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theonlymoreso's review against another edition
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
jaredmoment's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
sammiemm25's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
evagachus's review against another edition
3.0
I feel for the creature, though I was quite bored reading the book. different time frame of course. its really a sordid tale. read if you must. I feel accomplished knowing the real tale of Frankenstein.
am_pugs's review against another edition
2.0
While I can appreciate the contributions to the sci-fi genre, which, at the time of this publication, didn't really exist, I also can't fault all of the issues ihave with this one on the evolution of language. This book is so ridiculously heavy with prose, it's almost painful to read. It also struggles to portray any modern semblance of horror or thriller, and even the mystery falls short. I can grasp that the point was to illuminate the darkness within each human rather than what creeps and crawls in the night, but each chapter was essentially just a long monolog. Very little dialog or interaction between characters. I can see where later stories evolved, like The Tell-Tale Heart, from the internal madness story of narration, but otherwise im glad to finally be done with it.
heathersdesk's review against another edition
5.0
What happens when someone with every advantage in life becomes immune to all good sense and correction?
Dr. Frankenstein and his descent into madness and self-destruction is such an interesting character study. That is the ongoing strength of this novel after all these centuries. Much of what happens between him and his creation is totally unnecessary—it didn't need to turn out this way. But the consequences of stubbornness, neglect, ethical failures, and lapses in judgment during the creative process leads to violence and their mutual destruction. I've seen so many takes on this as a treatise about scientific advancement. It's equally prescient on toxic parent/child relationships broken by neglect, misogyny and the objectification of women in their most significant relationships, and the dangers of isolation and a lack of supervision in education.
While the pacing slows in places due to lengthy setting descriptions, the setting becomes part of the psychological landscape being explored and relished in by Shelley. This isn't a modern novel and it doesn't read like one in that respect.
If you ever try to do Frankenstein as a shared read with your best friend, make sure you're both reading the same version of the story, it will lead to confusion and disagreements that will feel like you're gaslighting each other. And the one on Spotify narrated by David Dobrik drove me nuts because of how he mispronounces words.
Dr. Frankenstein and his descent into madness and self-destruction is such an interesting character study. That is the ongoing strength of this novel after all these centuries. Much of what happens between him and his creation is totally unnecessary—it didn't need to turn out this way. But the consequences of stubbornness, neglect, ethical failures, and lapses in judgment during the creative process leads to violence and their mutual destruction. I've seen so many takes on this as a treatise about scientific advancement. It's equally prescient on toxic parent/child relationships broken by neglect, misogyny and the objectification of women in their most significant relationships, and the dangers of isolation and a lack of supervision in education.
While the pacing slows in places due to lengthy setting descriptions, the setting becomes part of the psychological landscape being explored and relished in by Shelley. This isn't a modern novel and it doesn't read like one in that respect.
If you ever try to do Frankenstein as a shared read with your best friend, make sure you're both reading the same version of the story, it will lead to confusion and disagreements that will feel like you're gaslighting each other. And the one on Spotify narrated by David Dobrik drove me nuts because of how he mispronounces words.
fablesandwren's review against another edition
3.0
Have you heard a story about Frankenstein? Have you heard of the monster and horrifying creature that he is? Have you seen the destruction that he caused the world that he lives in?
Well, I have a secret for you: IT IS WRONG.
First, Frankenstein is the scientist/the creator. The Frankenstein MONSTER is the actual Frankenstein you have come to know and fear.
Secondly, the Frankenstein Monster is a troubled soul. He is a masterpiece of deceased people pulled apart and forced together and brought to life. I wonder if those parts of people brought pieces of the souls of their past and that is what his soul was. He was very troubled and very torn. He had some destructive behaviors, but I believe that was because he wasn’t supposed to be here and didn’t have a purpose.
The monster dealt with the pull of both good and evil. He was sad, desperate to find purpose and to fulfill his loneliness. Honestly, it is what people deal with in life except dramaticized 100000x percent.
Mary Shelley had an extraordinary imagination. She made my heart yearn to help the Frankenstein Monster. The creation is so well drawn out and powerfully portrayed that he is the reason why I fell in love with the emotion of this story. Honestly, he is probably the best written creation that we have ever heard of.
The story starts out with Victor Frankenstein being the hero of the story and wanted to be able to create life. He is tormented with other circumstances and wanted to unlock the secrets of the universe. Then he creates the monster and he is horrified by it. He hates his own creation! He put the body together, different parts from different people, and actually brought it to life AND HE HATED IT. He finally reached the end of his goal, to make life through science, and he hated it. He ran away from it and called it a monster, when all it wanted was to find its place and to be loved by the human creatures. So scratch Frankenstein being the hero, and put him down for the villain!
