Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

Frankenstein

Mary's writing is so beautifully captivating, and i love the fact that she portrayed mental health in her story through "the monster" at least is how i see it.

I think it's very interesting that she creates this monster that is so intellectual, kind, curious and has compassion for humans but because of his dealing with loneliness, alienation, and knowing he's viewed differently it leads to violence from him. He gets left alone after being brought alive and is neglected on being introduced to the world by victor.

Victor is a GREATLY flawed character and i'll stand by never liking that man.

saturn

Mary's writing is so beautifully captivating, and i love the fact that she portrayed mental health in her story through "the monster" at least is how i see it.

I think it's very interesting that she creates this monster that is so intellectual, kind, curious and has compassion for humans but because of his dealing with loneliness, alienation, and knowing he's viewed differently it leads to violence from him. He gets left alone after being brought alive and is neglected on being introduced to the world by victor.

Victor is a GREATLY flawed character and i'll stand by never liking that man.

Ghofran Mustafa 

I've been waiting the right time to read this one.
I didn't feel any kind of disappointment while reading it.
There's so much to take from this book and so much to talk and think about.

Patrick Book

Listened along with the Obscure podcast, and glad I did. Michael Ian Black is an insightful and erudite narrator/analyst and elevated the text wonderfully. 

As for the story itself, it’s difficult to see what was so exciting after so long. Lots of chatter and descriptions of action, but not much action.

chaca

** spoiler alert **
           How do i say this…. crazy. I felt several sensations while reading this book. It was heartwarming yet so thrilling. I love how each character’s tale are well delivered. All hit me in the head. Truly amazing book. 

My favorite line were: 

“…when the lapse of time proves the reality of the evil, then the actual bitterness of grief commences. Yet from whom has not that rude hand rent away some dear connection? And why should I describe a sorrow which all have felt, and must feel? The time at length arrives when grief is rather an indulgence than a necessity; and the smile that plays upon the lips, although it may be deemed a sacrilege, is not banished. My mother was dead, but we had still duties which we ought to perform; we must continue our course with the rest and learn to think ourselves fortunate whilst one remains whom the spoiler has not seized.”

“How can you, who long for the love and sympathy of man, persevere in this exile? You will return and again seek their kindness, and you will meet with their detestation; your evil passions will be renewed, and you will then have a companion to aid you in the task of destruction.”

Excerpt From
Frankenstein
Mary Shelley
https://books.apple.com/id/book/frank...
This material may be protected by copyright.

Excerpt From
Frankenstein
Mary Shelley
https://books.apple.com/id/book/frank...
This material may be protected by copyright.

armoni mayes

3.5 stars in actuality. 

1. this book quite literally almost took a month to get through. granted, i was not reading it everyday but christ this book is painfully long and boring throughout most of it. 

2. i was hoping this would be one of my new favorite classics but unfortunately it really missed the mark in my opinion. if it was 100 pages shorter or even in any way more concise, it could’ve been a new favorite. 

3. loved the actual plot though. 

some of my favorite quotes: 

“The time at length arrives, when grief is rather an indulgence than a necessity.” 

“Life and death appeared to me ideal bounds, which I should first break through, and pour a torrent of light into our dark world.”

“it became a thing such as even Dante could not have conceived.”

arwen

had to read for school but i actually really enjoyed it

Christine

i have a lot of questions about walton's feelings towards frankenstein

first read september 2018 for Omni III, second time for Eng199. wish i didn't have to reread this. catch me wanting to throttle frankenstein the whole time. mary shelley you are cool and awesome this book is sure something though

edit GANG I ACCIDENTALLY READ THE 1831 EDITION. I WAS SUPPOSED TO READ THE 1818. I'm going to go ram my head into a wall now (mfw I don't pay attention to the copy I buy from the library for 50c. CRINGE AND FAIL)

Isabella 

really good and i understand why it is a classic but i didn't enjoy it as much as i thought i would (maybe its bc i wasn't really that focused) i'll try to reread it again some other time

Kendall McClain

3.5 I think, love the writing and atmosphere but I just found myself getting less and less interested as the plot progressed. Frankenstein is so dumb also

“When I run over the frightful catalogue of my sins, I cannot believe that I am the same creature whose thoughts were once filled with sublime and transcendent visions of the beauty and the majesty of goodness. But it is even so; the fallen angel becomes a malignant devil. Yet even that enemy of God and man had friends and associates in his desolation; I am alone.”
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Was there ever a monster greater than Frankenstein?

