Frankenstein
by Mary Shelley
Review of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Synopsis:
Obsessed by creating life itself, Victor Frankenstein plunders graveyards for the material to fashion a new being, which he shocks into
life by electricity. But his botched creature, rejected by Frankenstein and denied human companionship, sets out to destroy his maker and all
that he holds dear. Mary Shelley's chilling gothic tale was conceived when she was only eighteen, living with her lover Percy Shelley near
Byron's villa on Lake Geneva. It would become the world's most famous work of horror fiction, and remains a devastating exploration of the limits
of human creativity.
Review:
I once read an abridged version of this classic novel
as a child (I think I was about eight years old) and I remember being absolutely absorbed by the story of a man so caught up in his own quest for
knowledge that he crosses a line and descends into a life of pure horror. Picking up the full, unabridged version more than twenty years later
for a reading circle was a little daunting – would I really enjoy it as much? Truth be told – no, I didn’t enjoy it even half as much as I
remembered. I found the language flowery and the style stilted, but the story itself is still captivating and I can now appreciate all those
nuances that were beyond me at that young age. It wasn’t what I was expecting and I was slightly disappointed, but I did still get some enjoyment
from revisiting this gothic portrait of a man consumed by his own madness and the ultimate revenge of his own creation. If you’ve not read it,
you really should, if only to be able to say you have, but also because there is something in it that is still relevant today in a world where
the pros and cons of genetic research and cloning are debated on an almost-daily basis.
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley was reviewd by Kell Smurthwaite (On the Shelf Reviews)
If you've read Frankenstein by Mary Shelley please feel free to add your own review. Any contributions are
welcome.
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