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4.04 AVERAGE
4.04 AVERAGE
A conversation I had with Matt immediately upon finishing this last night:
A: This was a Frankenstein retelling.
M: Did she create a monster? (I'm assuming it's a "she.")
A: It is a she, and yes, she did create a monster. Actually, Mary and her husband and this crappy dude were paleontologists and were trying to re-create a prehistoric dinosaur even though they didn't entirely know what it was supposed to look like since they had incomplete fossil records.
M: Did they learn NOTHING from Jurassic Park?!
A: Well considering this was set in the 1850s, it would be another 150 years before Jurassic Park would come out.
M: Michael Crichton could have warned them! They were so preoccupied with whether they could, they didn't think whether they should!
-----
I had a lot of fun reading this. Was Mary kind of written out of her time frame? Probably. Girl was a pretty radical feminist, and wanted a divorce from her lousy gambling husband in A Time When That Didn't Happen, and also might have been a lesbian, or at the very least bisexual. Did we all see it coming from a mile away that nothing good comes of trying to bring living things back from the dead and there was no way this was going to bring Acclaim on Both Their Houses? Obviously. Did I adore the Creature like Mary did? No, but I could see why she loved it so, as history repeated itself (the original Victor Frankenstein was her great-uncle in this iteration). So ultimately, this was a book I wouldn't have picked up if not for book club, and I ended up being really invested in it.
TW: many internal conversations about the loss of a baby (unclear whether it was a late neonatal loss or a loss just after birth), grief, sexism, racism, a bit of gore related to the assembling of the Creature
A: This was a Frankenstein retelling.
M: Did she create a monster? (I'm assuming it's a "she.")
A: It is a she, and yes, she did create a monster. Actually, Mary and her husband and this crappy dude were paleontologists and were trying to re-create a prehistoric dinosaur even though they didn't entirely know what it was supposed to look like since they had incomplete fossil records.
M: Did they learn NOTHING from Jurassic Park?!
A: Well considering this was set in the 1850s, it would be another 150 years before Jurassic Park would come out.
M: Michael Crichton could have warned them! They were so preoccupied with whether they could, they didn't think whether they should!
-----
I had a lot of fun reading this. Was Mary kind of written out of her time frame? Probably. Girl was a pretty radical feminist, and wanted a divorce from her lousy gambling husband in A Time When That Didn't Happen, and also might have been a lesbian, or at the very least bisexual. Did we all see it coming from a mile away that nothing good comes of trying to bring living things back from the dead and there was no way this was going to bring Acclaim on Both Their Houses? Obviously. Did I adore the Creature like Mary did? No, but I could see why she loved it so, as history repeated itself (the original Victor Frankenstein was her great-uncle in this iteration). So ultimately, this was a book I wouldn't have picked up if not for book club, and I ended up being really invested in it.
TW: many internal conversations about the loss of a baby (unclear whether it was a late neonatal loss or a loss just after birth), grief, sexism, racism, a bit of gore related to the assembling of the Creature
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I would have loved even more queer, but that’s me in daily life. The ending was a bit rushed, but everything up to that point was excellent.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
dark
hopeful
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
"If there exists a way to respond to condolences that does not feel like ripping open the stitches of a wound with one's teeth, I have not yet found it"
"We shall steal fire from the heavens and I shall not repent even for one minute-- for what sort of God would condemn us to such a cold world without it? we're merely taking what should have been hours from the beginning"
" One has such a choice in such circumstances, I have found. One can hate oneself- believe that's the pain. Is weakness punishment for Eve's sin- or one can hate God"
" Soon enough there would not be a single word which did not dredge up something I wished to forget, not a single part of me that did not cringe to the touch"
" What were you, once? I wondered. Was it your forefathers and foremothers who slithered, long-necked, through the Liassic seas? Do you remember what it was like to have teeth that rent and tore? I shall give them back to you."
" All I remembered was looking into his eyes, screwed up with rage and despair' and thinking, I am so very tired of pretending to forgive you"
"We shall steal fire from the heavens and I shall not repent even for one minute-- for what sort of God would condemn us to such a cold world without it? we're merely taking what should have been hours from the beginning"
" One has such a choice in such circumstances, I have found. One can hate oneself- believe that's the pain. Is weakness punishment for Eve's sin- or one can hate God"
" Soon enough there would not be a single word which did not dredge up something I wished to forget, not a single part of me that did not cringe to the touch"
" What were you, once? I wondered. Was it your forefathers and foremothers who slithered, long-necked, through the Liassic seas? Do you remember what it was like to have teeth that rent and tore? I shall give them back to you."
" All I remembered was looking into his eyes, screwed up with rage and despair' and thinking, I am so very tired of pretending to forgive you"
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism
Moderate: Body horror, Child death, Grief, Murder
dark
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
3.5 ⭐️ The synopsis was GIVING; the writing was LACKING. Conceptually this could have been so much more. It feel flat for me. Credit to the plot/story in general though.
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
3.75, the beginning was a little slow to start but really enjoyed the end. Out of all the books I’ve read this year, this one surprised me the most with how emotional I felt toward the end. The Creature was just so precious