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3.49 AVERAGE
3.49 AVERAGE
Writing Frankenstein from a trans perspective is so interesting … too bad the take on trans-ness is so outdated. Oh well.
Two stars because they did drop some bars about artificial intelligence sometimes.
Two stars because they did drop some bars about artificial intelligence sometimes.
Parts of this read beautifully and brilliantly. I could have happily sat with Mary Shelley for the entire book. Interesting and compelling subject that maybe I’m just not intelligent enough to truly savor.
This novel is badly written Mary Shelley fanfiction and otherwise just stupid. I can understand why you might think the Mary Shelley parallel is done well or is worth reading but we’d simply have to agree to disagree.
I understood what Winterson was trying to do with this but I didn’t think it was executed well on even a single page. I’ve read so many books about AI and the future and about women/feminism/sexism but this was so dumb. I may(?) agree with the core values but the way they’re implemented is not good writing or storytelling.
Also, Ry deserves so much better. Obviously including transphobia in a book does not necessarily make the author or book or whatever transphobic but like… this is such a hateful book omg. And the writing style is so terrible.
I understood what Winterson was trying to do with this but I didn’t think it was executed well on even a single page. I’ve read so many books about AI and the future and about women/feminism/sexism but this was so dumb. I may(?) agree with the core values but the way they’re implemented is not good writing or storytelling.
Also, Ry deserves so much better. Obviously including transphobia in a book does not necessarily make the author or book or whatever transphobic but like… this is such a hateful book omg. And the writing style is so terrible.
[Book TW : sexual assault.]
This was... Underwhelming, to say the least.
I started highly enthusiastic, hoping for a transcendent read : a trans protagonist, a queer, modern reinventing of Frankenstein... My love of gothic literature and all things queer was finally gonna be fulfilled !
And it did start wonderfully : the parts about Mary Shelley, especially the earlier ones, are very well written and work really well.
As for the rest, though... it was awkward, not that revolutionary, flimsy at best. I am not sure what the author was trying to accomplish, but it did not work. I was annoyed every time I was pulled out of the Mary Shelley story, which is not a good sign. There was little to none character development or actual plot, their interactions felt forced at times, and their dialogues were extremely dull.
Overall, an average of 3 stars for the Mary Shelley parts, and 1 star for the contemporary parts.
This was... Underwhelming, to say the least.
I started highly enthusiastic, hoping for a transcendent read : a trans protagonist, a queer, modern reinventing of Frankenstein... My love of gothic literature and all things queer was finally gonna be fulfilled !
And it did start wonderfully : the parts about Mary Shelley, especially the earlier ones, are very well written and work really well.
As for the rest, though... it was awkward, not that revolutionary, flimsy at best. I am not sure what the author was trying to accomplish, but it did not work. I was annoyed every time I was pulled out of the Mary Shelley story, which is not a good sign. There was little to none character development or actual plot, their interactions felt forced at times, and their dialogues were extremely dull.
Overall, an average of 3 stars for the Mary Shelley parts, and 1 star for the contemporary parts.
i’m not sure i can rate this book…my feelings for it are very complicated and extend beyond stars…hmm
Interesting themes that the novel never really delivers on. Not worthy of Winterson.
I love the way she uses language, especially in the Mary Shelley parts, but there was too much transphobic content in the contemporary sections and I’m very disappointed (especially the rape scene - it felt like the way lesbian characters always had to be punished in old novels, remixed with a trans character; why is this still happening in queer fiction today??)
I feel like there is room to explore the construction of identities and bodies, especially from queer and trans perspectives, but this book wasn’t it, and the way Ry’s identity seemed like it was supposed to parallel Frankenstein’s monster somehow felt honestly offensive.
I feel like there is room to explore the construction of identities and bodies, especially from queer and trans perspectives, but this book wasn’t it, and the way Ry’s identity seemed like it was supposed to parallel Frankenstein’s monster somehow felt honestly offensive.
I’ve been compiling (well, attempting to compile) my list of my top reads from 2019 this month, and as soon as I started reading Frankissstein I was positive that Jeanette Winterson’s new book would most certainly be on that list.
This book juggles a lot: it is a genre-bending speculative masterpiece and an unusual take on storytelling, has a strong feminist lens, reimagines and reinterprets the consequences of one of the great classic horror novels, and is a thought-provoking futuristic imagining all at once.
It tells the story of a young Mary Shelley, going into her past and contemplating what might have happened in her mind around the birth of her masterpiece FRANKENSTEIN. It tells the story of Ry, a transgender doctor living in an on-the-edge-of-the-future modern world as he meets a mad scientist intent on severing death’s hold of our consciousness and a pioneer in robotics who has put everything into sexbots. It is body versus mind—what is more real? What does reality even mean in this age of the internet?
Every page filled me with questions of my own, ideas I’d never thought before, and a strong desire to re-read Frankenstein. This is a book for sci-fi enthusiasts, people who love classic gothic fiction, theoretical readers—everyone can get something from this book.
The core of the story focuses on the idea of consciousness, identity, and humanity. What does it mean to be me? Is body identity a strong enough part of the self that it is inseparable? Since we have the ability to alter our bodies gender, what does that mean for physical identity—does it make you more or less attached to the bodily form? If my thoughts and memories can be preserved and passed on to some robot or computer, would that still be me?
Winterson continues on Mary Shelley’s trail, offering new life to the fears that Shelley played upon in the early 1800s. Now, it isn’t flesh and blood monsters that scare us, it is ones and zeros—the digital takeover and potential of robots to outnumber and outsmart us until “human” doesn’t mean much at all.
This novel is intensely layered, and I think it would benefit from another read-through. I am astonished by how much Winterson managed to pack into this fairly slim book.
A must-read of 2019 and one of my top ten for the year.
This book juggles a lot: it is a genre-bending speculative masterpiece and an unusual take on storytelling, has a strong feminist lens, reimagines and reinterprets the consequences of one of the great classic horror novels, and is a thought-provoking futuristic imagining all at once.
It tells the story of a young Mary Shelley, going into her past and contemplating what might have happened in her mind around the birth of her masterpiece FRANKENSTEIN. It tells the story of Ry, a transgender doctor living in an on-the-edge-of-the-future modern world as he meets a mad scientist intent on severing death’s hold of our consciousness and a pioneer in robotics who has put everything into sexbots. It is body versus mind—what is more real? What does reality even mean in this age of the internet?
Every page filled me with questions of my own, ideas I’d never thought before, and a strong desire to re-read Frankenstein. This is a book for sci-fi enthusiasts, people who love classic gothic fiction, theoretical readers—everyone can get something from this book.
The core of the story focuses on the idea of consciousness, identity, and humanity. What does it mean to be me? Is body identity a strong enough part of the self that it is inseparable? Since we have the ability to alter our bodies gender, what does that mean for physical identity—does it make you more or less attached to the bodily form? If my thoughts and memories can be preserved and passed on to some robot or computer, would that still be me?
Winterson continues on Mary Shelley’s trail, offering new life to the fears that Shelley played upon in the early 1800s. Now, it isn’t flesh and blood monsters that scare us, it is ones and zeros—the digital takeover and potential of robots to outnumber and outsmart us until “human” doesn’t mean much at all.
This novel is intensely layered, and I think it would benefit from another read-through. I am astonished by how much Winterson managed to pack into this fairly slim book.
A must-read of 2019 and one of my top ten for the year.