Reviews tagging 'Racism'

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

37 reviews

rieviolet's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I listened to the audiobook version and, even though I really liked the narrator's voice, I have to accept the fact that I do not get along with audiobooks, I struggle to focus and I end up missing a good chunk of the story. I say this because it negatively affected my fruition of the book and partially influenced my final rating.

However, I also wasn't that much blown away by the story itself. I struggled the most with the chapters narrated from Frankenstein's point of view, as the story progressed they became quite tiresome and I just did not care much for him as a character, I just wanted him to stop droning on and on.
I enjoyed a bit more the sections focused on the creature's perspective. The themes addressed are interesting but the characterization and the story development were rather unremarkable. The overall reading experience was a bit middle-of-the-road for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Violence, Grief, Stalking, and Murder

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Child death, Mental illness, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Genocide, Racism, Islamophobia, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

mmefish's review against another edition

Utterly boring, overly descriptive book full of dramatic whining; it’s terribly paced and has only one voice for every single character.
One of the examples where you can read a summery of a classic and not miss out on anything at all.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism

emory's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

seems long and drawn out and is a far shot from what I was expecting due to the distortion of its resonance in popular culture, but eloquent and deserving of its place in not only horror but overall classic literature. very mesmerizing writing

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Sexism, Stalking, and Colonisation

Minor: Animal death, Genocide, Racism, Suicide, and Injury/Injury detail

fioni's review against another edition

dark reflective slow-paced

• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

obviously, a great story (minus the... incest? protagonist married his adoptive sister basically). but the writing/pacing was so goddamn slow at times. // update: i might be emotionally attached to adam lol.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Incest and Racism

elspethmigliore's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I absolutely loved this story. There are so many things wrong with it, which is exactly the point and the prime reason I loved it so much. 

definitely reread material ✅ 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Kidnapping, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Incest, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Death of parent and Toxic friendship

dannecingqueen's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Incest, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, Islamophobia, Murder, Abandonment, and Classism

veganecurrywurst's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I didn't think that I was going to enjoy this book, but after Frankensteins "Monster" began the story from his perspective, I just could not put the book down.

“There is something at work in my soul, which I do not understand.”

“My spirits were elevated by the enchanting appearance of nature; the past was blotted from my memory, the present was tranquil, and the future gilded by bright rays of hope and anticipations of joy.”

“Remember, that I am thy creature; I ought to be thy Adam; but I am rather a fallen angel, whom thou drivest from joy for no misdeed. Everywhere I see bliss, from which I alone am irrevocably excluded. I was benevolent and good; misery made me a fiend. Make me happy, and I shall be virtuous.”

“The cup of life was poisoned forever, and although the sun shone upon me, as upon the happy and gay of heart, I saw around me nothing but a dense and frightful darkness, penetrated by no light but the glimmer of two eyes that glared upon me.”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Violence, Medical content, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Child death, Death, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Grief

Minor: Racism, Xenophobia, and Religious bigotry

ran_sophia's review against another edition

challenging dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

2.0

After reading the book, I didn't know exactly what to think about it. There is a good style of writing and storytelling. But that's all. The characters have no development and the story is only half captivating. I didn't feel interested in the story or the characters at all. That it was supposed to be a Gothic novel, so I expected it to be scary in some way. But that was not the case at all. The story dragged on, the narration was slow, and at times it seemed to be stuck.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Hate crime, Incest, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Child death, Gun violence, and Colonisation

lister's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Everybody knows this story; spoiler alert: Frankenstein builds a man, but it doesn't go so well. I had never read this book, though, and I decided to do that before watching the Whale films. I was surprised how different the monster is from the ideas I'd picked up: he's intelligent, articulate, and emotional - not clumsy or uncomprehending. The writing is flowery, with a lot of vocabulary words; it took me a while to get through. The annotations help, and Klinger's notes are quite interesting, in general; they don't just stick to the text but go into history, cultural practices, literature, and interpretations of the story over time. It was a slow read for me, but it was worth it: I know a lot of queer people identify with the monster, and now I can appreciate why.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Racism

sunny_not's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

It was an interesting read. Since it has influenced many other books and films that I love I admired it to some extent. However, the pacing felt a bit weird and also the racial stereotyping made this book a lot less enjoyable for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Racism, Xenophobia, Islamophobia, and Religious bigotry