Reviews with content warning for Blood - Frankenstein: The 1818 Text

I enjoyed reading this classic immensely! I'm so glad that I decided to start it in the heart of winter just after the holidays since I discovered so much of the mood is wrapped up in desolate, frigid landscapes & frozen tundra.

If you've only ever watched the 1930s movie like me, then the original 1818 version will feel like a completely new story to you!

I appreciated how much heart, empathy, passion & flaws we see as both Victor & his creature explore the same feelings (believing that they're completely different from one another) such as hubris, the spectrum of morality, justice, & if wickedness is due to nature or nurture. The book even begins & ends through the lens of a third party, leaving us the reader free to sympathize a bit with both Victor & his creature who are at such odds with each other.

I didn't expect to get as emotionally invested in the characters as I did--it was a pleasant surprise to find myself hoping, grieving & crying on their behalf, especially the monster who so desperately & sincerely loves people & longs to be accepted for who he is on the inside💔

The middle of the novel could drag on at times, especially as Victor traveled and couldn't shake his fears, regrets & melancholy no matter who he was with or what he was doing for long. In the begin & by the end though, events picked up again in anticipation & drama leaving me at the edge of my seat!

There may be a little good & evil in everyone, & this novel explores in depth just how much enemies can be more similar than they'd like to believe. I'd recommend it to anyone who doesn't mind a little (or a lot) of gray area & want to try a classic where emotions are a strong motivation--both for the characters & us as readers!

Content Warnings

singalana's review against another edition

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challenging mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

4.5

I must confess I didn't have a clear understanding of the story as I've never watched any films or read the story before. Therefore, it took me by surprise.

Frankenstein was originally published in 1818. Unless I'm mistaken, it's one of the first science fiction stories ever written. Of course it's also a gothic horror novel, and possibly the best known work of its author.

Frankenstein tells the story of a young scientist, Victor Frankenstein, who creates a monstrous being and brings it to life. After this, his life becomes a nightmare.

Frankenstein and his creation contrast each other on a thought-provoking way, and I found my sympathies to be with the monster. For a modern reader, the story lagged a bit in places but I decided not to deduct any stars because of it. The book is full of interesting themes and symbolism, no wonder this is a classic.

This edition: I liked the colourful audiobook cover and I found the narrator (Jonathan Keeble) to fit the work very well.

Content Warnings

sunflower7skull's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.0

It's really interesting how different the book was from the media based off it! Really cool to analyze.

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lunarblazes's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

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

4.0

i think this is one of the better books i've been forced to read in school. it's incredibly atmospheric and its moral quandaries are truly compelling. i think about victor frankenstein and the creature a ton, as well as everyone caught in the blast zone of whatever fucked up dynamic they have going on. the framing device is so cool, it preserves tension really well. the main flaw with this book is how goddamn long it is. shelley probably needed an editor or something because by the time we get to three different exhaustive life stories in one letter (thanks to red from osp for that description) it starts to drag a little. i am shocked i don't see more people talk about the ending to this book. i think it was what stuck with me the most. i'd recommend a read if you've never given it a shot! it mostly lives up to the hype if you're willing to wade through dense victorian-era language.

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marissasa's review against another edition

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dark tense fast-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

4.0

This classic was surprisingly introspective and philosophical, especially since I was only expecting gothic horror and scares. I really enjoyed the narration of this book as we got to see perspectives from Dr. Frankenstein, his monster, and from an outsider recounting the whole situation, giving the whole book the intended experience of trying to keep up while a friend or family member is telling you a wild story. Although the actual process of Frankenstein creating and giving life to his monster wasn't explained scientifically, I actually liked the abstraction of the process in favor of showing more of his descent into obsessive research, isolation, and madness. It also paved way for more internal conflict about the ethics, morality, and implications of his experiment, and it was a great literary choice to have the monster himself pose many of those ethical questions to Frankenstein as his creation and have the doctor genuinely struggle with what he owes to him as his creator.

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jomarie's review against another edition

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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

2.5

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.

Content Warnings

jrspitler1112's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.25

Content Warnings

alyssapusateri's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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