Reviews with content warning for Incest - Frankenstein

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Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

92 reviews

lightningmc_logyn's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

Frankenstein is compelling, dark, and wrought with devastation. I don’t usually read horror/dark stories, so my review is from the perspective of someone who is crossing genres. I was curious about this, as it’s one of the most prominent stories in pop-culture of all time. After reading, it is clear why. The philosophical themes of life, debt of creation, loneliness, and misery all uphold the horrific elements. It is a story that feels familiar and realistic in an eerie way. I found myself passionately invested, and parts of the novel had me turning pages as fast as I could, eager to see what happened next.

Contrary to that, I found much of the novel to be dense, hard to navigate, and incredibly slow. I required a dictionary at my side that I used nearly every page, as the meanings and popularity of words have changed drastically in the last 200 years. This, while challenging, is not what made the novel feel slow. The novel takes its time setting everything up, which in my opinion unfortunately dragged the rating down. I understand why this set up was required for the story-especially after reading the hauntingly coincidental story of Mary Shelley’s life-but I feel the first 1/3 of the novel dictating Victors life could have been shortened. I sympathized with the monster far more than Victor Frankenstein, and perhaps that’s why I feel this way.

The version I read included some fascinating insights into how the book was received and how it became a sensation. My favorite thing about classical literature is learning the stories around it, and this book, as well as Mary Shelley, have an intriguing history.

The most compelling and heart wrenching parts of the story for me were the monsters recount of his experiences, victors moments of passionate action-for better or worse-, and the finale of the novel. I was extremely pleased with the ending. I feel it suited the melancholy and complex nuance of the novel perfectly.
All in all, I am glad to have read this. And I’ve learned to steer clear from dark horror, as it doesn’t intrigue me as a genre.

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lynxpardinus's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense

4.0

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stratospheric's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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clovetra's review against another edition

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dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.0

for a book with such a place in the cultural zeitgeist….. this was mid NDKMDKFKG

like especially considering a lot of ppl regard this as one of their favourite classics, i was expecting something…. more.

one major let down of the book for me i think was the book’s focus on viktor and neglect of the monster. yeah that could be a metacommentary on viktor’s neglect of his creation but.. im sorry i didn’t care for viktor. bro was having pity parties because he created something ugly, abandoned it, and then was shocked his creation was pissed! bro why are you getting on the bad side of a mf who essentially can’t be killed? bro can survive siberia and guns and you’re deciding to get on your high horse and then be upset ur monster said what he was gonna do (kill ur family). viktor isn’t unlikeable in a way you’re rooting for his failure so the book is interesting; he’s unlikeable because he’s a dumb bitch who whines for 280 pages yet there is supposed to be ambiguity whether the monster or viktor is in the right…. there was no ambiguity for me #Team Monster.

what else is there to say…. i found the chapters with the monster’s perspective the most interesting by far. i would’ve loved if he was the protagonist instead.

also this book pisses me off because all of this anguish could’ve been avoided if viktor wasn’t a cunt to his creation. bro YOU MADE HIM BE THAT UGLY. WHY ARE YOU SURPRISED HES GROSS? and then he straight up abandons the monster and pretends he doesn’t exist. yeah i’d kill viktor and his entire family if i was the monster too.

the plot most of the time was incredibly boring, but i did enjoy the prologue about mary shelley, as without it i fear i would’ve given this a lower rating. the allegory for childbirth and the maternal relationships coming through viktor, as well as the general themes of children and motherhood relating to mary’s life made this book somewhat enjoyable, as it gave the story some depth. without those explanations into mary’s life and how it relates to plot points, this would’ve been a major flop.

um anyways i think this book is extremely overhyped but hey at least i know the true story of frankenstein and i can be insufferable and go “erm actually the monster isn’t called frankenstein its the dude who creates the monster whose name is frankenstein 👆🤓”

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