Reviews with content warning for Homophobia - Frankissstein

It’s an interesting thought exercise, overlaying Frankenstein on modern culture, medicine, and technology. I get why this book is good. It gave me the brain-tingling feelings of good literature, where I can feel myself thinking about things in a new way. I enjoyed the shifting, melding perspectives, the recurring, regenerative, reimagined themes. The general science fiction horror structure and style. But also why are the characters in literature so blank and deplorable? Bah. Also, big CW vibes. Having a trans main character doesn’t mean you have to include hate crimes.

Content Warnings

brechtian's review against another edition

Go to review page

fast-paced

Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

3.75

The lows of this book are quite low (poor depiction of trans identity, borderline trauma porn, sections of quite spotty prose), but the highs are, admittedly, very high. This book at its best is a masterful postmodern examination of Frankenstein as biography, text, legacy, and cultural object. It explores multiplicity and our creation of monsters within ourselves as well as others beautifully, all while providing fascinating parallels to conversations surrounding transhumanism, AI, and the future of technological advancement. Honestly, the more you know about the critical conversations/academic discourse surrounding Frankenstein, the more you will likely enjoy this novel.

Content Warnings

thereadingscorpios's review against another edition

Go to review page

1.0

Content Warnings

francesca_o's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

Interesting concepts and mix of characters and timelines. It was a little difficult to track as an audiobook.

Content Warnings

abbymwyss's review

Go to review page

challenging mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

3.5

Content Warnings

kshertz's review

Go to review page

challenging dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

I think that this title for this book is pretty misleading because it really feels like the title is trying to lend it self to like a romantic comedy. However, this is a very deep intense book looking at artificial intelligence, Frankenstein, and what it means to be a human. I was a little uncomfortable with the fact that they had a trans person in the book and they were comparing that with artificial intelligence and built humans that are brought back to life. It made it feel like a trans person is comparable to different pieces of life that were not necessarily human and I did not like that aspect. I don’t think that was the author’s intention at all. It just made me feel like maybe they were biting off more than needed to be in the novel and in doing that kind of equated trans with not normal so I was not liking that. But there was a lot of interesting themes and connections in the book that really made me think.

Content Warnings

mollychristiantyler's review

Go to review page

4.0

Content Warnings

More...