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kingcrookback 's review for:
Frankenstein
by Mary Shelley
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Somehow, in all my years of hearing about Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and having friends who really enjoy the novel, I never knew that this was an epistolary novel. But in any case, being an epistolary novel, it's an excellent exercise in detecting and questioning the narrators' unreliability and biases in their storytelling.
I don't have much to say regarding whether I think this was "good." Of course it's good. It's an enduring and oft-discussed classic for a reason, and that reason isn't merely the fact that it's the first science fiction novel or that it was written by a woman. It's a fascinating and complex study of hubris, humanity, and obsession. Being the person that I am, I really fixated on the themes of humanity that Shelley spins around the Creature--specifically how the Creature's descent into immorality aligns not with his physical monstrosity/deformity/disfigurement (as tends to be the case with monsters and villains with deformities/disfigurements) but rather with the internalization of his lived experiences. (In this vein, I also found it fascinating to put Frankenstein in conversation with Richard III, where Richard's disability/deformity is meant to be read as a physical manifestation of immorality.)
I don't have much to say regarding whether I think this was "good." Of course it's good. It's an enduring and oft-discussed classic for a reason, and that reason isn't merely the fact that it's the first science fiction novel or that it was written by a woman. It's a fascinating and complex study of hubris, humanity, and obsession. Being the person that I am, I really fixated on the themes of humanity that Shelley spins around the Creature--specifically how the Creature's descent into immorality aligns not with his physical monstrosity/deformity/disfigurement (as tends to be the case with monsters and villains with deformities/disfigurements) but rather with the internalization of his lived experiences. (In this vein, I also found it fascinating to put Frankenstein in conversation with Richard III, where Richard's disability/deformity is meant to be read as a physical manifestation of immorality.)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Murder
Moderate: Body horror, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Death of parent