Frankenstein Book Review

‘Frankenstein’ by Mary Shelly Review Mary Shelly’s ‘Frankenstein’ is undoubtedly one of the world’s most known gothic/ horror novels. Shelly bravely portrays statements of image and society; and even though the book was written centuries ago, still holds similar outlooks on modern views. The rich and twisted fantasy of an artificially made being conjures eerie thoughts and wild possibilities for even the most unimaginative of us, and this is one of the reasons ‘Frankenstein’ is so brilliant.

‘Frankenstein’ is an amazing novel at first glance, considering that it was written by a young woman in the 1800’s (a time in which women had no power or input). Shelly had little education and yet her literary skills are extremely admirable. At the time, her work was published under Percy Shelly’s (her husband) name, and it is sad to think that for a long time she had no recognition for her phenomenal masterpiece.

After reading ‘Frankenstein’ I was not gravely disappointed, the fantastical story is inspiring and tragic, leaving you with food for thought. The story is (to an extent) quite believable and keeps the reader entertained. The poignant tale of a young scientist(Victor Frankenstein) who has lost his mother and aspires to recreate life, only to abandon his monster dubbed creation and have the creature come back to murder and destroy all of those dear to him. We learn of the monsters struggles and his yearn for love and acceptance, which he can never obtain because of his unfortunately gruesome appearance. The story is so amazingly strange and absurd that the events eventually come together to make perfect sense.

I think that the characters are written consistently and well, giving clear thoughts and emotions – especially for Victor Frankenstein and the Monster. However, these are the only characters we actually get chance to empathize with; the other characters are quite simple and distant to the reader, as we cannot see their point of view. Another fault may be the mostly unfaltering despair of Victor, and Shelly’s need to express this emotion constantly. Some may find this as a good sense of character, but I personally thought it to be rather repetitive. In contrast, chapters 11-16 describe the Monsters experiences in first person, and these are highlights of the novel as we see plenty of emotion that differs more strongly.

Obviously, ‘Frankenstein’ was written many years ago, and therefore the writing style is very dated.

It took me a while to adjust to the sentence structure and language, and even then I still experienced some difficulty. This is an unavoidable impairment, due only to the changes in language, yet it is still very irksome.

‘Frankenstein’ is a very well written novel, but I fear that it’s age has left the book less exciting than when it was first published. I did not feel ‘Frankenstein’ is a book that is impossible to put down, and completing the novel ended up feeling more akin to a chore than leisure. The chapters, at times, seemed to drag out the story, including many details that could perhaps have been spared.

Overall, ‘Frankenstein’ by Mary Shelly is an expertly written novel with an imaginative and original plot. The message is observant and valuable, a brave statement for a young woman in 1816.

Although the language is dated and the book can be difficult to read, ‘Frankenstein’ is a helpful novel to have studied. I greatly enjoyed the novel and the experience is worthwhile.