Author: Mary Shelley
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Published Date: May 1st 2004
Genre: Classic, Fantasy
Page Count: 217
Format: Kindle
My Rating: ★ ★ .5
Goodreads Summary:
"I saw the pale student of unhallowed arts kneeling beside the thing he had put together. I saw the hideous phantasm of a man stretched out, & then, on the working of some powerful engine, show signs of life & stir with an uneasy, half-vital motion." A summer evening's ghost stories, lonely insomnia in a moonlit Alpine's room & a runaway imagination--fired by philosophical discussions with Lord Byron & Percy Bysshe Shelley about science, galvanism & the origins of life--conspired to produce for Mary Shelley this haunting night specter. By morning, it had become the germ of her Romantic masterpiece,Frankenstein.
Written in 1816 when she was only 19, Shelley's novel of "The Modern Prometheus" chillingly dramatized the dangerous potential of life begotten upon a laboratory table. A frightening creation myth for our own time, Frankenstein remains one of the greatest horror stories ever written & is an undisputed classic of its kind.
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My Review:
“The fallen angel becomes a malignant devil. Yet even that enemy of God and man had friends and associates in his desolation; I am alone.”
I have a lot of mixed feelings for this book. I really did want to like it, but through the majority of the book I just wanted it to be over.
Something I was very surprised to learn was that Frankenstein was not the Monster's name, but infact the creator of the monster. Something else I was surprised by was that it wasn't scary at all and in fact the majority of the story was quite dull and not very interesting.
It did make me feel a lot of emotions, mainly annoyance. Except when "the monster" was telling his side of the story and telling what had happened to him and why he had become the way he was. It was sad and made you want people to be more understanding towards him and to give him a chance to show that he just wanted a companion to spend life with.
I never felt any sympathy towards Frankenstein. Throughout the whole story I felt that he was always oh poor me and oh what have I done. He would always want to take action and protect the people he loved, but he never did it the right way or told anyone what was making him so upset. When I feel like the whole thing could have had a much different outcome if he just would have told people what he had done and that he needed help in getting rid of what he had created or making it so it wasn't so hated. Plus what did he expect to happen to "the monster" when it left his house.
Overall though I was very disappointed with this book and won't be rereading it. At least not for a very very long time.
When I first read this in high school, I really didn't like it. It wasn't until I studied it further in university that I appreciated the novel and what it tries to accomplish.
ReplyDeleteBut I completely agree, as a novel just to read for fun...it isn't a lot of fun ;)