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Title: The Memoirs of Elizabeth Frankenstein by Theodore Roszak ISBN: 0553576372 Publisher: Bantam Books Pub. Date: 1996 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.3
Rating: 5
Summary: Lyrical, sensitive... and not for light readers.
Comment: This is a novel that works in amny levels. Of course, it is indeed, a masterful gothic. A bouquet to Mary Shelley and a very modern horror story, but beyond these layers it is also a study of the secrets of the women at a time when they were best thought of "in the dark"... and this is a dark story all right.
For those of use who longed for more about the enigmathic and tragic Elizabeth Lavenza-Frankenstein here is a book that won't be easily read, but neither will it be easily forgotten.
Rating: 2
Summary: Hmmm Try a library before you buy
Comment: The reviewer before me states that this book is mostly just silly, and yes that sums this book up for me too. The premise is good as is the first 100 pages or so before a downhill spiral into overstated feminism that is trumpeted rather than suggested and what is pretty much nonesense. The book becomes trashy to say the least, and full of inconsistancies obvious to anyone who has read the original.
Lets have an example. The book it says in the 'about the author' section was written by a Frankenstein scholar who has taught courses on the novel. If this is so how is it that he conveniently forgot the existance of Elizabeth's little foster brother William, murdered by the monster, or Justine the nursemaid wrongfully accused of his murder? These characters are simply missing.
It says on the cover "The shocking tale Mary Shelley dared not write', I didn't find it shocking, shockingly bad perhaps and Mary would never dare write such a bad novel. It strikes me as a book the author was writing anyway before he decided to change the names of the characters and stick the monster in the final 20 pages so he could cash in on the name. I would suggest reading 'Frankenstein Unbound' by Brian Aldyss, a far more erudite and entertaining retelling of the story :)
Rating: 4
Summary: Interesting approach
Comment: I think that although this book is marketed as a prequel or retelling of "Frankenstein" and the author said that this is the book Mary Shelley would have written today, I would disagree. It's not written in a similar manner -- it shifts between her diary and a commentary or interpretation based on the view of her contemporaries. Although the horror aspect is still contained in "Memoirs" it is a horror that focuses on the technological worship of impersonal science. The horror also may be the sexual, psychological, political, physical, and spiritual oppression of women, all of which are explored in some manner in this book. Elizabeth's sexual explorations and themes of "witchcraft" may put some readers off of this book. My personal favorite part of this book was the ecofeminist idea that oppression of nature can be linked to oppression of women -- in other words, that science objectifies and dehumanizes both the natural world and women. These themes might seem a little "out there" to some readers, but may be fascinating to fans of women's studies or liberal minded folk. Certainly well-written.
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Title: Frankenstein Unbound by Brian Aldiss, Brian W. Aldiss ISBN: 0755100697 Publisher: House of Stratus Inc. Pub. Date: 01 July, 2001 List Price(USD): $11.50 |
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