A review by bojangles
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I really really liked this. I read it as a scathing critique of modern masculinity. Ancient Prometheus makes man and bequeaths them with knowledge. Modern Prometheus makes man and repudiates what he loathes about himself. All the women are accessories or victims to the ambitions of men, critically so. Would that this book were not forced upon so many people in alienating high school curriculums. I couldn’t write something like this now, it blows me away that Shelley wrote this when she was 18. One question that remains for me: what was the purpose of Walton’s role as a framing character? His perspective in the story is basically superfluous except for his love of Frankenstein to humanize the man and give him reason to engage with the monster. Although, when I put it like that, I might just have answers my own question...