All Victor wants is to get away from his experiment and forget it ever happened, but it haunts him. It killed several people he loved. Victor sees it everywhere he goes. It looms over him like a curse until he decides to track down what remains and put an end to the chaos he created. But the experiment has other plans…and it’s ready to fight back.
Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus was Mary Shelley’s entry to an 1816 friendly ghost story competition between herself, her husband Percey Bysshe Shelley, John Polidori, and Lord Byron. This group brought many of the most famous stories of the Victorian Era including Percy’s play “Prometheus Unbound”, Polidori’s “The Vampyre”, and Byron’s Don Juan, all written in the years around the production of Frankenstein. This story is truly one of the first science fiction works distributed publicly and is about the dangers of mankind taking on the duties of creation through the parallels with the Biblical creation of Adam.
I give Frankenstein 4 out of 5 stars. I read this originally in high school, but seem to have forgotten most of the storyline and replaced it with memories of the famous 1931 film adaptation starring Boris Karloff, which is very different from this book. I appreciate the way this is a story within a story, utilizing the frame writing technique. However, I felt like the character of Captain Walton wasn’t well developed due to this limitation. This could be potentially because Shelley originally intended this to be a short story and later expanded it to its current state – the Captain may have been an afterthought. However, I enjoyed the flip between characters in the narrative, giving both Frankenstein and his creation’s viewpoints on the events.
This book is required reading for many high school students, but if you missed it in school, I would recommend picking it up. This is a great book for teens who enjoy science fiction or horror stories – it is an easy read and age appropriate. With limited discussions of “gore” in the creation of the being and in the deaths of those close to Frankenstein, this book may not be suitable for the youngest audiences.
I chose Frankenstein for the Read With Lindsey Reading Challenge prompt “written before 1900”. I have a soft spot for authors in this category, especially female writers. Knowing that many of these women were not able to publish their works without changing their name or utilizing the aid of the men in their life has always amazed me. In today’s world, some of the most well-known authors are female, but in the 1800’s, writers like Jane Austen and Mary Shelley faced undeniable discrimination to even have their works considered by a publisher.
I’ve listed a few other great reads in this category in our weekly schedule posted on Sunday. What is your favorite book that fits this prompt?
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What I’m Reading
- Current print book: tbd
- Current audio book: Chocolate Wars: The 150-Year Rivalry Between the World’s Greatest Chocolate Makers, Deborah Cadbury
- Book I’m most looking forward to: Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston
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