Now, now. I know there are some literary police out there who would all too readily shout “Frankenstein is the name of the scientist who created the monster, it’s not the monster’s name.” First of all, you are wrong. (view spoiler)[(If we are playing the pedantic game, Victor Frankenstein was the “father” of the creature, which would technically give his last name to his “progeny”, making the creature’s last name also Frankenstein.) (hide spoiler)] Second of all, I said what I said.

What we are faced with here is one of the greatest literary PR campaigns a literary main character has ever had. Victor, a selfish, self-pitying, and cowardly man with ambitions way out of his league, has created a scientific marvel. Every step of the way, he feels it is against nature, but you know what, his genius is worth it. Yet, when this abomination eventually comes to life, his ambition and pride quickly spiral down into horror, disgust, denial, and fear. And the worst of all, he spends his entire lifetime shifting all the blame to this poor creature, who has had to figure life out all on its own while being shunned by all society and is only looking to be accepted. 

Victor is really the worst. I care not about all that he has suffered, and only pity the poor souls that have ever had to interact with him. Is this harsh? Yes. But well-deserved.

So, as you can tell, the plot of this story is just fantastic. It is so much more than science-fiction; there is so much to talk about and it touches so deeply upon our human need to connect with others (and the anger and disappointment at failing to do so). However, I think Shelley’s narration style is overwhelmingly repetitive at times. While we have great passages on the nature of humankind, it is often padded with random landscape descriptions of European mountains and thoughts that repeat every few chapters.

Overall, a must-read for its cultural significance even in our day, but not one I would reread again.

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3.5/5

Matcha Donut

Beautiful words enthusiast! But the story doesn’t vibe with me, sorry if you read this and loved it. I don’t know who’s to blame but for sure it’s our main character Victor Frankenstein. I hate the monster but the creator was Victor.. do I hate victor? But I feel bad for him agghh.

Broke me in two. I cried! 

“Remember, that I am thy creature: I ought to be thy Adam; but I am rather the fallen angel, whom thou drivest from joy for no misdeed.”

Had me thinking if our creator ever feel as miserable as Frankenstein because of what he created. Ayo God, what’s up? MARY SHELLEY GAGGED YOU LMAOO I know you were shitting your pants up there when she dropped this. I am a monster apologist btw it never asked to be made so yeah! Between the two of them, only one was relatable, the so-called monster was more human anyways.

milly

Heartbreaking and Wonderful. Mary Shelley you’re a genius.

Penny Devereux 

i swear this book could’ve been half the length and still be too long.

I always feel a bit silly to rate classic books low, there is a reason that they persist through the generations. Still, ‘Frankenstein’ did not hold my attention the way I thought it did. I suppose I thought I knew the story and expected the monster to commit a grave crime and for the town to respond with pitchforks and torches. That is not near the story which I read, and perhaps the expectation of a fast-paced and thrilling story kept me from engaging with the true story about ambition, creating destruction, and being pushed to the edges of society. 

This book is very slow-paced, and the monster and his creator seemed to go on at length about their sufferings, without a new perspective or development for each monologue. If you like classic literature for sure give this book a chance. If you’re looking for a Halloween thriller, I recommend that you stick with the more modern reinterpretations.

Emily McMeans

I always feel a bit silly to rate classic books low, there is a reason that they persist through the generations. Still, ‘Frankenstein’ did not hold my attention the way I thought it did. I suppose I thought I knew the story and expected the monster to commit a grave crime and for the town to respond with pitchforks and torches. That is not near the story which I read, and perhaps the expectation of a fast-paced and thrilling story kept me from engaging with the true story about ambition, creating destruction, and being pushed to the edges of society. 

This book is very slow-paced, and the monster and his creator seemed to go on at length about their sufferings, without a new perspective or development for each monologue. If you like classic literature for sure give this book a chance. If you’re looking for a Halloween thriller, I recommend that you stick with the more modern reinterpretations.

Rebeca Keren Nuñez

No se como está calificada de obra de terror. La verdad me resultó una historia dramática, por momentos desgarradora. Además, me parece que da para varias capas de análisis. Para releer y para quedarse pensando.

