Book Review Thoughts: Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Book: Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Genre: Classic Horror
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

We've been looking forward to this book at book club for nearly two years. I can't believe it finally came! I love introducing this book to people because most have no idea what the story really is.  I can't even remember when I read it before, but I remember loving it, or at least being surprised by how different it was from all the movie portrayals. And it's fun to see everyone have the same awakening! Of sorts.

So as you may or may not know, this story is about a young man (we tend to think of him as old, but he's actually very very young) who gets this brilliant idea to create life. He studies and works hard and experiments and then one day after all this passion put into the project, he succeeds.

Now here's the thing that struck me this time around. As soon as he succeeds, he is appalled. Like, what was he expecting exactly? Frankenstein! Dude!!! What were you thinking?????

So he's so disgusted with his creation that he runs away and hides and leaves the poor monster to fend for himself. Guys, I really really don't like how our Victor handles himself in this book. He is such a pansy. Ugh. Either I forgot this or I didn't think about it before but man. He is so annoying!

And so our monster lives in the wild and learns stuff because dang, he is one smart cookie! He realizes his appearance (which truly is not really described so why is he portrayed the way he is in all the movies? Anyone? Anyone?) freaks people out so he hides from society and observes them instead. He attaches himself to one family in particular and learns to talk and read from watching them. He loves them and wants to be part of their lives. He thinks he can make this happen. But... alas... it is not to be. When he reveals himself, they freak out like everyone else.

It's then that he loses it and sort of becomes the monster we think of him as. But still, not really. He's just so angsty and sad and needy and.... he just wants a family! And he goes back to Victor and begs for one. Victor tries but fails (well, he quits actually)  and then the monster gets revenge.

And the fight is on.

Though the end is really quite unsatisfying. Sigh. I don't know what I would have liked better, but it's just quite anticlimactic.

Anyway. The story is a good one and quite fascinating when you look it all in a philosophical and psychological way. What makes someone human? And what sort of responsibility does one have for ones creations? There really is a lot to think about.

It was fun to revisit this one and I look forward to discussing it tonight at book club!