Word of note: The edition I will be reviewing is the Penguin Classics edition so your version may be very slightly different to this.
WARNING: SPOILERS FOLLOW
Frankenstein is a book not for the light-minded. By this I mean you have to be willing to read through some early 19th century English, and it's tricky! If you can do that you are on your way to reading in my opinion, a slightly above average book.
The story begins with a selection of letter sent from a sailor to his Sister, Margaret. He goes on about the sea and such like (basically whatever sailors wrote about back then) until he mentions about a strange creature floating of a raft beside the ship. Obviously he takes the man on-board (who, by the end of the book we find out is Victor Frankenstein) and Franky proceeds to tell a story.
We hear of Frankenstein's background, what inspired him to become a (mad) scientist and his family, although I don't recall being given a reason as to why he decided to create another life or how it was brought to life. Maybe my mind skimmed it.
From herein it gets more interesting. We read of Frankenstein being ill and nearly dying (a common occurence/theme throughout) due to the shock of realising what he has created - a monster capable of doing unspeakable things. Nine months of illness and Franky is finally back on his feet again, and reading letters sent from his Dad with information about his sister being found murdered. Instantly our Doctor snaps his fingers (sic) and realises what his creation has done or become.
We're now sent on a journey of searching through snow, wilderness and water until Franky finds his monster. The monster now proceeds to give us a long account of what happened since he diappeared from Frankensteins lab. It is here that we start to feel slightly sorry for him as he is constantly rejected and thought of an evil and grotesque being but this will change in good time.
Our Dr. then takes us on a journey of murder, mayhem and dungeons until he ends up getting married only to have his wife killed by his own creature. Now begins the years long persuits until Frankenstein ends up floting onto the aforementioned ship. The story then goes back to the letters and finishes with Frankenstein dying and the monster being upset and disappearing into the oceans.
When I first ppicked up and opened Frankenstein I was expecting a "thrill of a read". Instead, I was presented with endless dialogue and some boring narrative but it was a good book. Regarding Shelley's writing, I'd have to say it was only average. At points she made it exciting but at others it seems she just wanted to fill up a page. This book didn't reach my expectations, I'm sorry to say. However, I would still recommend it to anyone interested in reading it.
There is one very common mistake when it comes to putting the monster on film: He is not green with a rectangular head and bolts sticking out of his neck; he is made of body parts taken from graves.
Final conclusion: 3/5
Ah I think you're a little harsh at times! His mother dies when Elizabeth (is that her name?) is ill and her mother nurses her back to health from some fever, but then catches it herself and it kills her, and because they were such a 'close' perfect family he goes a bit mental and, combining his grief with his interest in science/philosophy, wants to work on a way of generating life so that no one ever has to feel loss or pain at bereavement again (I'm fairly sure I remember him mentioning that).
ReplyDeleteI'm gonna be SO cheesy here and quote that line from the Disney film The Hunchback of Notre Dame about 'what makes a monster and what makes a man', but I do think it's a fantastic premise and the way Shelley writes it is also excellent; the reader is constantly encouraged to re-evaluate their opinion of Frankenstein and the monster. Frankenstein for example feels absolute disgust and goes on about how vile and disgusting the monster is when it first 'comes to life' or whatever the proper term is, and whether or not you're used to automatically siding with the view you're being fed directly (Frankenstein's) influences how you feel about the monster at various points; if you share Victor's relief when he seemingly disappears, how much you loathe him and pity F when the little boy William is killed, if the monster's compassion and efforts towards 'normality' when living with/near the poor family in the forest and helping them and learning to read redeems him or changes him in any way etc, and how we feel at the end, when both run out of luck- do we feel it was a wasted story that should have been avoided, has anyone learnt anything, does it have any wider implications, etc. It's also interesting that the monster never really gets a voice of his own due to how distorted everything is- the reader only knows what the writer is telling her sister in the letter, and the contents of the letter are all straight from Victor's mouth, who obviously isn't the most reliable person. It was also pretty revolutionary at the time in so many ways I think; the themes of incest (which I believe got toned down in subsequent drafts and edits?), the gruesomeness of it all and the fact it was an 18 year old girl writing it all (that sort of age anyway iirc), etc.
There are also some pretty interesting interpretations floating around out there, Marxist readings of it, or the feminist interpretation (Barbara Johnson I think) who essentially says that Frankenstein is about Shelley's (and women's) struggle to write an autobiography- to do so they must see themselves from a man's point of view, make themselves the 'other' and almost 'give birth' on page. It's certainly given weight by how much bits seem to parallel Shelley's own unfortunate circumstances. I've explained that terribly, you're probably thinking wtf, but we had to do an essay on it months ago.
Anyway I did enjoy reading your review, sorry if this comes out really argumentative and long-winded! I've never read it for fun, only for eng lit so I'm a bit in the habit of disagreeing with whatever I read for the sake of a bigger word count.
Let me just finish my sandwich and plug my laptop in for charge and I'll be right with you with a reply...
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you disagreed with my points. I'd say that's because you had to analyse it for Lit while I read it for fun which caused me to give my own opinion?!
I haven't done any research of Shelley, her background or reasons for writing Frankenstein. I thought she was just a writer who fancied whacking our a book about a crazy scientist.
The family bits I had some trouble following at times and they were slightly strange in which the dad wanted Vic to marry his cousin etcetera.
I haven't given the book away as I plan to read it again and hopefully gain a better understanding etc.