A review by fullnessofjoy
Frankenstein [Norton critical edition] by Mary Shelley

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

"She herself had no name of her own. Like the creature pierced together from cadavers collected by Victor Frankenstein, her name was an assemblage of parts: the name of her mother, the feminist Mary Wollstonecraft, stitched to that of her father, the philosopher William Godwin, grafted onto that of her husband, the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, as if Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin Shelley were the sum of her relations, bone of their bone and flesh of their flesh, if not the milk of her mother's milk, since her mother had died eleven days after giving birth to her, mainly too sick to give suck--Awoke and found no mother." - IT'S STILL ALIVE, Jill Lepore, New Yorker, 2018, vol. 94, issue 1.
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"Remember, that I am thy creature: I ought to be thy Adam; but I am rather the 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 again be virtuous." - Frankenstein, Mary Shelley, Norton Edition, 1818, vol II, chapter II
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Doing a bit of psychoanalytical reading into my reread of Frankenstein (this time the original 1818 edition!!), drawing on this fascinating article by Jill Lepore and reflecting on the origin story of the creation of the novel Frankenstein, the environments and ideas and life that birthed in Shelley's own words her profound, "hideous progeny" (Shelley). Goodness, rereading Frankenstein opened my eyes to this novel. So wonderful, so brilliant. 5 stars!