A review by yomireads
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

challenging dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Frankenstein is one of the very few classic literature books I've read voluntarily, and perhaps the only one I would give a full five stars to for not just execution of a masterful work of literature, but actual enjoyment. The direct narrative is compelling in its own right, while the subtext is haunting, moving, and definitively ground-breaking as it changed the game in science fiction genre writing. 

Before reading this I thought I understood and knew much of what the story contained. There's been many adaptations to the screen, and the monster is well and thoroughly indoctrinated into the pop-culture zeitgeist. I was dead wrong, and pleasantly surprised by a story that begins with what I assumed was the climactic event of the monsters "birth" being introduced as the catalyst for act one, and all that followed the meat of the story.