imclaugh's review against another edition
5.0
I picked this book up on a whim while in the library and literally could not put it down until I'd finished. Certainly the poetry doesn't measure up to a Ted Hughes, for example, but it flows for the most part, largely avoids anachronisms, and most of all flows with a passion that makes its subject come alive. A compelling portrait of a misunderstood author that has much to teach us about Western woman's ongoing, if ultimately quixotic, struggle for self-expression and intellectual independence.
maniikoi's review against another edition
5.0
I got this book directly from the publisher for no cost as part of the Goodreads First Reads Program.
I was pleasantly surprised when I opened this book to start reading and realized that the story was told in poetry, which is quite fitting since Percy Shelley was a poet. The two opening poems were a perfect way to start off the story of Mary Shelley. The open poem, ‘I Am Mary’ is very easy to relate too, and I can admit that I have thought and felt the very same many times in the past. While the poem, ‘My Mother’ was very endearing; it brought me to a deep, vulnerable part of my soul when I read that one.
The whole story is about Mary Shelley’s life, before and after she met the love of her life, Percy Shelly. It tells the story of a young woman who leaves her life behind and forsakes everything in the name of love and free will to live life without social restrictions. Percy Shelley, at the time is married to another woman, Harriet, but falls in love for Mary and they end up eloping despite her family’s disapproval and rebukes.
It is equal parts sad and inspiring, and altogether something someone can relate to in at least one way or another, and that’s what’s good about this novel - It connects with the reader on so many different levels. The story of what happened to her mother was sad, along with what happened to her first child. “My own mother died eleven days after my birth, and my baby lived only eleven days.” It grieved me to read that she ended up losing her first three children to illness. No mother should have to bury their child; no mother deserves to see their little one taken before their time.
I envy that Mary Shelley got to go out and see the world; she got to see so many amazing and beautiful places. It is very inspiring to read a story like this one. Even with the grievances and the tragedies that she faced she strived to carry on despite those dark days. That is something that is very hard to do, and I commend her for that; she is a very strong woman to have gotten to where she is and keep going no matter what.
Stephanie Hemphill did a remarkable job writing this amazing story about the life of Mary Shelley. It was a very interesting read, it definitely did its job of keeping me intrigued. And it definitely inspired me to try to get my hands on a copy of Frankenstein.
Hideous Love is very much like a biography, but not so. Stephanie Hemphill wrote the story in such a way that it was as though Mary Shelley herself was writing this, in a journal. The emotions, the events, it told of everything and anything that was happening, as one would do when writing in their journal. It was great. It definitely appealed to me in that aspect. I honestly have nothing bad to say about this, it was just great. I really enjoyed reading this one.
I was pleasantly surprised when I opened this book to start reading and realized that the story was told in poetry, which is quite fitting since Percy Shelley was a poet. The two opening poems were a perfect way to start off the story of Mary Shelley. The open poem, ‘I Am Mary’ is very easy to relate too, and I can admit that I have thought and felt the very same many times in the past. While the poem, ‘My Mother’ was very endearing; it brought me to a deep, vulnerable part of my soul when I read that one.
The whole story is about Mary Shelley’s life, before and after she met the love of her life, Percy Shelly. It tells the story of a young woman who leaves her life behind and forsakes everything in the name of love and free will to live life without social restrictions. Percy Shelley, at the time is married to another woman, Harriet, but falls in love for Mary and they end up eloping despite her family’s disapproval and rebukes.
It is equal parts sad and inspiring, and altogether something someone can relate to in at least one way or another, and that’s what’s good about this novel - It connects with the reader on so many different levels. The story of what happened to her mother was sad, along with what happened to her first child. “My own mother died eleven days after my birth, and my baby lived only eleven days.” It grieved me to read that she ended up losing her first three children to illness. No mother should have to bury their child; no mother deserves to see their little one taken before their time.
I envy that Mary Shelley got to go out and see the world; she got to see so many amazing and beautiful places. It is very inspiring to read a story like this one. Even with the grievances and the tragedies that she faced she strived to carry on despite those dark days. That is something that is very hard to do, and I commend her for that; she is a very strong woman to have gotten to where she is and keep going no matter what.
Stephanie Hemphill did a remarkable job writing this amazing story about the life of Mary Shelley. It was a very interesting read, it definitely did its job of keeping me intrigued. And it definitely inspired me to try to get my hands on a copy of Frankenstein.
