mars2k 's review for:

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

4.0

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Frankenstein is, for the most part, a story about Victor Frankenstein and not the monster he creates. Maybe that’s common knowledge, but that didn’t stop me being intrigued and pleasantly surprised by this major departure from the pop culture imagination of the tale, in which the monster (often referred to as Frankenstein) is the main focus while Victor is reduced to little more than a “mad scientist” caricature. The book felt like an interesting take on the Frankenstein story, which is weird because this is the take on Frankenstein, the original Frankenstein story.

To call Victor Frankenstein melodramatic would be an understatement. The epitome of his “woe is me” attitude would be the trial scene (probably my favourite part of the book) in which an innocent woman has been framed for a murder she did not commit, and all Frankenstein does is fret about how difficult it is for him knowing the truth but keeping it a secret. At times this wildly over-the-top angst was hilarious – I’m not sure whether or not that effect was intended.

At first I wished the monster would feature more, but I now think he’s best used sparingly. In fact, the monster’s account is probably the weakest part of the story. It was kind of dry and lasted far longer than it needed to. Having the monster stand there monologuing for multiple chapters kind of killed the magic for me.

To be fair, the book was written by a teenager over two hundred years ago, so I can’t expect it to be perfect or to cater to my tastes exactly. I did enjoy it, though, which is why I’m giving it four stars.