The Bride of Frankenstein

By Elizabeth Hand

Attempting to create life through dreadful experiments, Henry Frankenstein and Dr. Pretorius instead created unspeakable horror: two misshapen monsters, a brutish male and his female mate, stitched together from the bodies of cadavers. Crafted to be the monster's bride - an undead Eve to an equally accursed Adam - the female creature was destroyed mere minutes after taking its first breath - or was it? This new novel by the critically acclaimed Elizabeth Hand reinterprets the memorable characters from Universal Picture's classic 1935 film for a new generation.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1595820353
• ISBN13: 9781595820358
• Release Date: December 2007
• Publisher: Dark Horse
• Length: 206 Pages
• Weight: 0.26 lbs.
• Dimensions: 7.0" x 0.5" x 4.5"

Customer Reviews

excellent but too short

as other reviewers have mentioned, this book contains excellent references to other classic films, while exploring in greater depth the fictional universe created by james whale. also i was touched by the bride's gradual acceptance of her mate, as is only becoming of such an intelligent woman as she is portrayed to be. however having read stephen petrucha's excellent frankenstein novel, several glaring inconcistencies became apparent: when did the male creature learn to speak so fluently? why did it require english lessons after being in london (in petrucha's novel) and supposedly able to reclaim speech despite mental difficulties? also the explanation provided here for the bride's trademark hairdo is blurred. imagine if you can , the bride wandering about with this towering arrangement yet drawing so little comment! but far more importantly, what happened to the henry frankenstein a-la-colin-clive, so successfully captured by petrucha in his book? unfortunately for no discernable reason the author chose to turn him into a literal goon all throughout. elisabeth's development is equally far-fetched. if anything, she was able to point to henry how wrong is his treatment of both creature and bride! wether all this arises from technical requirements or a desire to revolutionise the concept is unclear. to me it seemed, that the two creatures set out after the fire in the film not only on two separate tracks but into two separate universes. wether miss hand and mr.petrucha will collaborate on a future book that fills in the gaps is unclear, but until that happens i will give five stars for originality if not clarity. the series as a whole must continue. that's how good it is.

A fitting extension of the original!

"Pandora's Bride" is an outstanding book. Elizabeth Hand has captured the literary feel of the Victorian era "Fankenstein" to sheer perfection. Not only does she build on the Universal Films extension of the original novel, but she also ties the offshoot to the `legend' in a wholly remarkable way. `The more things change, the more they stay the same' could almost be said of "Pandora's Bride." But, as dis-similar as the end and beginning are, the path to a frightening journey to escape one mans' mania is taut and compelling. The `monster' (Mr Smith, Frankenstein), and the `lady' (Pandora) recoil at the merest thought of being husband and wife which sends Pandora into the labyrinth of Dr Pretious and the zoo of mis-shapen, surviving experiments after being presumed lost. Pretorious, Pandora, and Thea (Caesare's sister), flee after being accused of murdering children through a tunnel, and towards Berlin on a fire breathing, carnivorous Schattengiest. As bizarre as the menagerie is, the traveling freak show is even more so, yet it plays to good crowds, providing food and lodging for the group. Dr Frankenstein appears at one of the `shows', and Thea/Pandora escape into the wild where they meet the Wild Boys led by Wendigo. Primal nature is exemplified by Pandora and Wendigo. Survival is paramount, and as Wendigo is inspired by Zane Grey (Men of the Wild) to live in the wilderness. Still trekking to Berlin, Thea and Pandora encounter Dr Henry Frankenstein and Septimus Pretorius as one `harvests' the streets and another seeks to stop the slaughter. Nature or nurture? Innate or learned? Alive or dead? Who is truly living-the created or the creators? Is beauty really skin deep? Is free will truly free? Great themes resonate through the book as philosophy meets science and a fanatical devotion to the re-creation of life without a soul. How far will Dr Frankenstein go to meet his ends, and how far with Septimus and the brutish creations go to stop him? I was very impressed with "Pandora's Bride", both in the far reaching scope of the book, and the entertaining style Ms Hand writes with. This is no monster fodder, but rather a quasi intellectual discussion/adventure of the Universal kind. [...] Tim Lasiuta

Brilliant Book!

When I first read the line "What are the 39 steps?" I was HOOKED! References to "Three Penny Opera", "m" " Metropolis" " I Am A Camera"! Etc, Etc.! I plan on reading it again immediately just to pick up on all of them! I haven't had this much fun with a book in YEARS!!! Well worth the wait! Now I have to see all those movies again!!

A little gruesome, a lot of fun

I'm a longtime fan of Elizabeth Hand's writing, and eagerly anticipated her take on the Bride of Frankenstein. I wasn't disappointed. The book is gruesome in parts (corpses, creepy little homunculi, and a flesh-eating, fire-breathing horse) but also a lot of fun as the Bride journeys through the apocalyptic landscape of pre-WWII Germany to foil a nefarious scheme by one of the scientists who created her. In her travels she encounters characters from classic German films like Metropolis, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and The Blue Angel, as well as historical figures like W.H. Auden and Christopher Isherwood. The surreal shenanigans are mixed with sexual politics and just a little bit of romance. Hand's writing is beautiful as always, even in a piece of pop culture fun like this.