Hideous Love is very much like a biography, but not so. Stephanie Hemphill wrote the story in such a way that it was as though Mary Shelley herself was writing this, in a journal. The emotions, the events, it told of everything and anything that was happening, as one would do when writing in their journal. It was great. It definitely appealed to me in that aspect. I honestly have nothing bad to say about this, it was just great. I really enjoyed reading this one.
clairewrobel's review against another edition
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
paranormalauren's review against another edition
3.0
The question I'm left with: How did Mary Shelley get any writing done while being surrounded by all those jerks?!
I can't comment on the structure. But if you like a good scandal...Hideous Love is just about right.
I can't comment on the structure. But if you like a good scandal...Hideous Love is just about right.
kyleg99's review against another edition
1.0
This review and more can now be found over at Book Probe Reviews where I'm now co-blogging!
1.5 stars
I recieved a copy of this book from the publisher via Edelweiss. Thanks so much! : )
Oh dear Lord, what the heck did I just experience?
Hideous Love wasn’t a book that I ever really planned on reading exactly. It was one of those, if I can get it from the library or it ever becomes free on Kindle and I’m looking for a quick read in verse. However, once I saw that I could read this for free and be able to get my opinion about it out early before it’s release (and I was about to go on an overnight trip to my aunt’s post-Independence Day with my parents), I decided that a book in verse was the perfect read for a 2 hour car ride.
What ensued was an overdramatic tale of forbidden true wuv, musings about love, jealousy, wonderings if Mary’s husband was cheating on her with her step-sister, drama-fests, constant traveling, and the occasional mentionings of writing.
Now, I haven’t read ANYTHING by Shelley, not even her famous Gothic Frankenstein, but reading this has motivated me beyond belief to read some of her works, because while the actual story was far from enjoyable, nor does this book make me think that Mary is somebody I would’ve liked in real life, the parts about her writing are definitely the highlights of the book.
The parts about her and Shelley growing closer and traveling with Mary’s step-sister (whose name I’ve actually already forgotten not even two weeks after completing this) were so boring, and so tedious, and seemed to add nothing to the plot except for a rift to grow between Mary and her step-sister. I mean, the writing of Frankenstein and the rest of Shelley’s subsequent novel is definitely left as a sub-plot when I would’ve preferred it to be the central focus of the story.
I believe one of the weaknesses of the plot actually was the lack of structure. What was the central focus? If it isn’t the writing, then it had to have been the romantic drama, and even that only lasted a little while before it ended and Mary’s step-sister had moved on. It couldn’t have been Shelley’s multiple miscarriages, for while as tragic as it was, it hardly makes for interesting reading in YA (as a side note, none of this is really a spoiler. You can hear plenty about Shelley’s miscarriages on her Wikipedia page. I sure did).
Unlike most verse novels, this was not completed quickly and swiftly. Even other boring verse novels for me have flown by. Now maybe it was because of how busy I was sitting with the adults being the only kid in the house, being bored out of my mind by family gossip I didn’t care about, but I had plenty of time in the car to finish this sucker quickly.
Yet the boredom that overcame me was so powerful that the mindless family gossip was more appealing than going back onto my Kindle.
And my family gossip is boring.
Really boring.
So boring that I would rather learn about algebra for another eighty minutes then go through that torture again.
I’ve found that in really successful cases of verse novels, the verse style actually enhances the writing. This has been repeatedly proven to me in most of Ellen Hopkins’s novels, and once by Lisa Schroeder’s The Day Before. Stephanie Hemphill’s writing, just like her plot, is rather bland, un-evocative, and boring.
Really I could keep going on and on and on about how boring this was, but I’m just going to end it here with one last warning:
I would much rather suggest reading something else besides this when it comes out October 1st of this year. I mean, if you’re a Frankenstein fanatic then absolutely go for this, since it does cover the background of why she started writing it. It may have been a small part of the book, but if you’re willing to spend $20 on this book to see Hemphill’s version of it, then go ahead.
I’m just afraid I won’t be joining you on this one, or any of Hemphill’s books again.
1.5 stars
I recieved a copy of this book from the publisher via Edelweiss. Thanks so much! : )
Oh dear Lord, what the heck did I just experience?