The monster honestly was the hero in this story. I say hero meaning the character that deserves the sympathy and love of the readers. Frankenstein deserves to be villain: the character you don’t like but you love to not like.
Shelley portrays both sides of the event. She makes you understand the torture of the monster, but then again shines light on the tug on helping and running away from the monster that Frankenstein had.
I recommend this book to anyone that wants to read a classic of the literature. It takes a while to get to the part about the Frankenstein monster (meaning you are reading letters, talking to someone, talking to someone, that knew that one guy from the place that knows the story from his sister’s husbands aunt… one of those things), but it is totally worth reading in the end. I got the audio tape to listen to on my runs now and I can’t be more excited to hear someone else tell the story and hear the difference on how they portrayed the story from me.
Great Job Shelley, seriously!
Well, I have a secret for you: IT IS WRONG.
First, Frankenstein is the scientist/the creator. The Frankenstein MONSTER is the actual Frankenstein you have come to know and fear.
Secondly, the Frankenstein Monster is a troubled soul. He is a masterpiece of deceased people pulled apart and forced together and brought to life. I wonder if those parts of people brought pieces of the souls of their past and that is what his soul was. He was very troubled and very torn. He had some destructive behaviors, but I believe that was because he wasn’t supposed to be here and didn’t have a purpose.
The monster dealt with the pull of both good and evil. He was sad, desperate to find purpose and to fulfill his loneliness. Honestly, it is what people deal with in life except dramaticized 100000x percent.
Mary Shelley had an extraordinary imagination. She made my heart yearn to help the Frankenstein Monster. The creation is so well drawn out and powerfully portrayed that he is the reason why I fell in love with the emotion of this story. Honestly, he is probably the best written creation that we have ever heard of.
The story starts out with Victor Frankenstein being the hero of the story and wanted to be able to create life. He is tormented with other circumstances and wanted to unlock the secrets of the universe. Then he creates the monster and he is horrified by it. He hates his own creation! He put the body together, different parts from different people, and actually brought it to life AND HE HATED IT. He finally reached the end of his goal, to make life through science, and he hated it. He ran away from it and called it a monster, when all it wanted was to find its place and to be loved by the human creatures. So scratch Frankenstein being the hero, and put him down for the villain!
The monster honestly was the hero in this story. I say hero meaning the character that deserves the sympathy and love of the readers. Frankenstein deserves to be villain: the character you don’t like but you love to not like.
Shelley portrays both sides of the event. She makes you understand the torture of the monster, but then again shines light on the tug on helping and running away from the monster that Frankenstein had.
I recommend this book to anyone that wants to read a classic of the literature. It takes a while to get to the part about the Frankenstein monster (meaning you are reading letters, talking to someone, talking to someone, that knew that one guy from the place that knows the story from his sister’s husbands aunt… one of those things), but it is totally worth reading in the end. I got the audio tape to listen to on my runs now and I can’t be more excited to hear someone else tell the story and hear the difference on how they portrayed the story from me.
Great Job Shelley, seriously!
thia117's review against another edition
4.0
Much more philosophical than I realized. Of course I think that most of what I "knew" about Frankenstein came from images of the movie.
monitamohan's review against another edition
5.0
A young scientist suffering a great loss decides to challenge natural law and bring back the dead. But his experiments backfire. Now he fears for his life, and those of the people he loves.
Sounds like the same old story we have been reading, watching, creating for ages, right? But, this story is the origin of all of those fantasies. ‘Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus’ written by 19-year-old Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley was the precursor to the fantasy and science-fiction novels of today. And it was written on a dare...
Victor Frankenstein becomes obsessed with the idea of recreating life, but the life he creates is a ‘miserable monster’. Our nameless antagonist is privy to the dark side of humanity from the very get-go. Abandoned by his creator, he is shunned by society, the creature who was once a monster in appearance only, becomes a monster to be feared.
Despite its age, this book transcends all ages and all genres. Even though the writing and style is dated, the story keeps you moving. It is descriptive, frightening and suspenseful - it has drama and philosophy.
There is an enduring beauty to a story and character that has lived for so long. I read this book and it spoke to me on so many levels. I read this book a couple of years ago and it stayed with me much longer than I expected. The story is as old as time, but what struck me was how relevant and topical the notions of the book were. In a world where superficial beauty is celebrated at every turn, a book that brings to the fore the horrors society will inflict when someone doesn’t conform to the usual standards felt so apt.
2016 marks 200 years since the inception of literature’s greatest monster. For me, it’s a book that speaks to anyone who has ever been an outsider.
There is no end to the magical quality of this book. I could read this again and again and again.
