here and there and Victor keeps describing scenery—mountains and rivers and fields. Look at the men of Dracula comparatively—Seward, Harker, Van Helsing, the other guys—they’re all working, all the time. They’re staying up all night doing blood transfusions on Lucy, then they’re staking out the cemetery, then they’re planning to infiltrate the Count’s house, and they’re jumping on and off trains. They’re dynamos. I’m not saying that Dracula is an inherently better book for that, or those men inherently better characters. Victor’s ambivalence and fretting over what he’s done is complex and interesting. It just makes the book a bit less suspenseful than Stoker’s. Supposedly Mary Shelley originally composed the story to be told around a roaring fire. Maybe she put in all the aimless wandering later.

Philosophically, it’s incredibly interesting—tons of circuitous little routes to follow. The most obvious is the question of the man of science playing God. In high school, which was the first time I read Frankenstein, I wrote a paper about how the debate about technology and ethics was still relevant to the modern world, using the cloning controversy as my example. (Remember Dolly, the first cloned sheep? She was new then.)

This time, I was fascinated by the part where the monster demanded that Frankenstein make him a mate. He basically lays blackmail at Victor's feet—he says, I am unloved so I am unhappy. As long as I’m unhappy, everybody DIES. Make me a girl and you’ll never hear from us again. If you don’t, everybody DIES. I started thinking about the idea of the outcast, the pariah, and what their retaliatory rights actually are. If society disenfranchises a person (or a race, or an ethnic group, or a gender or a class, etc.) does that person/race/group have the right to turn to violence? Or should they turn the other cheek? You could trace a lot of different philosophical perspectives all congregating in this one scene.

I don’t know why Victor doesn’t just kill the monster, though. He has many opportunities; presumably one good shot to the head would do it. Then he DOES decide to kill the monster. But he waits until morning, and then he walks on the beach to think about it, and then he takes a nap. This is maybe the most meandery book I’ve ever read. Still, the hype is true. It’s a masterpiece of the English language. ...more

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Oct 31, 2016 Jgrace rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: kindle, audio, judithg, jgrace, play-book-tag, fantasy, horror, 1001-books-you-must-read-before-you, read-in-2016, 19th-century

Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus - Mary Shelley
3 stars
Blackstone audio performance by Simon Templeton, Anthony Heald, Stefan Rudnicki

Probably, I should have read this one before I ever saw Young Frankenstein. I’m glad that I finally read the original effort that has inspired so many others. But, as I was reading and listening to Mary Shelley’s pompous, moralizing characters, I kept thinking that it would be so much more fun to watch Gene Wilder, Marty Feldman and Madeline Kahn. From a ...more

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Aug 31, 2010 Heather Reads Books rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, mfa-reading-list

Not as good as I remember. Although still pretty fantastically cool. I love the idea, but I can really tell that this was written by a 20-year-old. Something about the structure. Just the way everything was presented -- especially when it goes into a lengthy well-spoken narration from the monster's point of view. I thought he was quite cultured for being alive a few months and learning everything about humanity from watching a few people live their lives. I don't know.

Still gets four stars for t ...more

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Jul 10, 2010 Kristel rated it really liked it

Shelves: 1001-books, 1001-challenge, npr-100-sf-fantasy-books, gothic

Story of a monster. Shelley create this story during an evening spent with friends. The literary device would be "projecting the perils of man seeking to play God." (Foster). The real monster is the creator in this story. This book projects the period of the nineteenth century of the dual nature of man, that we are both good and evil. ...more

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Aug 21, 2012 Rachel Jones rated it it was ok · review of another edition

I would have rated this much higher if the book had focused mainly on the monster's story.....but 100+ pages of Frankenstein moaning about how miserable he felt does not a classic make. ...more

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Mar 24, 2008 Nicole rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I think the tragedy of this novel is the creation itself. I like the novel, and am rereading it as well. I recommend horror and literature fans to read this.

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