Frankenstein
Ratings1,466
Average rating3.9
I loved this book. I especially liked its format and will look for some more books written by Mary Shelley. It still baffles me how she was able to write this when she was only nineteen.
If you respect the Classics, and like Gothic stories then this book is perfect. The time era is honestly beautiful in my opinion, and I gladly added this to my Classic bookshelf.
I did not like this novel. The language was way too flowery, making the book cumbersome and tiring. The plot is great and there's so much to analyze which makes me deliriously happy as a literary nerd, but it comes with the cost of having to read through paragraphs of absolute word vomit.
Mary Shelley is an impeccable writer. A tormented man blessed with life and a tormented monster cursed with life, who is more human?
3.85
Keep in mind, this was a first read-through. I'll probably reread it later in life and enjoy it more. It took me a while to get through the book - not necessarily bc Frankenstein is super boring (although it did have its moments - giving background info, setting a scene, etc) but you have to be in the right mindset to really enjoy the book.
For anyone not familiar with the Frankenstein story, I'll try not to spoil too much but read at your own discretion
♦ Victor is 100% a narcissist and loves his family and best friend as much as he possibly can.
» That was another thing that threw me off for a bit! Since the families used to arrange marriages and stuff, people - specifically guys - would create these super close bonds - they're basically brothers. So the way that they talk about each other is kind of romantic bc the language at this time was kind of extra. Don't get me wrong it's pretty, but if you're not expecting it, it's weird.
» It's funny how little people have changed tho... After making his creation come to life (and realizing what he had actually done), he decided to just go to bed and hope that his problems would go away... and then only when he absolutely HAD to did he deal with it. I feel like we as a society do this all the time and I'm fairly confident that Mary wrote her characters in certain ways based on other people and what she saw but I could be wrong.
♦ The Creature was a super gentle being! (If a little grotesque and 8 FEET TALL - still cant get over how he just walked out of a college one day - IN THE LITERAL MORNING - and NOBODY noticed anything strange!) He just needed a friend... Like Victor at college.... and Walton...
You don't understand how intricate this book was! It was crazy - layer upon layer upon layer! And it would never stand up in court bc it's literal letters... so it went a little something like this:
sometimes the Creature
Now, I still have a few questions about the book, but my biggest one: What about Earnst??? What happened to him? This poor middle-child kept getting forgotten in the storyline and I'm just- where did he go?
2,5 stars
J'apprécie les éléments avant-gardistes qui ont été apportés dans l'univers littéraire grâce à la publication de ce livre et qui sont maintenant des éléments courant utilisés dans la litterature. Mais côté appréciation de ma lecture, je n'ai pas particulierement apprécier le moment passé à lire ce livre.
Le personnage principal est insupportable et je n'ai aucune compassion pour lui et j'ai trouvé que l'histoire avait beaucoup de longueurs(il est vrai que je lis très peu de classiques et/ou livres qui ont été publié dans un siècle différent de celui dans lequel nous sommes).
Les points positifs:
Ce livre est un excellent “conversation starter” et il ouvre la porte à de nombreux débats et discussion sur divers sujets. Pour cette raison il est encore très actuel au niveau des sujets abordés(c'est pourquoi je comprends son statut de classique).
Apprendre à quoi ressemble la version originale du monstre de Frankenstein vs ce que la culture populaire a conservé du texte original était très intéressant et ça m'a fait me poser des questions sur d'autres histoires et/ou personnages dont je crois connaître l'apparence ou les caractéristiques et qui pourraient s'avérer bien differents dans leur version originale.
L'ambiance gothique était également excellente.
Read for school and glad I did. Would not have seemed out independently but this good is great and representsa lot of interesting themes that reflect Shelley's enlightened society.
Really hated Frankenstein himself, found him full of nothing but complaints and laments for only himself, even his sections have a lower level of interest in its writing style and storyline. But what really redeems it is the Monster's perspective and the life that he lives in the middle section of the book, so much more engaging and makes for a better character overall.
His section is easily a 5, Frankenstein himself scrapes in a 3 so my raring seems fair. Maybe because of the dull melancholy that surrounds it, it makes the Monster's story see better than it is but I really liked it and wish it took up more of the novel, even though I admit it's structure makes sense the way it is despite how much I dislike the protagonist and the ways he narrates his world.
Still good, but alike many other school books, the concept and themes are far more interesting than the physical pages of the novel, which forces you to acknowledge its depth and greatness as a romantic gothic classic of the 1800s.
Me encantó, te hace pensar mucho, odiar a los humanos, encariñarte de otros, es bastante triste también, la versión comercial de Frankenstein no tiene nada que ver. Todos los actos tienen consecuencias, no puedo empatizar con Victor porque todo el sufrimiento que vive es simple y llanamente su culpa, las únicas víctimas son sus familiares que se vieron envueltos en la irresponsabilidad de él.
Al monstruo lo quiero mucho, nunca me harán odiarlo, es incomprendido, fue abandonado y desilusionado por la sociedad.
Summary: This gothic novel by Mary Shelley is a classic work of science fiction. In the book, Victor Frankenstein sets out to create life, but, once he does, he creates troubles for himself and others that he never could have imagined. Be ready, though, to have the way that you have seen Frankenstein’s monster portrayed in popular media challenged; the book will leave you questioning who the true villain of the story is.
I don’t know why this book says it is two authors because we all know that’s not true. As far as the book goes. It was great story with an absolute great tragedy. I really enjoyed it but did have a tough time with the old world English. Great literary classic.
A good classic book written in the 1800's by Mary Shelly. It explores questions about secrecy, knowledge, ambition, and monstrosities. While reading this book, one needs to question who is really the monster; the creature or the creator/humanity? Also, ask how far one can be pushed and ostracized before they crack and do horrible things to those around them.
It is a book that should be read by everyone and explore the questions asked.
I was lowkey so sad when Victor tore down the partner he made for the creature, they would've been adorable together :(
Una obra profundamente romántica, con una perfecta representación de la naturaleza humana, el contraste entre el bien y el mal. Se muestra la evolución de Victor Fankenstein, pasando de la ambición hasta la desesperación y la locura. Además de los sentimientos de su “monstruosa” creación, tan humanos, pero despreciados por su apariencia.
Todo se envuelve en un aura de melancolía, solemnidad, y oscuridad, con paisajes grises, tempestuosos, representación del alma humana ante lo infinito y lo sublime.
Spoiler WarningIf you were confused like me by Victor's characteristics and his dummy behaviors through his pov story, I recommend you read about Mary Shelley's parents, her personal life and the shitty society she was living in. You could also watch the movie Mary Shelley (2017) which shows a great deal of what I mentioned.This was my first read.Unfortunately, I was deceived by the media and the very bad but famous picture in 1935 which I now must say fortunately always refused to watch.I have not read [b:Paradise Lost 15997 Paradise Lost John Milton https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1526070678l/15997.SY75.jpg 1031493] because of its heavy text and language. But I know its summary + the story of Prometheus.I must say I am glad that I got to read Mary's masterpiece with open eyes.The character Victor Frankenstein represents typical men around Mary: some of them intelligent, yet most of them ignorant and narcissistic. They gaslit her (+ all women), underestimated her, belittled her, and even accused her of stealing the story just because she was a “teenage” AND a “girl” AND her husband was the great poet, Percy Bysshe Shelley! They forced her to publish the story ANONYMOUSLY! Five years later her name appeared in the second edition, and she was recognized for it.I'd also reckon a great influence of Elizabeth (I) and her mother Anne Boleyn on Mary's inspiration and the concepts of creation, love, and abandonment.It aches my heart that her real-life miseries have not actually been solved through the last 206 years; humans still have toxic societies under theocracy and patriarchy, with many men who hate women and underestimate them more than ever, counting “feminism” as a curse word. I feel ashamed of all men in history who have systematically erased women's names and contributions by gaslighting, dismissing and overlooking them and their works. It makes me nauseous to think of all those great women's works being signed under the name of a man by force! Henrietta Swan Leavitt is only one of them!I can see how men loved her book and still do and would probably cum every 2-3 pages, but they are still too jealous, too ignorant, and too arrogant to admit it publicly. They have tried, many many many times, to shove their unoriginal ideas and bad stories into the great gothic world she created. It's March 2, 2024, and there is still NO direct and complete movie adaptation of Frankenstein!Enough said.Mary takes the reader to various real places and describes families and society differences in detail (yes, I love realistic details). Even when the reader does not necessarily travel to an Arab country, Mary shows the true face of Islam through Safie's life so well that I could only nod YESSSSSSS! in awe. (The quote does not exist in the quote pages of GoodReads, so I added it myself, to the top of my list. I read that page several times and admired her knowledge only more, the knowledge many women in 2024 still do not have. This book can wake up many people. Well, if they are willing to wake up!I must mention some of my comments while reading the book:Considering the 17th century in the story, it makes me sick to see how social conventions have constantly changed for the worse. Back then, male friendship wasn't a big deal. In 2024, guys can't express their simple feelings because they're instantly pointed out as “gay” by their very own male friend! But look how openly Victor and Henry speak their mind and feelings. No need to remind that words like “gay” and “intercourse”, which were repeatedly used in the book, have also lost their positive meaning and turned into curses!P.S.: I wish I knew which Persian poems were Henry's favorites. And which were Mary's favorites...The different narrators and POVs make the characters more sensible and it's not like the writer is either preaching or promoting ideas. She's just showing us inside of the characters. I despised the recurring word “monster” from Victor's goddamned mouth. I call him Adam like he himself claimed, which is a fact, and not his personal opinion!!First when Victor was telling his story + how Walton described Victor's appearance, I seriously thought Adam was evil, and wanted to know so badly what the hell he had done that made Victor like this... BUT NO NO NO BABY! The plot twist is right here. Victor believes he's the victim!!!!! MY MY! He has had the best childhood any child could ever have: literally zero problems. He'd never had to ask for all the good things he had in life. He was free to do whatever he wanted, which unfortunately, led him to become a self-centered crybaby. Adam speaks of his intentions and next victim(s) so obvious that a retard could understand but not Victor. He was passionate and motivated in his major, but he was narrow-minded. He never had any responsibility and so never learnt what “consequence” means. Even after all his miseries, even on his deathbed, he did not realize it was all his own fault:Victor obviously represents gods every religion has [pointing to Paradise Lost]. All of them created (an) Adam and sent him off to live without teaching him properly. And after they committed the so-called “sin”, god banished him. Both religious gods and Victor abandon their creature, more importantly their child. A perfect god would never do such horrible things to his creature and expect them not to turn into evil. Additionally, how dare god/Victor blame Adam for the sins he'd done when god/Victor condemned him and left him on his own?! This is too unholy and irresponsible of a good god!!!! (That's just one of the many reasons I believe all religions are man-made.)Children are innocent and have no idea what's going on. It's adults' responsibility to take care of them and educate them. This is the very first rule of parenting, something Victor refused to do even though his father was bright and wealthy to provide for him and some other kids, and his mother took good care of him, two things most kids his age did not have. Take Henry, his friend, whose father did not let to go to Inglostadt to study further! And later in the story, we see how hard Adam tried to educate himself, fortunately and sadly, by reading Paradise Lost.Another thing that bothers me is how Adam's appearance still counts as “hideous” in our time. He says he can only be happy if he had a female companion. And we, in 2024, can confirm that because we've seen this coming true in Shrek. I'm serious. No sarcasm. We are still judging people based on their appearance. If someone does not fit our standards, we refuse to talk to them. I say we, because now I am also including myself.Coming to Paul Cantor's essay: It was boring, and I do not agree with most of what he said.The one thing that I agree with and very much bothered me was Victor and Elizabeth's relationship which I still cannot process. When Henry was introduced, my ultimate guess was Henry and Elizabeth getting married at some point and I had no problem with that BUT “Victor and Elizabeth” ship is beyond me: too “incest”. No other way. End of line.Now, regarding AI, humans have taken the path Victor took. I guess you only learn from the best! which is god himself!!!!But I do believe that we must break the cycle of generational irresponsibility. I would like to refer to [b:Point of View 28182378 Point of View Isaac Asimov https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1449977400l/28182378.SY75.jpg 48202954] by Isaac Asimov to clarify that matter,and to [b:I, Robot 30525004 I, Robot (Adam Link, #0.1) Eando Binder https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1465707411l/30525004.SX50.jpg 51047598] another great story for what could have happened if Victor had not panicked.If we want our societies to improve, we need to start with ourselves, put the irrational biases and prejudices behind, and be better parents, and so, better humans.Looking back, I was captivated the whole time reading the book. The dark atmosphere was shivering! Just getting to know that Mary was a pioneer in forming the gothic genre by writing Frankenstein blew me away.She is the mother.She is the creator.She is immortal.
5 Sterne für den Anfang, aber irgendwann wird es leider ziemlich zäh.
Schöner, poetischer Schreibstil :)