While Mary Shelly might have been stylistically weak, her story was not. Nothing like it had been written before, and the concept of a student endowing life upon a humanoid creature cobbled together from charnel house parts was unexpectedly shocking to the reading public. But even more shocking were the ideas that Shelly brought to the story. Having created this thing in his own image, what--if anything--does the creator owe it? And in posing this question, Shelly very deliberately raises her novel to an even more complex level: this is not merely the conflict of man and his creation, but also a questioning of God and his responsibility toward his creation.

In some respects, the book is written like the famous philosophical "dialogues" of the ancient world: a counterpoint of questions and arguments that do battle for the reader's acceptance. More than anything else, FRANKENSTEIN is a novel of ethics and of ideas about ideas, with Mary Shelly's themes arrayed in multiple layers throughout: God, self, society, science; responsibility to self, to society, to the things we bring to society, to the truth; life, integrity, and death--these are the ideas and issues that predominate the book, and any one expecting a horror novel pure and simple is out of luck.

Mary Shelly is a rare example of a writer whose ideas clearly outstrip her literary skill--but whose ideas are so powerful that they transcend her literary limitations and continue to resonate today. And indeed, as science continues to advance, it could not be otherwise so. Mary Shelly could not see into the future of DNA research, laboratory-grown tissues, test-tube babies and the like--but between 1816 and 1818 she wrote a book about the ethical dilemmas that swirl around them. And for all its flaws, FRANKENSTEIN is perhaps even more relevant today than it was over a hundred and fifty years ago.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer


Man is not God   February 8, 2001
 31 out of 40 found this review helpful

Forget the Frankenstein from the movies and come read the real story of a man, Dr. Victor Frankenstein, who is a brilliant scientist with an obsession: play to be God, creating a living human being all by himself. God punishes him: when the creature wakes up to life, he turns out to be a horrible monster. Frankenstein is terrified and rejects his creation.

And here's where the Gothic tale becomes a true literary work of art. What follows is the tragedy of a creature created by the arrogance and ambition of one man, an ugly yet fully human being. The monster is not good nor bad: he's just plain human. What he needs is affection, love and understanding. But his ugliness and clumsiness provoke that no one is willing to approach him: he scares the hell out of everybody. First, he is sad; then, he is enraged. Here's where the real monster is created: by the hatred and frivolity of other humans.

A true Gothic masterpiece, this novel is unforgettable for its message, its depth, and especially for its environment and mood. It is all dark, all cold, all terrifying and all moving. The true monsters are the others, not Frankenstein's creature. But his wanderings around the world are wonderful horror literature. Don't miss this great book written in one night by Mary Wollstonecraft, the young wife of poet Percy Shelley. It is the fortunate result of a bet made by several attendants to a vacation by a lake in Switzerland, Lord Byron included.


A complex, poignant examination of human nature   July 31, 2002
 24 out of 26 found this review helpful

Those who know Frankenstein only from movies and television may well be surprised to read the original book by Mary Shelley. Indeed, one may well look back to the cover to see if the book is in fact Frankenstein because the first pages consist of messages from an R. Walton to his sister concerning his expedition to the northern polar regions. Victor Frankenstein appears as a wretched creature stranded on an ice floe beside the ship. After he is rescued and recovers somewhat, he tells his incredible story to Walton, who in turn preserves the story in writing. Frankenstein reminisces about his happy childhood, particularly the close relationship between himself and his "cousin" Elizabeth, and then explains how his interest in discredited natural philosophy led him to create a living man of his own design. The creature is a hideous, misshapen, giant of a man who so disgusted Frankenstein upon his awakening that he fled his laboratory and residence. The creation process, it should be noted, in no way involved an elaborate machine powered by lightning such as is portrayed in the movies; in fact, beyond the fact that chemicals are involved, we are told nothing of the process. For two years, Frankenstein goes about life with a clinging sense of guilt and nervousness, hoping the creature has perished. When his little brother is murdered, though, he returns home and soon discovers that it was the monster who committed the deed. In an isolated mountainous area, the monster appears before him and explains his actions. Although the creature does nothing more than grunt in the movies, the original Frankenstein was possessed of great eloquence and intelligence, and he tells a moving story about his attempts to make a connection with a society that is revolted at the sight of him. He describes living in a small hovel at the back of a small house for many months, watching the interaction of the family inside, learning how to speak their language and eventually even learning how to read. When he eventually tries to interact with the family, he is assaulted and runs away, and it is at this point that his virtuous and peaceful nature begins to become inflamed into a torrent of hatred for mankind. When he rescues a girl from drowning, he is rewarded with a bullet in his shoulder. Each time he performs a good deed, mankind runs from him in disgust or attempts to harm him. Living in total isolation and loneliness, his one purpose in life eventually becomes tormenting his creator, and many terrible misfortunes ensue for Frankenstein, who himself eventually becomes dedicated to the sole purpose of destroying his tormentor.

