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A review by tsushimashu
Mary's Monster: Love, Madness, and How Mary Shelley Created Frankenstein by Lita Judge
2.0
when my friend asked if i wanted to borrow this book, they described it as a collection of poems by mary shelley. thats not true. i simply say this to amply explain that this book is a little confusing and could have benefited from an introduction, explaining that these poems are not, in fact, written by mary shelley and are instead written by lita judge as her mode of writing a unique form of biography.
mary's monster is written in 9 parts, as a homage to the 9 months that mary shelley spent writing frankenstein. throughout these sections, lita judge puts herself into mary's mind and attempts to write poetry that duly explains the chronicles of mary's life in a narrative form.
a few of the poems were written very well and i loved the prose, but overall some seemed to lack depth and felt as if they were written by an edgy teenager. they felt 2d and the language used to write them was not high vocabulary and generally felt empty. thats not to say that there weren't poems that i liked, just that overall these weren't my cup of tea.
the illustrations matched the feeling of the poems well, but at times it felt like if the illustrations weren't there, the poems would fall even flatter than they currently do. it seems lita judge failed to find a balance for the illustrations and poems, making one of the two much too dependent on the other.
setting aside the poetry itself and focusing on the narrative, i think lita judge did an exceptional job at conveying a broad overview of mary shelley's life and misfortunes. she herself says in the epilogue that she excluded some things that she felt didnt directly relate to the creation of frankenstein, so theres likely more to be learned about mary shelley's history. if one is a fan of frankenstein and the creation of it, i'd recommend this book simply because of how well knowledged lita judge is on the subject. other than that, i fail to find much value in the prose.
"--until the struggle drops away and the only thing that is left is everything that matters."
mary's monster is written in 9 parts, as a homage to the 9 months that mary shelley spent writing frankenstein. throughout these sections, lita judge puts herself into mary's mind and attempts to write poetry that duly explains the chronicles of mary's life in a narrative form.
a few of the poems were written very well and i loved the prose, but overall some seemed to lack depth and felt as if they were written by an edgy teenager. they felt 2d and the language used to write them was not high vocabulary and generally felt empty. thats not to say that there weren't poems that i liked, just that overall these weren't my cup of tea.
the illustrations matched the feeling of the poems well, but at times it felt like if the illustrations weren't there, the poems would fall even flatter than they currently do. it seems lita judge failed to find a balance for the illustrations and poems, making one of the two much too dependent on the other.
setting aside the poetry itself and focusing on the narrative, i think lita judge did an exceptional job at conveying a broad overview of mary shelley's life and misfortunes. she herself says in the epilogue that she excluded some things that she felt didnt directly relate to the creation of frankenstein, so theres likely more to be learned about mary shelley's history. if one is a fan of frankenstein and the creation of it, i'd recommend this book simply because of how well knowledged lita judge is on the subject. other than that, i fail to find much value in the prose.
"--until the struggle drops away and the only thing that is left is everything that matters."