Frankenstein (1818) (edit title/settings)

• Rated 4 stars

“This book is a quick read, in both length and pace. It seems to pick up as it goes on, at the beginning I was thinking it's a three-star book but as I reached the end I felt it was solidly a 4-star book. The plot itself was good and at its core posed intriguing questions. Sometimes the writing in this book seemed filled with unnecessary diversions, though. I think it could have been strengthened by reducing some of that length. Possibly even making it a short story.
I really liked how both Frankenstein and the monster were sympathetic characters. I also really liked the structure of the novel itself, I doubted a little at the beginning, I couldn't see where it was going, but I ended up really liking the set up.”

• Rated 4 stars

“Real Good”

• Rated 0 stars

“Great. 20 years between reading and still enjoyed it!”

• Rated 5 stars

“Brilliant - nothing like the movie cliche Free audiobook on www.librivox.org”

• Rated 5 stars

“If you are a science person in AP english, this is the book for you! One of my personal favorites (one that I would read again) and with so many different aspects to it (science, religion, personal relationships, etc.) this is a great book all around!”

• Rated 0 stars

“The Frankenstein story always fascinated me, so when this book popped up on my Nook reader as a freebie I thought I'd check it out. How surprised I was to read a fast paced, sensitive and sympathic story about the monster and its creator. Though the book differed quite a bit from the movie, it was just as entertaining and engrossing -- but not at all scary. What an accomplishment for a women writer for that period. ”

• Rated 3 stars

“It was okay. Most of the book was really boring. I feel like the story would've gone a lot better if the monster did the Monster Mash. ;)”

• Rated 0 stars

“Victor Frankenstein is the very image of solipsism: did he feel anything other than "his own worth and the greatness of his fall?" His creation, AKA the "creature" or "demon," is a far more sympathetic character. I can't tell how Shelly felt about it, but she certainly captured the English attitude (see "Upstairs/Downstairs") that the upper class' "elevated and gentle manners," entitle them to treat the lower classes as beings of zero worth.”

• Rated 4 stars

“We all know the basic story - a doctor unleashes a monster on the world after creating it from scratch parts and some electrical magic.

This original novel takes us right into the head of that "mad" doctor.

What led up to the creation? Why was he so obsessed with the creation? What made him turn on his progeny?

And, we also are let right into the mind of the creature, who, abandoned, makes his own way in the world, rejected, scorned, feared. How does he survive? How does he learn? Who does he love? And what does he do to try and influence the good doctor to make this right?

It's all here.

Mary Shelley was only 18 when she wrote her novel. Her vocabulary and prose are amazing for someone so young.

The story begins in an unusual way - a man writing to an unknown loved one describes his journey leading up to a sighting of the "monster".

We're then transported into the life of the young Dr. Frankenstein, writing his long journal entry about his fateful decision to create life from "nothing". He foreshadows terrible things, of which most of them come true.

We meet Dr. Frankenstein's family - those he loved and grew up with. His father, brothers, and beloved adopted cousin, Elizabeth, whom he later vows to marry.

They all play their parts in this macabre story. All throughout, we think, "Stop it, Dr. Frankenstein. You must be able to find a way to stop this madness." But, events rush headlong just to where the doctor predicts they will. ”

• Rated 5 stars

“In my opinion, this has certainly aged better than Dracula, as the Creature is not just the two-dimensional Gothic villain that Dracula is, but a fully fleshed out antagonist that is equally as sympathetic as the main lead, if not more so.”