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A review by writteninthestarwars
Mary or the Birth of Frankenstein by Anne Eekhout
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.5
Many thanks to Pushkin Press for sending me a copy for review!
Set during two formative times of her life, Mary; or the Birth of Frankenstein reimagines Mary Shelley's journey to the creation of her first and most brilliant monster.
I remember distinctly the first time I read Frankenstein because it was for school and I resented the fact I had to spend my summer holiday reading a book I hadn't chosen for myself. Even though I, at fifteen, didn't completely understand the whole of the story, its essence stayed with me for years. And Mary Shelley herself always found ways of creeping back into my life — even making a distinct appearance in my PhD thesis via one of her other monsters, The Last Man. Reading Mary; or the Birth of Frankenstein felt like coming a bit closer to the woman who has haunted the back of my mind for the past fourteen years.
Though much of this story is fiction, exaggerated and made up, I do feel like it grasps the heart of what we know about Mary Shelley. It explores aspects of her others aren't always keen to explore. It dives deep into the messy parts of love and yearning and grief. It shows, very clearly in my opinion, the sadness of Frankenstein in a way that is often hard to grasp. And it does all of this with some of the most beautiful prose I have read in a long time. Whether in the third person of Mary's life with Percy or in the first of her imagined journals detailing her months as a young teenager in Scotland, the narrative kept me engaged and intrigued and constantly reaching for a pen to note down new favourite lines.
But one of the best parts of this book to me was the fact that it gave me a new perspective from which to view Mary's life and, especially, her most famous work. It made me want to reread Frankenstein under a new light, to see it with the knowledge of everything Mary had lost when she'd wrote it, of everything, maybe, she was already afraid of losing. I firmly believe that some of the best books make you yearn for more, and I truly believe this one will do just that. I hope it inspires people to read not only Frankenstein but Mary Shelley's other work. She was a gift to the literary world, and I think sometimes we forget that.
This book most certainly does not.
Set during two formative times of her life, Mary; or the Birth of Frankenstein reimagines Mary Shelley's journey to the creation of her first and most brilliant monster.
I remember distinctly the first time I read Frankenstein because it was for school and I resented the fact I had to spend my summer holiday reading a book I hadn't chosen for myself. Even though I, at fifteen, didn't completely understand the whole of the story, its essence stayed with me for years. And Mary Shelley herself always found ways of creeping back into my life — even making a distinct appearance in my PhD thesis via one of her other monsters, The Last Man. Reading Mary; or the Birth of Frankenstein felt like coming a bit closer to the woman who has haunted the back of my mind for the past fourteen years.
Though much of this story is fiction, exaggerated and made up, I do feel like it grasps the heart of what we know about Mary Shelley. It explores aspects of her others aren't always keen to explore. It dives deep into the messy parts of love and yearning and grief. It shows, very clearly in my opinion, the sadness of Frankenstein in a way that is often hard to grasp. And it does all of this with some of the most beautiful prose I have read in a long time. Whether in the third person of Mary's life with Percy or in the first of her imagined journals detailing her months as a young teenager in Scotland, the narrative kept me engaged and intrigued and constantly reaching for a pen to note down new favourite lines.
But one of the best parts of this book to me was the fact that it gave me a new perspective from which to view Mary's life and, especially, her most famous work. It made me want to reread Frankenstein under a new light, to see it with the knowledge of everything Mary had lost when she'd wrote it, of everything, maybe, she was already afraid of losing. I firmly believe that some of the best books make you yearn for more, and I truly believe this one will do just that. I hope it inspires people to read not only Frankenstein but Mary Shelley's other work. She was a gift to the literary world, and I think sometimes we forget that.
This book most certainly does not.