Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley is a foundational cornerstone of the horror and science fiction genres. If you are only familiar with it through pop cultural osmosis, there is a great deal of Shelley’s novel that will surprise you. While it is still the story of a scientist who brings a man made of inanimate matter to life and the fallout of the resulting creature going out into the world without his creator's oversight, there is less time in the laboratory and more ruminating on philosophy than one might expect. Shelley was very much immersed in the Romantic movement, and that allegiance shines clearly through the text. Often the narrators will pause the plot to poetically describe the majestic landscapes around them, ranging from frozen seas to the Swiss Alps to the Scottish Highlands, the impressive creations of nature contrasting sharply with the misery wrought by merely human hands.
The poetic language will not be for every modern reader, but if you are looking to dip your toes into Romantic era novels, you could do far worse than Frankenstein. The chapters are fairly short and the Penguin Classics e-book edition I read, edited by Maurice Hindle, provides an introduction with a wealth of information, footnotes in the text for the references most opaque to the modern reader, and two of the shorter tales by other writers that resulted from the famed ghost story writing contest that unseasonably chilly summer on Lake Geneva. If you are contemplating a mad scientist or reanimated creature costume for this Halloween, maybe consider reading the origin of the archetypes this spooky season.
Availability: Book; Large Print Book; Book on CD; Playaway; eAudiobook in cloudLibrary Rating: *** Stars (I liked it) Reviewer: Catherine, Cataloging
ARE YOU AND THIS BOOK A GOOD MATCH? DISCOVER MORE WITH NOVELIST APPEALS! Frankenstein
GENRE: Books to Movies; Classics; Gothic Fiction; Horror; Horror Classics; Science Fiction; Science Fiction Classics THEME: Body Horror (These books revolve around all the disturbing and gruesome things that can happen to your body whether by supernatural means or by others, like cannibals!); Found Footage (It feels so real! Framing devices such as letters, documents, diaries, or video highlight the horror as it takes place in real time.); Playing God (An experiment's safeguards aren't enough to prevent disaster in these tales of scientific overreach.) TONE: Atmospheric; Moody; Thought-Provoking WRITING STYLE: Descriptive
TIME PERIOD: 19th Century
SUBJECT: Ethics; Frankenstein's Monster; Grief in Men; Guilt in Men; Mad Scientist; Monsters; Murder; Regeneration; Revenge; Scientists; Self-Control; Social Acceptance
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