Frankenstein

By Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

Book Overview

Few creatures of horror have seized readers' imaginations and held them for so long as the anguished monster of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. The story of Victor Frankenstein's terrible creation and the havoc it caused has enthralled generations of readers and inspired countless writers of horror and suspense. Considering the novel's enduring success, it is remarkable that it began merely as a whim of Lord Byron's.
"We will each write a story," Byron announced to his next-door neighbors, Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin and her lover Percy Bysshe Shelley. The friends were summering on the shores of Lake Geneva in Switzerland in 1816, Shelley still unknown as a poet and Byron writing the third canto of Childe Harold. When continued rains kept them confined indoors, all agreed to Byron's proposal.
The illustrious poets failed to complete their ghost stories, but Mary Shelley rose supremely to the challenge. With Frankenstein, she succeeded admirably in the task she set for herself: to create a story that, in her own words, "would speak to the mysterious fears of our nature and awaken thrilling horror -- one to make the reader dread to look round, to curdle the blood, and quicken the beatings of the heart."

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0486282112
• ISBN13: 9780486282114
• Release Date: January 1994
• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Length: 176 Pages
• Weight: 0.33 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 4.9" x 7.9"
• Age Range: 11 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 6 and higher

Customer Reviews

“Cursed, cursed creator!” - the Creature echoes

Victor grew up reading the works of Paracelsus, Agrippa, and Albertus Magnus, the alchemists of the time. Toss in a little natural philosophy (sciences) and you have the making of a monster. Or at least a being that, after being spurned for looking ugly, becomes ugly. So, for revenge, the creature decides that unless Victor makes another (female this time) creature, Victor will also suffer the loss of friends and relatives. What is Victor to do? Bow to the wishes and needs of his creation? Or challenge it to “the death”? What would you do? Although the concept of the monster is good, and the conflicts of the story are well thought out, Shelly suffers from the writing style of the time. Many people do not finish the book as the language is stilted and verbose, for example, when was the last time you said, "Little did I then expect the calamity that was in a few moments to overwhelm me and extinguish in horror and despair all fear of ignominy of death." Much of the book seems like a travel log filler. More time is spent describing the surroundings of Europe than the reason for traveling or just traveling. Many writers use traveling to reflect time passing or the character growing in stature or knowledge. In this story, they just travel a lot. This book is worth plodding through for moviegoers. The record needs to be set straight. The first shock is that the creator is named Victor Frankenstein; the creature is referred to as a "monster", not Frankenstein. It is Victor who is backward, which adds to his doing the impossible by not knowing any better. The monster is well-read in "Sorrows of a Young Werther," "Paradise Lost," and Plutarch's "Lives." The debate (mixed with a few murders) rages on as to whether the monster was doing evil because of his nature or because he was spurned.

Set the standard for what I consider to be a favorite

The writing style is so flowery and near poetic, reading Frankenstein felt like I was being serenaded by waves of emotions. Even if you "know" the ending or how events play out, this is a must read. Most reviews that I found online didn't have much depth compared to the book itself, mostly regarding that this book is solely a nature v nurture debate. If you read this in school PLEASE read it again as an adult with fresh eyes, I feel like a lot of details are not noticed or really understood by a still growing mind. This is easily my favorite book and I cannot even imagine a book that could be better than this. (Yes personal bias is very strong here)

To be born a monster

Frankenstein's greatest strength is the sympathy it pulls from you for its multiple characters, wether it's deserving or not.

a classic

cannot believe she was only 19 when she wrote. Literary genius.

Great story!

Read it back in school and it was so very interesting, read it again too.

Lovely!

The story itself is incredible but I’ll talk about the quality of the book. I received a charming little hardcover with crisp intact pages and even an attached ribbon bookmark. Mind wasn't precisely what the picture showed but I believe it to be an upgrade.

Gothic at its best

Mary Shelley was the daughter of the famous feminist and author, Mary Wollstonecraft, who is best known for her work The Vindication of the Rights of Women. In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, a young university student, Victor Frankenstein, obsesses with wanting to know the secret to life. He studies chemistry and natural philosophy with the goal of being able to create a human out of spare body parts. After months of constant work in his laboratory, Frankenstein attains his goal and brings his creation to life. Frankenstein is immediately overwrought by fear and remorse at the sight of his creation, a "monster." The next morning, he decides to destroy his creation but finds that the monster has escaped. The monster, unlike other humans, has no social preparation or education; thus, it is unequipped to take care of itself either physically or emotionally. The monster lives in the forest like an animal without knowledge of "self" or understanding of its surroundings. The monster happens upon a hut inhabited by a poor family and is able to find shelter in a shed adjacent to the hut. For several months, the monster starts to gain knowledge of human life by observing the daily life of the hut's inhabitants through a crack in the wall. The monster's education of language and letters begins when he listens to one of them learning the French language. During this period, the monster also learns of human society and comes to the realization that he is grotesque and alone in the world. Armed with his newfound ability to read, he reads three books that he found in a leather satchel in the woods. Goethe's Sorrows of Young Werther, Milton's Paradise Lost, and a volume of Plutarch's Lives. The monster, not knowing any better, read these books thinking them to be facts about human history. From Plutarch's works, he learns of humankind's virtues. However, it is Paradise Lost that has a most interesting effect on the monster's understanding of self. The monster at first identifies with Adam, "I was apparently united by no link to any other being in existence." The monster, armed only with his limited education, thought that he would introduce himself to the cottagers and depend on their virtue and benevolence; traits he believed from his readings that all humans possessed. However, soon after his first encounter with the cottagers, he is beaten and chased off because his ugliness frightens people. The monster is overwrought by a feeling of perplexity by this reaction, since he thought he would gain their trust and love, which he observed them generously give to each other on so many occasions. He receives further confirmation of how his ugliness repels people when, sometime later, he saves a young girl from drowning and the girl's father shoots at him because he is frightful to look at. The monster quickly realizes that the books really lied to him. He found no benevolence or virtue among humans, even from his creator. At every turn in his l

Very thorough look at Mary Shelley's original work.

This Norton Critical Edition makes an excellent value in literature. If you are a student of literature, this volume will help you gain a thorough knowledge of Mary Shelley's original text (lots of context and critical essays included), as well as editions that followed. It contains her original preface (supposedly much influenced by Percy) as well as her 1830 preface. If you do not know, Mary's monster is not the monster one finds in the movies, nor is Dr. Frankenstein. Further, if you have not read an edition other than the first, you don't know about the incest issue that is in the first edition, but not later editions. As you will find in reviews below, this is not a flawless novel, but it is a must read for any well-read person. What is rarely discussed is the influence of John Locke, whose Essay Concerning Human Understanding Mary Shelley read closely just prior to writing the novel. The influence of his work on hers is substantial. Read in the light of Romanticism's reaction to the Enlightenment and Locke et al gives one a completely different perspective for understanding the work. I think you'll find Mary's philosophy appropriately and interestingly feminine, without being feminist; another surprise, considering her lineage. Definitely a good read!

praises for julian sands work

in my opinion julian sands did a superb job in making this audio tape, i admit i've been a great fan of his for a long time but he has a wonderful speaking voice and can really tell a story very very well. i highly recommend this audio tape to anyone who considers buying it.