Hideous Love wasn’t a book that I ever really planned on reading exactly. It was one of those, if I can get it from the library or it ever becomes free on Kindle and I’m looking for a quick read in verse. However, once I saw that I could read this for free and be able to get my opinion about it out early before it’s release (and I was about to go on an overnight trip to my aunt’s post-Independence Day with my parents), I decided that a book in verse was the perfect read for a 2 hour car ride.
What ensued was an overdramatic tale of forbidden true wuv, musings about love, jealousy, wonderings if Mary’s husband was cheating on her with her step-sister, drama-fests, constant traveling, and the occasional mentionings of writing.
Now, I haven’t read ANYTHING by Shelley, not even her famous Gothic Frankenstein, but reading this has motivated me beyond belief to read some of her works, because while the actual story was far from enjoyable, nor does this book make me think that Mary is somebody I would’ve liked in real life, the parts about her writing are definitely the highlights of the book.
The parts about her and Shelley growing closer and traveling with Mary’s step-sister (whose name I’ve actually already forgotten not even two weeks after completing this) were so boring, and so tedious, and seemed to add nothing to the plot except for a rift to grow between Mary and her step-sister. I mean, the writing of Frankenstein and the rest of Shelley’s subsequent novel is definitely left as a sub-plot when I would’ve preferred it to be the central focus of the story.
I believe one of the weaknesses of the plot actually was the lack of structure. What was the central focus? If it isn’t the writing, then it had to have been the romantic drama, and even that only lasted a little while before it ended and Mary’s step-sister had moved on. It couldn’t have been Shelley’s multiple miscarriages, for while as tragic as it was, it hardly makes for interesting reading in YA (as a side note, none of this is really a spoiler. You can hear plenty about Shelley’s miscarriages on her Wikipedia page. I sure did).
Unlike most verse novels, this was not completed quickly and swiftly. Even other boring verse novels for me have flown by. Now maybe it was because of how busy I was sitting with the adults being the only kid in the house, being bored out of my mind by family gossip I didn’t care about, but I had plenty of time in the car to finish this sucker quickly.
Yet the boredom that overcame me was so powerful that the mindless family gossip was more appealing than going back onto my Kindle.
And my family gossip is boring.
Really boring.
So boring that I would rather learn about algebra for another eighty minutes then go through that torture again.
I’ve found that in really successful cases of verse novels, the verse style actually enhances the writing. This has been repeatedly proven to me in most of Ellen Hopkins’s novels, and once by Lisa Schroeder’s The Day Before. Stephanie Hemphill’s writing, just like her plot, is rather bland, un-evocative, and boring.
Really I could keep going on and on and on about how boring this was, but I’m just going to end it here with one last warning:
I would much rather suggest reading something else besides this when it comes out October 1st of this year. I mean, if you’re a Frankenstein fanatic then absolutely go for this, since it does cover the background of why she started writing it. It may have been a small part of the book, but if you’re willing to spend $20 on this book to see Hemphill’s version of it, then go ahead.
I’m just afraid I won’t be joining you on this one, or any of Hemphill’s books again.
demimancy's review against another edition
4.0
I am a latecomer to a love of Frankenstein; I rebelled against reading it in high school and have only recently come to appreciate it and Mary Shelley. I think the choice of verse for this novel is a great one--Mary spent much of her early life in the company of Percy Bysshe, and there is an element of the romantic in the repeated tragedies of her youth. I enjoyed Hideous Love a great deal as a result.
ashlykimchi's review against another edition
2.0
I did learn a TON about author Mary Shelley's life, however, I really thought I'd enjoy this more than I did. For a book written in verse, I can't say the language used really made much of an impact and felt more like excerpts from an actual biography. Not exactly what I was hoping for.
aprilbooksandwine's review against another edition
3.0
I get kind of excited about books that take on historical figures and really sort of bring them to life. I love learning about the lives of real people from the past. Stephanie Hemphill takes on the story of Mary Wollenstonecraft Shelley in Hideous Love, a young adult verse novel. I am on the fence about this book, I don’t necessarily agree with the not so positive reviews I’ve read BUT, I am not about to fawn all over Hideous Love, to me, it’s just an okay read and one that honestly won’t linger in my brain long after I finish typing this review.
Read the rest of my review here
Review goes live 9/24/13
Read the rest of my review here
Review goes live 9/24/13