Saturday 4 December 2010

Review: Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

When I decided it was about time to start reading some classics this was at the top of the list. It was a story I thought I would know, but I should have put aside all the modern halloween images that come to mind when you think of Frankenstein's monster.

I found it a fascinating story within a story with 3 different narrators. It details the life of M. Frankenstein, and his studies which lead to him creating the monster. Having completed his great work he immediately realises what he has done and seeks to undo the damage. There is very little gore and guts, it's not the horror novel I was expecting on that count, and not much on how the monster was created. Instead the story encompasses major themes including the progress of science and the unforeseen results of man's experiments. Despite the age of the book it is still applicable today, when you think of the rows over GM foods and cloning and where they could lead us.

I felt it was a little slow and unduly wordy in places and the language was typical of books of this period, but once I got into it I found it hard to put down. It wasn't what I expected, it was even quite touching in places, and was better than I anticipated.

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