Frankenstein

7/10

Thrilling, frightening, unpredictable, profound, moving, and enjoyable from start to finish. A wonderful book that asks some interesting questions about acceptance, the human condition, and the nature of revenge.

The book begins with Robert Walton, a drama queen, writing desperate and needy letters back to his sister in England. These detail how much he would like ‘connection’ or a friend. Thankfully, another drama queen is rescued by his boat, and they develop a relationship, wherein the rescued party shares his story in which he creates a monster. The monster is hilarious and is also a drama queen. When he first spoke, it was a jaw on the floor moment for me. “’I expected this reception,’ said the dæmon. ‘All men hate the wretched; how then must I be hated, who am miserable beyond all living things!’” The monster is fantastically eloquent and articulate, having spied on some conveniently nearby English lessons and after learning to read with Christian propaganda. Essentially, the monster wants to punish Frankenstein for his refusal to make him an equally ugly young wan. Now, from the beginning of the novel, basically everybody was sick and dying anyway, but Frankenstein’s monster is speeding up this process. He commits three murders and harasses Frankenstein over many years. In many ways, I am team ‘monster’. The monster seems to be vegan (“My food is not that of man; I do not destroy the lamb and the kid, to glut my appetite; acorns and berries afford me sufficient nourishment”). Plus, Frankenstein is almost like a father abandoning his child and there was nothing stopping him from suggesting a third option, where he does not create a Mrs. Monster, but spends some time with his monster and introduces him to others. Though I thought I knew what to expect with this book, I was completely wrong thanks to pop cultural references and film adaptations of the story. I was surprised that much of the text was epistolary. Victor Frankenstein is not Dr Frankenstein. (Was he being supervised by Pat?) He is from Geneva, meaning he speaks French and not German. At no point in the text does he utter the words, ‘It’s alive!!!’. The monster is also not created by some machine that harnesses the power of lightning. One criticism I had of the story is that there is some repetition. There are two instances where a character is being prosecuted for a murder committed by the monster. However, these end differently, with the Justine plotline being the more effective. What I enjoyed was how unpredictable and tense the plot was. When Frankenstein learns about the murder of Clerval, I was genuinely stunned. I had the same response when the monster is discovered on the boat at the end. If this were a modern book, there would have been a huge over-the-top fight scene instead of the dignified, fascinating, and profound ending that this story had.