REVIEW: Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

  

Frankenstein
by Mary Shelley
My Copy: Rented Textbook
Rating:
This "Norton Critical Edition" of "Frankenstein" contains the 1818 first edition text. Only the obvious typographical errors have been corrected. The book also includes writings by Mary Shelley, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Lord Byron and John William Polidori, enabling the reader to place the novel in its historical context. Six 19th-century responses to the novel illustrate contemporary reactions, whilst 12 modern critical essays cover the different aspects (psychoanalytic, mythic, feminist) of the work.





REVIEW:

I know it's a classic and usually as a rule of thumb for me I don't touch anything that is a "classic". To me classic equals boring. If it had not been a required read for my World Lit class I would have thrown the book in the trash after about 10 pages. I could only get about 2-3 pages read before I would fall asleep. The writing was tedious. I thought maybe if I got it on audio book I could finish it. Luckily my library had it in their download catalog. Listening to it was much more tolerable. I still had to busy myself with yard work to stay awake to listen to it but I managed to finish it.

I had to read the introduction to the book, which told about why Shelley wrote the book. Basically she wrote it after a group of her writer friends decided to have a contest to see who could write the best scary story. Well I'm here to tell ya, it ain't freakin scary. Not the way it was written anyway. Granted it may have been back then but not today.

The book is told through three narrators, Walton, Frankenstein and the creature (aka Frankenstein's Monster). The only part I enjoyed was the creature's side of the story. Frankenstein was so whiny I just wanted him to die.

I love the concept of the story but that's it. I felt like the story could have been told in like 20-50 pages, instead of the 150+ pages. I recommend skipping this book and watching the movie, any version.

If you want to watch a version that is close to the book try:

For a FUN version try: