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Title: Frankenstein by Steck-Vaughn Company, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Gary Kelley ISBN: 0-8172-2008-9 Publisher: Raintree/Steck Vaughn Pub. Date: February, 1983 Format: Library Binding Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $9.27

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Average Customer Rating: 4.07 (284 reviews)

Rating: 4
Summary: Who Really Creates Frankenstein?
Comment: If you are expecting the novel Frankenstein to be like horror scenes depicted in the movies, you better think again. Instead, Mary Shelly allows the reader to create more images in his or her own mind. Today, we are so brainwashed to violence and gory images on television, that we sometimes forget what "real" horror used to be like. When you read Frankenstein don't forget that Mary Shelly wrote the book in the 1880's in a time of social unrest. The writing style is different, and the pace of the novel is not as up to date as modern books. Her descriptive words allow the reader to create the monster in his or her own mind, without actually seeing it. When Shelly writes, her words give such detailed images of what is going to happen next. For example, when something "bad" is going to happen, Shelly generates a spooky and mysterious setting.
One of the major themes throughout the book is science technology. When Victor creates the monster, he is challenging science, and therefore challenging God. When the creature awakes, Victor realizes that he has just done a "horrible" thing. He is disgusted with the thing he created, which led him to feel extreme guilt and compete rejection of the monster. Is it science that led him to self destruction? Shelly wonders how far will technological advances go before a man becomes too dependent on technology? Science destroys his life because the monster dominates him, and Victor winds up being a slave to his own creation.
What was also interesting about the novel was how Shelly made the reader feel sympathetic for the monster. After all aren't we supposed to hate this thing? She portrayed the creature as a "normal human", showing love and affection. The creature's ugliness deterred anyone from coming close to him, and made him feel like an outsider. This rejection from society made the monster sad and helpless. His only revenge was to engage in destruction. This is when the "real" monster is created. After reading parts of the novel I felt bad for the monster, in a way I never thought I would.
Although slow paced, Mary Shelly's style of writing will allow you to take on different dimensions and force you to develop your own profound ideas about the topics discussed in the novel. I think Frankenstein is a great Romantic classic for anyone who has a imagination.

Rating: 5
Summary: It still holds up
Comment: I picked up Frankenstein as sort of a "project" read... I felt like it was such a "classic" that I ought to understand it more than the pop-culture monster image.

I was surprised to find a book that holds its own extremely well some 100 years later. The message of scientific experiment for curiosity's sake is a profound one, especially in this age of nuclear experimentation, biological warfare and the like. It is also compelling as a story in and of itself.

Although I was well-aware that the Boris Karloff image was a far cry from Mary Shelly's novel, I was still surprised to find such full character development and strong motivation. Despite the fact that this was her first effort, and based upon a whimsical challenge to write a "ghost story", it is compelling and well written. If you haven't read this book, don't be put off by it's age. It is exceptional.

Rating: 5
Summary: You don't have to read this
Comment: Yeah, I don't have to say anything about this book because it has already been said. But I will say that I love it. So much so that I had an entire dream in Shelley's prose. All of the characters were speaking so eloquently that I knew it had to be a dream. Oh, Frankenstein is not the monster, he is the creator. The monster is not an oaf either. He picked up an entire language in a year or something. Sharp dude...or dudes. Another recommendation.

Hoo-ah!