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Title: Frankenstein (The Whole Story) by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Philippe Munch ISBN: 0-670-87801-4 Publisher: Viking Childrens Books Pub. Date: August, 1998 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $17.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.08 (288 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Man is not God
Comment: Forget the Frankenstein from the movies and come read the real story of a man, Dr. Victor Frankenstein, who is a brilliant scientist with an obsession: play to be God, creating a living human being all by himself. God punishes him: when the creature wakes up to life, he turns out to be a horrible monster. Frankenstein is terrified and rejects his creation.
And here's where the Gothic tale becomes a true literary work of art. What follows is the tragedy of a creature created by the arrogance and ambition of one man, an ugly yet fully human being. The monster is not good nor bad: he's just plain human. What he needs is affection, love and understanding. But his ugliness and clumsiness provoke that no one is willing to approach him: he scares the hell out of everybody. First, he is sad; then, he is enraged. Here's where the real monster is created: by the hatred and frivolity of other humans.
A true Gothic masterpiece, this novel is unforgettable for its message, its depth, and especially for its environment and mood. It is all dark, all cold, all terrifying and all moving. The true monsters are the others, not Frankenstein's creature. But his wanderings around the world are wonderful horror literature. Don't miss this great book written in one night by Mary Wollstonecraft, the young wife of poet Percy Shelley. It is the fortunate result of a bet made by several attendants to a vacation by a lake in Switzerland, Lord Byron included.
Rating: 5
Summary: wonderful, romantic sci-fi - a first!
Comment: After seeing at least five versions of this tale in film - one of my great childhood monster loves - I was happy to finally read the novel. As so often occurs with classics, I was as surprised as I was fascinated.
For starters, the characters are far more subtle than any of the film versions: Victor F appears as a brooding and obsessed genius, but also as a great lover of life and nature. The monster, who is an articulate and literate creature who read Goethe, is even more interesting, from his hopeful beginning to his bitter reaction at rejection and his thirst for vengence. His eloquence was vivid and his pain horribly realistic.
But the work is also fascinating as a window into the mind of the Romantics, who at once strove to reject the rationalism of the Enlightenment yet reflected it. The creature starts off empty and what it becomes is due entirely to his experience. Knowledge is not always good, etc.
Finally, the themes are timeless and full of conflict: creativity giving birth to unimaginable destruction, tampering with nature as its necessities overwhelm even genius, and the like. THe book is a kaleidescope of philosophical reflection. The pain of the creator and the monster alike are inescapably linked like father and son.
I did find the style of the book a bit difficult. It is full of florid rhetoric and lengthy circumlocutions, as the doctor and then the monster tell their stories in almost identical prose.
Highly recommended.
Rating: 5
Summary: Not as expected
Comment: I guess I based my presumption of this book on all the movies. Frankenstein is not the creature who I thought he was. I found myself feeling sorry for him. Wishing that someone would reach out to him. Mary Shelley left it to your imagination on really what he looked like. I enjoyed this portion to. The book was exquisitely written. I felt I was actually transported to this era. Enjoyed it very much.
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Title: Dracula (Signet Classics (Paperback)) by Bram Stoker ISBN: 0451523377 Publisher: Signet Classics Pub. Date: 01 October, 1997 List Price(USD): $4.95 |
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Title: Frankenstein (Cliffs Notes) by Jeff Coghill ISBN: 0764585932 Publisher: Cliffs Notes Pub. Date: 19 June, 2000 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
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Title: The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Dover Thrift Editions) by Robert Louis Stevenson ISBN: 0486266885 Publisher: Dover Publications Pub. Date: 01 February, 1991 List Price(USD): $1.00 |
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Title: Heart of Darkness (Dover Thrift Editions) by Joseph Conrad ISBN: 0486264645 Publisher: Dover Publications Pub. Date: 01 August, 1990 List Price(USD): $1.50 |
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Title: The Picture of Dorian Gray (Modern Library (Paperback)) by OSCAR WILDE ISBN: 0375751513 Publisher: Modern Library Pub. Date: 01 June, 1998 List Price(USD): $7.95 |
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