Frankenstein (book) Review

Mary Shelley is one of the most celebrated authors in history, and her work is crowned by the famed story of Frankenstein, which has been adapted in countless ways since the advent of theaters and silver screens. But before seeing any of the movies or the spin off books and comics, I decided on reading the original, by Shelly herself, and found myself amazed at the eloquence of the script, the depth of the themes, and the complexity of the plot. Before reading this book, I had assumed that the plot was fairly simple, and derived notoriety from the chilling manner in which it was written. On the second count I was correct, but my first presupposition was entirely false. Frankenstein is an intricate book, and is most definitely worth reading in its original glory.

The plot of the story to my knowledge was as such: A scientist named Frankenstein brought to life a being whose abhorrent appearance he had not foreseen, and upon its rising fled from its disgusting qualities. The monster then sought only kindness from humanity, but was spurned from society, resulting in his turning into a monster and committing some crimes before fleeing the free world.

I was most certainly mistaken. The plot is quite deeper than that, and starts at the beginning of young Victor Frankenstein's life, and describes with great vivacity his zeal for natural science. Once at University, his reckless ambition causes him to create a being and bring it to life, and once he did so, he was repulsed by its grotesque shape, which caused him to flee. I had assumed the monster to be mute, so I was quite surprised when the beast spoke with articulation and recounted his own story to Frankenstein upon meeting him later in life. The two battle wills, and on both of them there are many struggles of the mind. The monster is concerned with his creation, and hates Frankenstein for making him so ugly as to be thus rejected from humans everywhere he went. His life was tragic, and yet it was not he who asked to be brought into this world. He saw himself the victim, and to a certain extent he was correct. For Frankenstein, he pondered his responsibility as a creator, and also blamed himself for the crimes of his monster. Without divulging too much of the plot, I can say that it is intriguing throughout, and forces one to plumb the depths of what it means to be alive and our own creation.

The characters in this book are chiefly Frankenstein and his monster, so there isn't too much to say regarding dynamics; they both appear individual and make choices regarding their own fates in believable manners, and all the side characters in this book (mostly friends of the mad scientist), are likewise well written.

I'd like to take a moment to speak on the manner in which this book is written, for that is equally interesting to me. The book actually starts off from the perspective of a Mr. Walton, an explorer who deeply desires to venture to the north pole. There are four introductory letters which Walton writes to his sister which allow one to understand the similarity in spirit that he and Frankenstein share later in the book. During Walton's journey, his ship becomes entrapped in ice, and as he lays there helpless his men spot a dogsled in the distance bearing a man of incredible size, which astonish the witnesses. Not too long after, another sled, which was pulled now by just one dog, bore an emaciated, sick man on the brink of death. They hastily revive him on the ship, and he is revealed as Frankenstein. Walton asks him to regale his story, which he is most fascinated in, and the scientist agrees. Thus the entirety of Frankenstein is written as Victor relates it to Walton, and there are therefor many asides. What impressed me most about this manner of writing was that it felt as though one were hearing it from the mouth of Frankenstein himself, and he is an excellent narrator. It may be the most effective use of first person I have ever encountered.

Frankenstein is a great read, and while the chills were significantly less than I imagined, there was still anxiety which increased my pulse as I turned the pages. It's flaws are so slight as to be mentioned in one phrase, but I did find that there were a plethora of long speeches made by characters in Victor's tale, which sometimes left one wondering when they were going to end. But aside from that, Frankenstein is a well written, thought provoking book which I would highly recommend to anyone who does not mind the somewhat archaic dialogue, and who enjoys suspenseful mystery. It is not hard to understand why, after reading, that many consider this Shelley's greatest work.