A while ago I finished Phantom of The Opera and decided to start Frankenstein. Phantom of The Opera became an all time favourite of mine. Gaston Leroux wrote a sensationnal story full of thrill and drama bound in the gilded wrapping of late 19th century french art and high society.
Now, Frankenstein is an entirely different vibe. Mary Shelley is a poet. A painter with words. The many ways she finds to describe emotions and scenaery are incredible. And oh, so very gothic.
I’m only about 160 pages in, so halfway through the story but I already think this is gonna become my number one book for a while, as there couldn’t be anything I would dislike that could come my way. It’s like nothing I’ve ever read. There’s this heavily dramatic and engaging story delivered with intense emotions and stakes that keep rising, but through the entire thing there persists this underlying theme of existentialism, religious symbolism and mythology. What it means to be a man and a god, a creator and it’s creation. Which is not surprising considering the events and circumstances behind how Mary was inspired to write this story or the direct refrences to Paradise Lost.
Also it’s a genuinely scary book. It manages to give me shivers. It’s far more terrifying than what the pop culture monster movie Frankenstein could ever be. It completly drags me in with a few sentences. The atmosphere is thick and it engulfs you instantly.
I was not prepared for the Monster or the Wretch. The element of body horror surrounding him and his creation gets under my skin. But what suprieses me even more was how he’s both pitiful yet despicable. So gentle and meek yet capable of terror beyond imagination. A being fighting for survival. His dialouge is so quoteable and potent. He’s like a dark reflection of Victor. As if he poured a part of his soul and intellectualism into the creature.
The sequence of events leading to the monster’s introduction to Victor atop the icy Swiss mountains will forever be etched in my mind
TLDR: Frankenstein deserves it’s status as a classic. They use the word “Countenance” in this book a lot.
by Wonder-Lad
35 Comments
YUP! I told a friend I was thinking of reading it and he near exploded with praise. I listened to an audiobook which was great and am so excited to dive in to a print version eventually.
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To THINK that this was written at the start of the 19th century is NUTS. It feels so in the present day in some ways. What also blows me away with that context is the fact that another horror classic, Dracula, would have been written when Frankenstein was already well established in the canon.
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It’s amazing when we can revisit stories like this that are so well known – and yet have so much more to discover. Personally, when the monster mentioned >!wanting a bride, my jaw dropped. I had no idea that the Bride of Frankenstein was something from the original text. I’d assumed it was something the movie studios added in as a pulpy way to continue the franchise.!<
It has been a long time since I read it, and the suspense and energy you mention is so true. One big take away for me was the POV/voice. She gave us the doctor, the monster, and the ship’s captain’s pov, and each had a similar voice. This elevated the monster to a level I was not expecting. Am I remembering this correctly? Maybe I should read it again.
Look for a copy with illustrations by the late, great Bernie Wrightson. That guy really knew his craft.
And to realize the author was just nineteen years old!
You know it’s funny you mention Phantom. That’s my absolute favorite book, and admittedly it does have a more straightforward style to it, though I’ve heard that’s actually from the translation. Apparently the original french is quite poetic, despite Leroux’s past as a journalist.
Have you read The Lottery?
“The labors of men of genius, however erroneously directed, scarcely ever fail to contribute to the solid advantage of mankind”. Has stuck in my head for decades, kinda a mantra
I wrote about this for HS my freshman year. Blew my mind it was a story within a story within a story. Loved it. Enjoy the ride!
I’m certainly not as big of a reader as I used to be, and surely not on the level of most of those active in this sub, but for my money it’s the most impressive thing ever written, and in the running for the most impressive piece of art ever created. It’s so wildly successful, engrossing, and entertaining on so many levels. On every level. Everything you mentioned in your post, of course, but also the Russian doll framing device structure is so fun while also providing such wonderful context and contrasts for each story and perspective. The prose is over the top dramatic on every page, but it works so wonderfully because the stakes are always so high. The drama never ceases and the repercussions of the events described impact you far beyond the immensely moving story alone. It’s an incredible achievement and I’ll always hold Mary Shelley in the highest esteem. In my mind, it’s the most impressive artistic endeavor anyone has ever pulled off.
https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/cautionary-tales-with-tim-harford/id1484511465?i=1000564900348
Here is a podcast about the conditions that surrounded the writing of the book. I found it fascinating.
From the show notes:
When Mount Tambora erupted it spewed ash across the globe; blotting out the sun; poisoning crops; and bringing starvation, illness and death to millions. It may also have helped inspire great scientific and cultural advances – including the horror masterpiece Frankenstein. How well do we adapt to catastrophe and what are the limits of our ability to weather even the worst circumstances?
I will always comment on Frankenstein posts. I had the same experience when I read it. It’s a novel that has been gotten so wrong and transformed by pop culture in my opinion. It’s a shame it became a kind of “scary misunderstood monster with evil mad scientist creator” in pop culture because it really is so much more complicated than that. I thought the book was as much of a great philosophical read as it was a horror novel, and both the monster and Viktor are way more morally grey than depicted in contemporary media.