Anushka Saha

God, I hate Victor. It is a fun text to dissect and insightful when looked into from various perspectives in light of theories but on its own, it was a bore. And Victor is super annoying. I wrote a paper on this book for college, and it was singularly fuelled by my pure hatred for this man (the results were good).

iachille

No idea if mary Shelley wanted to write a didactic novel but sure she did it. We have so much to learn about ourselfs and people around us, Frankenstein helps us doing it.

Briar's Reviews

One of my life long reading goals is to pick up more classics, and since I am ALWAYS in a Halloween mood I figured Frankenstein would be right up my alleyway.

But let me set the record straight, Hollywood has done Mary Shelley some dirty. This book was NOTHING like what Hollywood told me, and I almost wish I would have picked it up in an audio book format to make it more enticing and scary for me. 

First things first, Mary Shelley is a CHAMPION of writing. She is one of the best there is and this story is woven in such a beautiful way that it's hard to say anything bad about it. The style, the prose, the word choice... It's so intriguing and beautiful, despite being touted as a "horror" novel. Yes, there's scary parts and a monster, but it wasn't as scary as I thought it would be. The story is more dramatic, full of powerful scenes about life, death and family and it makes you question your feelings about the lead characters a LOT.

I would highly recommend reading this book if you're into classics or want to see the real Frankenstein's monster. I hardly saw Victor as a villain, more of a sad character due to circumstance. Even Frankenstein's monster wasn't as scary as I anticipated, I felt so bad for him. He's given life but no existence... It's a truly marvelous read. He might be a monster due to creation, but he's not as horrifying as the movies would lead you to believe.

I will absolutely be jumping back into this book and tearing apart the themes and prose one day. I think this is a uniquely written book that presents itself in a ridiculously cool fashion. That being said, it did take me a long time to read it. It's old fashioned, the writing style is different and it's not fast paced and as crazy as Hollywood's renditions. I did enjoy it though! Before I was able to watch a few videos and translate some of the more confusing parts of this book, it sat at a solid two for me. It's jumped to a three only because it's not something I'd read again without the help of an English major. It's really cool and I did really love it, it's just not the star studded book I expected it to be.

A lot of this book is delivered in letters and about a trip, very little felt like the scary horror novel I was expecting. I am impressed how the Hollywood renditions has changed the story, but it did throw me off when half of this book was just letters between two individuals. Either way, it's still really cool. I can't imagine being nineteen years old and writing a book that causes so much drama and excitement for people two hundred years later. That's a good well done for Mary Shelley!

Three out of five stars!

Erik Wallace

Pretty hard to get into at first and slow developing but an excellent read once it picks up. I'm amazed at how different the many Frankenstein movies are from the actual story and wonder which movie comes closest to Shelley's tale? I need to rewatch the 1931 original.

Dimitris Papastergiou

It was ok.

I blame myself for expecting something AMAZING, after oh so many years of reading stuff about the monster of Frankenstein, for watching movies with the monster and reading comics with the monster.

Why would I expect the story to be great? Because it started it all. Because it's a legend. 

And this was disappointing to say the least, it's so simple minded, there's no common sense pretty much in half the shit that's happening here and it's written like it's missing things that's happening, like it's half written or something.

The story I liked, the execution I didn't.

I've had many problems with the monster, but boy oh boy, was the protagonist the worst piece of shit you've ever met, the most annoyingly cowardly asshole that knows nothing besides bitching about everything. 

Other than that every single male is written like.. NOT one. I dunno what types of dudes Mary was hanging around with but yeah.. and all the silly shit that I'd have to say FINE I'm gonna accept this and that and OKAY, I'm gonna give a pass to this one, and ALRIGHT, I guess that's believable too and I guess everything I didn't like and had a problem with, you can make an excuse about it with saying "it was the 1800s " and "she was 19" and "let's see YOU write this kind of story at 18 in the 1800s" and you'd be right.

But this sweet moment right here that I'm writing this, it's 2021 and I JUST read Frankenstein, I'm 34 and it was simply OK. Not good, but not that bad either. Just ok.

Anyway, do I recommend it?

No.

Should you read it? 

No.

What would the situation be for me to recommend this to you?

If you're researching the classic monsters and you want to know Frankenstein's monster origin.


PS. A Big FUCK YOU to Victor Frankenstein, worst piece of shit that ever existed.