A review by historiana
Frankissstein by Jeanette Winterson
5.0
As soon as I heard about this book I knew I would love it, and I can now safely say that that was an understatement. Frankenstein is my favourite novel of all time and Mary Shelley is one of my personal heroes, so to have an author as talented as Jeanette Winterson take on a homage/retelling/whatever-you-want-to-call-it of both the novel and Shelley's own life was truly a dream come true.
This novel is half a fictionalised (but seemingly accurate, once you've read a bit about her life and character) account of Mary Shelley's experiences conceiving and writing Frankenstein, full of insight into what being stuck in a house with the Young Romantics must have felt like. The other half is set in the present day where the transmasculine main character, Dr Ry Shelley, is exploring the world of AI and robotics alongside the genius scientist Victor Stein. They are surrounded by a cast of other characters who bear connections to the people around Mary Shelley in the other half of the novel. The two halves switch chapter by chapter. The modern sections are where Winterson gets to play around with the complex sciences and pseudosciences of cryogenics, artificial intelligence, computing, sex robots, you name it. This half involves some of the most fascinating and exciting parts of the novel, while the other half contains some of the more beautiful sections of prose and is a really intimate look at an extraordinary woman. Both parts compliment each other really well, especially when you contrast the experiences of Mary as a young woman in the early 19th century and Ry as a trans man in a notably transphobic and misogynistic world (emphasis on the sex robotics here).
I got the impression that Ry's relationship with gender and experiences as a trans man were really thoughtfully written, but as I read this novel as a cis person I would love to hear what trans readers make of his character. Also, warning that there are transphobic moments as mentioned earlier and one instance of transphobic violence (pg 241-244 in the hardback) which you may want to watch out for.
I know my own enjoyment was heightened by my love for Frankenstein and its author, but you should be able to enjoy Frankissstein even if you aren't already familiar with the original. The novel raises a lot of complex and interesting questions about humanity and our future, which many other authors (such as Ian McEwan) are currently trying to grapple with, but as always Jeanette Winterson brings her extraordinary talent along to make this a must read for 2019.
This novel is half a fictionalised (but seemingly accurate, once you've read a bit about her life and character) account of Mary Shelley's experiences conceiving and writing Frankenstein, full of insight into what being stuck in a house with the Young Romantics must have felt like. The other half is set in the present day where the transmasculine main character, Dr Ry Shelley, is exploring the world of AI and robotics alongside the genius scientist Victor Stein. They are surrounded by a cast of other characters who bear connections to the people around Mary Shelley in the other half of the novel. The two halves switch chapter by chapter. The modern sections are where Winterson gets to play around with the complex sciences and pseudosciences of cryogenics, artificial intelligence, computing, sex robots, you name it. This half involves some of the most fascinating and exciting parts of the novel, while the other half contains some of the more beautiful sections of prose and is a really intimate look at an extraordinary woman. Both parts compliment each other really well, especially when you contrast the experiences of Mary as a young woman in the early 19th century and Ry as a trans man in a notably transphobic and misogynistic world (emphasis on the sex robotics here).
I got the impression that Ry's relationship with gender and experiences as a trans man were really thoughtfully written, but as I read this novel as a cis person I would love to hear what trans readers make of his character. Also, warning that there are transphobic moments as mentioned earlier and one instance of transphobic violence (pg 241-244 in the hardback) which you may want to watch out for.
I know my own enjoyment was heightened by my love for Frankenstein and its author, but you should be able to enjoy Frankissstein even if you aren't already familiar with the original. The novel raises a lot of complex and interesting questions about humanity and our future, which many other authors (such as Ian McEwan) are currently trying to grapple with, but as always Jeanette Winterson brings her extraordinary talent along to make this a must read for 2019.