Scan barcode
A review by couldbestephen
Poor Things by Alasdair Gray
4.0
As soon as I saw the trailer for the film adaptation of Poor Things, I knew I was going to have to get my hands on the book before I watched the movie. All I really knew was that this was a "gender-swapped version of Frankenstein." And while that's not entirely wrong... there's so much more to unpack.
Poor Things follows Godwin Baxter, McCandless, and a cast of strange characters as they interact with Bella Baxter, a woman brought back from the dead with her mind wiped clean. As she relearns what it means to be a person, her past keeps coming back to haunt her.
The language used in the novel, as well as most of the thematic elements, are immediately reminiscent of late Enlightenment/early Gothic authors like Mary Shelley and Edgar Allen Poe. It's an older, denser style of writing that readers who are not fans of more "classic" works of literature may not enjoy or be able to break through. As someone who grew up reading the "English classics," it took me a bit before I was comfortably back in the rhythm of this type of work. Gray masterfully weaves his story with gothic themes of personhood, religion, and politics, along with more modern concerns of female autonomy and societal expectations.
The ending honestly shocked me. I kinda expected some sort of twist when I saw what one of the final "chapters" was titled, but to turn the entire story on its head right at the end like that, further cementing the themes of female liberation and lack of autonomy? I would 100% recommend this novel.
Poor Things follows Godwin Baxter, McCandless, and a cast of strange characters as they interact with Bella Baxter, a woman brought back from the dead with her mind wiped clean. As she relearns what it means to be a person, her past keeps coming back to haunt her.
The language used in the novel, as well as most of the thematic elements, are immediately reminiscent of late Enlightenment/early Gothic authors like Mary Shelley and Edgar Allen Poe. It's an older, denser style of writing that readers who are not fans of more "classic" works of literature may not enjoy or be able to break through. As someone who grew up reading the "English classics," it took me a bit before I was comfortably back in the rhythm of this type of work. Gray masterfully weaves his story with gothic themes of personhood, religion, and politics, along with more modern concerns of female autonomy and societal expectations.
The ending honestly shocked me. I kinda expected some sort of twist when I saw what one of the final "chapters" was titled, but to turn the entire story on its head right at the end like that, further cementing the themes of female liberation and lack of autonomy? I would 100% recommend this novel.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Miscarriage, Medical trauma, Sexual violence, Racism, Misogyny, and Suicide