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A review by starsandgutters
Frankissstein by Jeanette Winterson
challenging
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
I really thought I would love this book. I was so excited to read it. The description was so enticing to me, and I thought it would be a book I really engaged with. I did enjoy it at the beginning, but was quickly thrown off.
The concept is interesting, and the prose flows beautifully, but the depiction of Ry as a trans man really sullies the book for me. I feel even if he had been presented as gender nonconforming/fluid/non-binary, his depiction may have been less jarring,but as he repeats, parrot like throughout, he is a trans man. This is the whole sum of identity he is given in the text, only to be constantly dismissed as a hybrid/half-man half-woman.
While early in the novel it did annoy me that Victor did not seem to acknowledge and respect his gender, I thought this was a character flaw that would have an impact later. I thought wrong. I think biases of the author have just bled through into this work. It feels so entirely unnecessary too, as there was no need for Ry’s character to be trans for the plot, and given how poorly it was handled the novel probably would have been stronger overall if he were not. She might actually have had to give him a personality then.
Also the sudden and explicit sexual assault felt so incredibly unnecessary. Added nothing to the plot. And the idea that “this is just the price” Ry pays to live authentically as himself? Harmful & sickening rhetoric.
A shame for a book that had so much potential in theory.
The concept is interesting, and the prose flows beautifully, but the depiction of Ry as a trans man really sullies the book for me. I feel even if he had been presented as gender nonconforming/fluid/non-binary, his depiction may have been less jarring,
While early in the novel it did annoy me that Victor did not seem to acknowledge and respect his gender, I thought this was a character flaw that would have an impact later. I thought wrong. I think biases of the author have just bled through into this work. It feels so entirely unnecessary too, as there was no need for Ry’s character to be trans for the plot, and given how poorly it was handled the novel probably would have been stronger overall if he were not. She might actually have had to give him a personality then.
Also the sudden and explicit sexual assault felt so incredibly unnecessary. Added nothing to the plot. And the idea that “this is just the price” Ry pays to live authentically as himself? Harmful & sickening rhetoric.
A shame for a book that had so much potential in theory.