Both Frankenstein and his monster are tragic figures. The complete alienation of the creature makes him a very sympathetic character in many respects, and he does perform many kind deeds for humans early on. Frankenstein is an utterly pitiable character utterly destroyed by his mad decision to create the monster; he burdens his soul with responsibility for every crime the monster commits, and his inability to tell anyone his secret for so long destroys him in body, mind, and soul; everyone and everything he cares for is taken from him by his horrible creation. His tendency to bemoan his fate at every turn of the narrative can get rather tiresome, but one cannot question the depth of his turmoil. Both creator and created seem to be mirror images of each other in important ways, their fates clearly tied to one another, each soul deserving both blame and pity. There is much about human nature, both good and bad, revealed in the monster's life as well as Frankenstein's; the novel is a far cry from horror for the sake of horror. This is actually a very complex, compelling story full of human pathos; it is unfortunate that modern media have turned Frankenstein's creature into a simple, heartless, mentally deficient monster for the sake of scares and laughs.


Review from a teenage writer, sort of   July 14, 2000
 20 out of 26 found this review helpful

Okay, you're probably thinking that I'm just someone complaining about having to read it in my freshman year's honors English class. No, I was not forced to read this. I read it far before it was on the reading list. Just wanted to clear that up. Back to the review. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is an intriguing autobiography of a man obsessed with tampering with the laws of nature by reversing them. This novel shows how man deals with failure and loss. Unfortunatly, Victor Frankenstein dealt with failure and loss the wrong way and... Wait, I don't want to give away the ending. Anyway, Mary Shelley creates a clever plot and adds some gruesome happenings and romance, combining the three to make one of the most famous horror stories. Unfortunatly, for those of you still hooked to video games and fast-paced action, you may have a difficult time reading this for it tends to drag out at some points. But that's how literature is, you'll just have to deal with it. Apart from that, I would definitly recommend this book to just about anyone.


This is a Classic?!   January 7, 2005
 12 out of 27 found this review helpful

I was forced into reading this for my senior AP humanities class over the summer. I began about three weeks before school started, and it took me a week to get though, despite being a relatively short book. I literally almost fell asleep every ten pages. Mary Shelley almost as much in need of a good editor as friggin' Frank Norris with his stupid novel McTeague. She spend eons talking about how lovely the mountains are, then spends around five seconds explaining the birth of The Monster. This tendancy to skip over the exciting parts as though they were unimportant may have been intentional (that's what my humanites teacher tells me) but it still bored me. Also, I don't really care what the mountains looked like. Victor Frankenstein whines his way through the entire novel, which is really irritating because everything that happens to him is his own fault. When it comes to the development of The Monster, Mary Shelley seems to think that somehow, magically, The Monster knows way too much. Too many convient things happen. For example, he just happens to hang out behind a hut housing several very nice peasants, and they never notice? Yeah, right. Also, he just happens to find three very important and significant texts that have striking parallels to his own situation? Again, yeah right. It reached the point of ludicrocity. I sincerley did not enjoy this book, and though I know that it may partially be Percy Shelley's fault (evidently, he was her editor), and I know that Mary Shelley had many miscarriages and children's deaths and this book is about that and blah blah blah, I will never enjoy it.