Reviews tagging 'Racism'

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

56 reviews

mobymaize's review against another edition

4.5

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Yeah, I mean it's fucking Frankenstein, like you got to read it. It is the first sci-fi novel, of course you have to read it. ALSO READ THE 1818 VERSION, IT'S A LOT BETTER.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Incest, Mental illness, Racism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Medical content, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, Classism

jomarie's review against another edition

2.5

dark mysterious sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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This was a book that I’ve had for quite a while and was interested in reading as a lover of sci-fi stories. Having read it, I’m not sure I gained any more respect for it. 

Caveat: I don’t have a great track record of liking classics, so definitely take my opinion with a grain of salt! 

I only knew the bare bones of the story through pop culture references. I was expecting a gothic, atmospheric story of man’s hubris. The actual story didn’t quite hit that mark. Mostly, I was bored. The monster featured so little, most of the characters were flat, and framing it as a story being told to a man on a mission to the North Pole felt unnecessary. The most interesting part was what the monster did after running away from Victor, but that was told as a dry conversation rather than actually spending time in that space. It frankly made Felix out to be a more enticing character than anyone else in the book. 

Luckily, I read through the info in the front of my copy that explained some of the historical context that Mary Shelley wrote it under. If I hadn’t, I’d feel even more disconnected from the point of it all than I already am. If you’re only looking at it as an example of historic literature, it’s a fascinating study. However, that’s not what I was doing. 

Knowing the kind of reader I am, I should have done the audiobook to better comprehend and connect with the story, or just picked my favorite movie adaption and called it good. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Stalking, Gaslighting

Moderate: Child death, Medical content, Death of parent, Abandonment

Minor: Animal death, Racism

vezreads's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous challenging dark reflective sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Minor: Racism

k1313's review against another edition

2.5

adventurous challenging dark 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: Complicated

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Incest, Death of parent, Murder

Minor: Drug use, Gun violence, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Stalking, Injury/Injury detail, Classism

macliffe's review against another edition

0.25

dark emotional sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Grief, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder

Moderate: Torture, Medical content

Minor: Body horror, Racism, Toxic friendship

amissabellator's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment

Moderate: Addiction, Confinement, Gun violence, Hate crime, Incest, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Colonisation, Classism

Minor: Animal death, Homophobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Death of parent, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail

plantdonut's review against another edition

3.5

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Murder

Moderate: Animal death, Confinement, Suicidal thoughts, Grief

Minor: Racism, Violence, Stalking, Abandonment, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail

melancholymegs's review against another edition

4.5

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: N/A

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Child death, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Abandonment, Dysphoria

Moderate: Bullying, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Death of parent

Minor: Gun violence, Racism, Colonisation

theuncannydani's review against another edition

3.0

challenging dark mysterious sad 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Incest, Violence, Xenophobia, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Dysphoria

Moderate: Gore, Racism, Suicide, Terminal illness, Islamophobia

Minor: Religious bigotry

rieviolet's review against another edition

3.0

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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I listened to the audiobook version and, even though I really liked the narrator's voice, I have to accept the fact that I do not get along with audiobooks, I struggle to focus and I end up missing a good chunk of the story. I say this because it negatively affected my fruition of the book and partially influenced my final rating.

However, I also wasn't that much blown away by the story itself. I struggled the most with the chapters narrated from Frankenstein's point of view, as the story progressed they became quite tiresome and I just did not care much for him as a character, I just wanted him to stop droning on and on.
I enjoyed a bit more the sections focused on the creature's perspective. The themes addressed are interesting but the characterization and the story development were rather unremarkable. The overall reading experience was a bit middle-of-the-road for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Violence, Grief, Stalking, Murder

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Child death, Mental illness, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Genocide, Racism, Islamophobia, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail