Given the time of year I have seen sooo many people reading this over the last month or so! It was chosen as our classic book for work book club for the end of the year so I figured now was a good time to start it. I have seen various reviews on this recently and I think the reactions to this have been very similar.
We all know the story, man creates monster... We follow the story of Victor Frankenstein as he tells his new companion of his despair and agony. He describes his life with his family and how his education leads him to the idea of creating life itself. By scouring graveyards for the material for his creation he shocks life into this new being. However he is instantly horrified by his actions and rejects the creature. Then follows Frankenstein's monster as he seeks revenge on his creator for being so quickly dismissed.
As classics go they can be very daunting to read which was why I wanted a head start on my deadline for this. While the writing in this was clearly not current, it was still clear enough to read. The words flowed well and I managed to follow the majority of the story as it happened. There were times where I was reading and was a little confused, but overall I managed to follow the story well. I think it was just a little too wordy at times. Where you can explain something in 1 sentence, this described it in a whole paragraph, that kind of thing. But those were the times in which this was written and it was still very beautiful.
I was very interested to see how different this piece of work was compared to the over-dramatised 'Hollywood' film versions of the story. For starters there is no 'HE'S ALIVE!' at the point of creation, quite the opposite in fact. I found that rather than being a gruesome story of a corpse being given life, it reflected more on the social situation of it all. Here was a completely innocent being, given life against his will and all chosen by his maker. Upon his awakening his creator sees only a monster due to the horrific way he looks. Can we all take a moment to appreciate that this however was no surprise.... Victor Frankenstein didn't create something and it change into something hideous... it was a choice he made, to use corpses as his material, and then regretted it and rejected it because it looked ugly. This creature had only but to open his eyes and he was labelled a monster instantly.
Further along in the book we learn more about this creature as he learns to speak and observes the humans around him. All he craves is a place he can call his own, to be accepted, to have a companion like everyone else is able to do. But he is shunned and feared from everyone he encounters from the moment he wakes. Wouldn't that make anyone feel rejected, lonely and even angry?
This book is so much more than the films suggest. It is far deeper than that of a vile creation wreaking havoc on humans because it is a creation of pure evil. It covers so many emotions and at times I felt sorry for Frankenstein's monster and in turn thought Victor himself was the cruel one. While there are times of sadness, loss and violence I found this to be a story of companionship and revenge rather than the standard horror movie it is retold as. I think this made me enjoy it more as even though this story is so well known, I actually had no idea what was going to happen but found myself invested in these characters to continue on.
For anyone wanting to try classics I recommend starting with this. It was easy to follow and way more than you expect from all of the re-tellings. Also if your buying the physical book do not be daunted by its size. While looking like a slightly larger book than is thought average, the actual story is not very long at all (a lot of books have authors notes and appendices included which I did not read).
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Pages - 273
Goodreads rating - ⭐⭐⭐⭐