Yeah this book slaps, glad to hear other are enjoying it too. Have read it 4 times. Every time I have come away from it differently.
I find the book’s structure to be fascinating. Having these long monologues that all stack on each other is a great way to show how each of these characters view the world.
It also has a great opening. In the first few chapters, you see all of these different types of love portrayed. We see Captain Waltons love for his sister, Victor’s love for his siblings, the Frankenstein parents’ love for their children, Justine’s love for the family she helps care for, Victor’s love for his friend Henry. These all serve to contrast with the way Victor treats his creation. The Creature is for all intents and purposes, Victor’s own son. Victor brought him into the world, and should love him, but instead rejects him. He doesn’t even bother to give his son a name, instead just considering him a monstrous disgrace. Their relationship really is at the core of the tragedy of the piece.
>!“God, in pity, made man beautiful and alluring, after His own image; but my form is a filthy type of yours, more horrid even from the very resemblance. Satan had his companions, fellow devils, to admire and encourage him, but I am solitary and abhorred.” !<
I know it’s the point of it, but I’ve never been able to get over what a piece of shit Victor is.
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Marry Shelley? Why, I barely know Shelley!
If it isn’t too much trouble, can you give some examples of her painting her way with words? I haven’t read this book, and it’s on my list, but I’d like to have a reason to move it up. There are just so many books on my list.
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I just recently re-read Frankenstein after several years and I feel the same way. It’s brilliant.
Keep in mind that she started writing it when she was 19. The book has fathoms deep biblical and other literary references. She is a legend.
Not enough horror that is written from the killers perspective. Thats what the doctor feels like.
This is probably one of the best books they made us read in high school, definitely at least top 5.
I read Frankenstein for the first time for a class I was taking about the gothic literary genre. It is an amazing book, and Mary Shelley is rightfully credited for proliferating the science fiction genre.
Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein for a ghostwriting competition between herself, Lord Byron, and I believe her husband, Percy Shelley. She was only 18 years old when Frankenstein was published, which means she was barely 20 when writing the novel. Her husband, Percy, encouraged her to finish the book because he liked what he had read so far.
If you like Frankenstein, then I think you may also enjoy Dracula. Much like Shelley’s Frankenstein became the progenitor of the science fiction genre, Dracula became the progenitor of the modern vampire.
As an aside, I would love to study directly under Mary Shelley. She’s a divine wordsmith in my eyes. Bram Stoker isn’t nearly as eloquent, but then Dracula was published in 1897, almost 90 years later, so the English language would have evolved to resemble our more modern way of writing.
She is the Mother of Science Fiction. Lucille Ball is the Fairy Godmother.
You should check out dracula daily!
Oh man… half way in.
You are in for one hell of a psychological ride in the second half.
This was me in middle school, I wasn’t expecting to enjoy the novel or for it to be good, but it’s been one of my favorites ever since. I think it was because prior to reading it, my only interpretations of the novel were the clambering, grunting Frankenstein’s Monsters from the older movie versions.
In my 10th grade English class we had a whole unit built around Frankenstein. We did a literary reading of Genesis Chapters 1 and 2, then the beginning chunk of Paradise Lost, some background on the Romantic movement in art and literature, then multiple classes focusing on The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. *Then* we read Frankenstein, and at the end of the unit we divided the class into two sets of defense and prosecution “teams” (including “witnesses” acting as characters from the books) for mock trials of first Frankenstein and then his Creation. Probably spent at least two months on that unit.
I’ve read this book a few dozen times. the “I should be thine adam” speech, the watching of the family from the pig stye… Emotional splatter punk. So good.
You should check out this [painting](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wanderer_above_the_Sea_of_Fog) (“Wanderer Above the Sea Fog”) by Caspar David Friedrich painted in 1818, the same year as the original publication of Frankenstein. This painting really captures the essence of the scene you described of Victor atop the icy Swiss mountains. Another painting by him called [“The Sea of Ice”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sea_of_Ice) also helps visualize the setting of the barren arctic wastelands.
I totally agree with you on your thoughts on the book and it is likely my number one book as well!
“I have love in me the likes of which you can scarcely imagine and rage the likes of which you would not believe. If I cannot satisfy the one, I will indulge the other.”
I’m listening to the audiobook now and it is very good. One funny little thing that I can’t help but notice though is how often the word “countenance” is used. I think whenever I see this word in the future I will hear it in Dan Stevens’ Frankenstein’s voice
Victor is so despicably irresponsible at every turn. I love him cursing his luck while facing the consequences of his actions (or inaction)
Quality story
I just finished this book about 2-3 weeks ago and I agree with your sentiments completely. The way Shelley makes you both sympathetic towards the monster’s plight, while also making him totally detestable. It truly does make you consider deep questions about mankind and our place in the universe. I moved onto Bram Stoker’s Dracula next and it doesn’t even come close. It’s been a fun read, but it feels almost like a series of spooky vignettes that all somehow center around Dracula than a truly timeless masterpiece like Frankenstein.
Abby Normal