Sounds like the same old story we have been reading, watching, creating for ages, right? But, this story is the origin of all of those fantasies. ‘Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus’ written by 19-year-old Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley was the precursor to the fantasy and science-fiction novels of today. And it was written on a dare...
Victor Frankenstein becomes obsessed with the idea of recreating life, but the life he creates is a ‘miserable monster’. Our nameless antagonist is privy to the dark side of humanity from the very get-go. Abandoned by his creator, he is shunned by society, the creature who was once a monster in appearance only, becomes a monster to be feared.
Despite its age, this book transcends all ages and all genres. Even though the writing and style is dated, the story keeps you moving. It is descriptive, frightening and suspenseful - it has drama and philosophy.
There is an enduring beauty to a story and character that has lived for so long. I read this book and it spoke to me on so many levels. I read this book a couple of years ago and it stayed with me much longer than I expected. The story is as old as time, but what struck me was how relevant and topical the notions of the book were. In a world where superficial beauty is celebrated at every turn, a book that brings to the fore the horrors society will inflict when someone doesn’t conform to the usual standards felt so apt.
2016 marks 200 years since the inception of literature’s greatest monster. For me, it’s a book that speaks to anyone who has ever been an outsider.
There is no end to the magical quality of this book. I could read this again and again and again.
corinazk's review against another edition
5.0
Surprisingly, I never read this book in school.
From popular culture, my expectations for this book were incorrect. I expected the story to be more of a thriller/horror narrative, but the fear and dread wasn't as acute as modern thriller books. Frankenstein's description of his experiment were academic yet vague compared to what I was expecting (violent and graphic). In retrospect my mental definition of gothic needs to be corrected.
The prose as an epistolary novel was engaging and emotional, which I enjoyed. There's something about journal entries or letters that conveys so much emotion and yet provides great cliff-hangers by nature of the entry ending.
I particularly enjoyed Frankenstein and his status as the unreliable narrator. When reading his journal entries, you can't help but accept his comments as truth, but every time he tries to tell someone his story, he completely fails at doing it in a way that the listener could conceivably believe that Frankenstein is coherent and sane. Rather, he's off his rocker. A loose cannon. Cuckoo. haha. Then he and the monster start to merge into the same persona of having an outrageous and vindictive goal, for all their belief that they are a good person. Towards the end, you notice the mirroring of Frankenstein and the monster's speech, and their internalized portrayal of themselves as a victim, with a strong de-emphasis on their crimes. Shelley did a great job of making the reader sympathetic to the monster, and the monster's monologue (part 2, I believe?) was probably my favorite.
Frankenstein isn't as in-your-face as a modern 'scary' book, but as a gothic classic I think it is a great read. I also completely understand why it's a book used in school, similar to Huck Finn or The Giver. Generally these books are less popular with the 'general public' due to having to read it in school, but! I would absolutely recommend it.
Final note: I also listened to the audiobook with Dan Stevens as the narrator, and I enjoyed it immensely. My only gripe was that his voice for Frankenstein senior was inconsistent, but other than that the characters' personalities came through excellently.
From popular culture, my expectations for this book were incorrect. I expected the story to be more of a thriller/horror narrative, but the fear and dread wasn't as acute as modern thriller books. Frankenstein's description of his experiment were academic yet vague compared to what I was expecting (violent and graphic). In retrospect my mental definition of gothic needs to be corrected.
The prose as an epistolary novel was engaging and emotional, which I enjoyed. There's something about journal entries or letters that conveys so much emotion and yet provides great cliff-hangers by nature of the entry ending.
I particularly enjoyed Frankenstein and his status as the unreliable narrator. When reading his journal entries, you can't help but accept his comments as truth, but every time he tries to tell someone his story, he completely fails at doing it in a way that the listener could conceivably believe that Frankenstein is coherent and sane. Rather, he's off his rocker. A loose cannon. Cuckoo. haha. Then he and the monster start to merge into the same persona of having an outrageous and vindictive goal, for all their belief that they are a good person. Towards the end, you notice the mirroring of Frankenstein and the monster's speech, and their internalized portrayal of themselves as a victim, with a strong de-emphasis on their crimes. Shelley did a great job of making the reader sympathetic to the monster, and the monster's monologue (part 2, I believe?) was probably my favorite.
Frankenstein isn't as in-your-face as a modern 'scary' book, but as a gothic classic I think it is a great read. I also completely understand why it's a book used in school, similar to Huck Finn or The Giver. Generally these books are less popular with the 'general public' due to having to read it in school, but! I would absolutely recommend it.
Final note: I also listened to the audiobook with Dan Stevens as the narrator, and I enjoyed it immensely. My only gripe was that his voice for Frankenstein senior was inconsistent, but other than that the characters' personalities came through excellently.