2018 Jan 21
Mary Shelley began writing Frankenstein when she was only eighteen. At once a Gothic thriller, a passionate romance, and a cautionary tale about the dangers of science, Frankenstein tells the story of committed science student Victor Frankenstein. Obsessed with discovering the cause of generation and life and bestowing animation upon lifeless matter, Frankenstein assembles a human being from stolen body parts but; upon bringing it to life, he recoils in horror at the creature’s hideousness. Tormented by isolation and loneliness, the once-innocent creature turns to evil and unleashes a campaign of murderous revenge against his creator, Frankenstein.
This novel deserves to be ranked among the classics. Although the very “meta” nature of having a narrative within a narrative within a narrative can get a little exhausting, it does not take away from the intensity of this famous novel. Mary Shelley depicts the landscape in gorgeous detail, painting very vivid pictures of nature and the Gothic environment.
The author also manages to draw the reader in with an array of most compelling characters, which urges the reader to keep going to discover their fate. The story is historic but also unusually contemporary in its discussion about the morals of a man of science, and is the ideal read for the lover of horror, for this is an example of the genre at its best.
Rating: 4/5
