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3.86 AVERAGE
3.86 AVERAGE
My first reaction as I started Mary Shelley's Frankenstein was:
It is an epistolary novel. Nobody told me that! Wait, when has that ever come up in a conversation anyway?
So, the book started off with one of the characters writing letters to his sister while he's on a sea voyage.
The second thing that I noticed was boy, this guy can talk! So far, his chatter has not diminished my enjoyment of the book.
Mr. Monster has already made his first appearance although we only get to admire him from a distance. Now, I am listening to the good doctor's narrative.
A quote that stuck with me:
(On the subject of friends) "we are unfashioned creatures, but half made up, if one wiser, better, dearer than ourselves -- such a friend ought to be -- do not lend his aid to perfectionate our weak and faulty natures."
Some thoughts that formed while reading:
The author uses a clever device to keep from providing her readers the recipe to making their own monsters:
"But this discovery was so great and overwhelming, that all the steps by which I had been progressively led to it were obliterated, and I beheld only the result."
Making a behemoth who could crush him easily had not been Frankenstein's first choice. However:
"As the minuteness of the parts formed a great hindrance to my speed, I resolved contrary to my first intention, to make the being of a gigantic stature."
The monster spoke French! I may be coming off as a goofball with this observation but since this is the first time I am reading the book, I didn't already know this.
That the monster had no concept of right and wrong. We are taught about morality as kids and we retain those teaching as grown ups. He did not receive any such lessons. Is it fair to expect him to not steal when hungry? To not enter someone's home unbidden? That got me thinking about something entirely different. If a creature is put together like a jigsaw from parts belonging to other people, would the brain retain the teachings imparted to the donor?
Another thing that I noticed was that Frankenstein is a wimp. He is also a drama queen and very very selfish! Evidence:
"The poor victim, who on the morrow was to pass the awful boundary between life and death, felt not as I did, such deep and bitter agony."
That for the girl who is innocent and yet being tried for murder because of him!
I guessed the meaning of verdure because Botany! Verdant means green and I already knew that, so it wasn't that big a jump.
That Asians are supposed to be slothful and Mahometans forbid their women to...well, do anything other than simply exist, I guess.
Since there is nothing in this novel, if not foreshadowing, it got me thinking. Did I enjoy the book a little less because I knew about the murderous rampage that the monster would be going on? I don't think so. Maybe, that is why spoilers for most books, do not mean the end of the world for me either.
Words that stayed with me:
"It was a lovely sight, even to me, poor wretch! who had never beheld aught beautiful before." Made me feel sad for the poor monster. The illustration above is about the first time he saw his reflection.
"I collected bones from charnel-houses; and disturbed, with profane fingers,the tremendous secrets of the human frame." So perfectly graphic and shudder-inducing!
"I will gut the maw of death, until it be satiated with the blood of your remaining friends." Now, that's a threat!
"...extinguish that life which I had so thoughtlessly bestowed." This, from the jackass.
Allusions and a useful resource to help identify them:
"I was like the Arabian who had been buried with the dead, and found a passage to life, aided only by one glimmering, and seemingly, ineffectual light."
The Arabian is Sinbad and the lines allude to the practice of burying a surviving spouse with the dead one! Find it and the rest of the allusions here.
A quote that stayed with me:
“If I have no ties and no affections, hatred and vice must be my portion; the love of another will destroy the cause of my crimes, and I shall become a thing, of whose existence everyone will be ignorant.”
It made me think if it is our relationships and loved ones that make us human.
A new word that I learned:
Siroc is probably a variation of sirocco, which is a “hot dust-laden wind from the Libyan deserts.
After reading the following lines:
“eradicating the remains of my melancholy, which every now and then would return by fits, and with a devouring blackness overcast the approaching sunshine.”
I felt the similarity between Frankenstein and the monster he created even more clearly. I can’t really explain why they seem like the same person.
Review
I am really glad that I did read this book. More than anything, I came from it feeling sorry for the poor creature that Frankenstein created and then abandoned. It gave me a new appreciation for the rules of society, ethics, morality that we take for granted. Without it, we might all turn into monsters.
I also wanted to point out that while the monster was never taught right from wrong, Frankenstein had been. Yet, the creature seemed kinder than his creator.
I don’t think any other conclusion was possible but I still think that it ended rather abruptly.
Also reviewed at:
BL
BS
WP
LI
ME
Not sorry I read it, but I didn't enjoy the experience, lol. Unlikeable characters abound!
This book hit me in a way I never expected. I do like the beginning of the book but when it changes to the monster's perspective, the book really excels. An excellent story and I am proud to call this one of my favourite books.
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
What a slog. Could not stand a single word out of Frankenstein mouth and did not care about him at all. It didn’t help that Mary Shelley’s racist European attitudes bled through into the text.
I found the exploration of otherness through the eyes of the monster to be compelling but it wasn’t enough to save the rest of the book
I found the exploration of otherness through the eyes of the monster to be compelling but it wasn’t enough to save the rest of the book
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
`[--]`<《alienation messes people up》
/(``)\
'''/``\'''```````《woah playing god bad》>👀
/(``)\
'''/``\'''```````《woah playing god bad》>👀
Un retelling de la historia original bastante bonito e interesante desde el punto de vista feminista con ilustraciones muy chulas. Me gustaría que hubiese ahondado más en algunas escenas originales que faltan pero para alguien que no ha leído el libro es muy buena opción.
dark
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark