Frankenstein (Classic Literature with Classical Music)

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Summary: A Life and Death Struggle at the Top of the World
Review: "Frankenstein" begins and ends in the frozen Arctic waste as the crew of an ice-locked ship discovers two antagonists locked in a deadly game of pursuit and capture. Baron Victor Frankestein has created a monster which destroyed everything and everyone Frankenstein held dear. Frankenstein, swearing revenge, has pursued the monster half way around the world. Finally, exhausted and near death he meets his nemesis on board the ship. The story is told in a series of flashbacks as Frankenstein recounts his pitiful tale of woe to the captain of the ship. The story structure remains fairly true to the plot of the book, but the writer did introduce some innovations.

Most surviving old time radio shows are half hour segments for weekly broadcast. Apparently, however, daily serials with 15 minute episodes were also popular. "Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar" made good use of this format, with a story beginning on Monday and concluding with the capture of the criminal on Friday. The longer format gave the opportunity for greater character development and more fully conceived plots.

With all the advantages afforded by the serial format, "Frankenstein" makes for somewhat of a disappointment. The dialog is over-dramatic, the characters are wooden, and they engage in illogical, inadequately motivated behavior throughout. One unintentionally humorous feature of the play comes as the actors repeatedly deliver mid-twentieth century slang phrases with German accents. Another discordant note is struck when Frankenstein, believing himself near death, calls to his deceased wife "Elizabeth, I'm coming to you!" Of course the writers had no way of anticipating that Redd Foxx would make that phrase a comic refrain as Fred Sanford. One particularly good thing about the play was the monster's self-justifying speeches. Taken alone they sounded like the high-minded complaint of an innocent-but-put-upon victim of circumstance. The monster's protestations of innocence in the face of persecution fell flat, however, when measured against his evil actions.

Despite the weaknesses of plot, dialog, and character development, the play had power. I listened to it straight through on a long business trip. It didn't seem nearly as long as it would have if I'd only had the radio for companionship.

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Summary: Typical novel from the romantic period
Review: "Frankenstein" is a typical novel from the romantic period. The story is based on the conflict of a scientist with the results of his work. But Frankenstein is far more than that: It is the story of two individuals (Frankenstein and his "monster") and their acceptance and behavior in society, and of course, the novel contains a lot of latent psychological information (what would Freud have said about that?). However, it is typical for the age of romanticism that the feelings and thoughts of the individuum are at the center of the plot (see e.g. the works by Byron or by the German authors Eichendorff and Novalis). This holds as well for the music composed during that time (Schubert, Schumann, Chopin, ...). Mary Shelley describes in great detail the innermost feelings of Frankenstein and his "wretch" and how they changed from one minute to the other, and what made them change their moods, and why and how, and who was around etc. This actually - because presented through the entire book - makes the reading of the highly interesting story rather tedious. Story: 5 stars, Fun: 1 star

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Summary: wonderful, romantic sci-fi - a first!
Review: After seeing at least five versions of this tale in film - one of my great childhood monster loves - I was happy to finally read the novel. As so often occurs with classics, I was as surprised as I was fascinated.

For starters, the characters are far more subtle than any of the film versions: Victor F appears as a brooding and obsessed genius, but also as a great lover of life and nature. The monster, who is an articulate and literate creature who read Goethe, is even more interesting, from his hopeful beginning to his bitter reaction at rejection and his thirst for vengence. His eloquence was vivid and his pain horribly realistic.

But the work is also fascinating as a window into the mind of the Romantics, who at once strove to reject the rationalism of the Enlightenment yet reflected it. The creature starts off empty and what it becomes is due entirely to his experience. Knowledge is not always good, etc.

Finally, the themes are timeless and full of conflict: creativity giving birth to unimaginable destruction, tampering with nature as its necessities overwhelm even genius, and the like. THe book is a kaleidescope of philosophical reflection. The pain of the creator and the monster alike are inescapably linked like father and son.

I did find the style of the book a bit difficult. It is full of florid rhetoric and lengthy circumlocutions, as the doctor and then the monster tell their stories in almost identical prose.

Highly recommended.

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Summary: Frankenstein Rev.
Review: Frankenstein is a very inventive story. That is a must for any horror story fanatic. The mid-section of the book drags just a little (little too repetitive), but all and all it's a very good book. I could go on, but i dont feel like it. The books ok, i gave it 4 stars ..just ..because. read it u want to, if u dont want to, then dont ...whatever.

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Summary: It still holds up
Review: I picked up Frankenstein as sort of a "project" read... I felt like it was such a "classic" that I ought to understand it more than the pop-culture monster image.

I was surprised to find a book that holds its own extremely well some 100 years later. The message of scientific experiment for curiosity's sake is a profound one, especially in this age of nuclear experimentation, biological warfare and the like. It is also compelling as a story in and of itself.

Although I was well-aware that the Boris Karloff image was a far cry from Mary Shelly's novel, I was still surprised to find such full character development and strong motivation. Despite the fact that this was her first effort, and based upon a whimsical challenge to write a "ghost story", it is compelling and well written. If you haven't read this book, don't be put off by it's age. It is exceptional.

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Summary: Not a Bad Book at All!!
Review: The novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley starts off very uninteresting. In the beginning, a man writes letters to his sister in England but the story soon begins to pick up. Don't be discouraged when you read the first page or two. Give it a chance you will learn to love this story.
This novel is definitely not the same as the black and white movies you may have seen. Mary Shelley shows a whole new side to the monster in her novel. There are many conflicts and themes in this story. There is love, hate, and the most obvious rage. This is a classic story of a gothic monster gone mad and even though it was written well over 100 years ago it can still scare the pants off of people today.
This book touches on the main problem in society, acceptance. There are so many people out there who will change their look, their attitude and their entire lifestyle just to be accepted. This relates to me because I am now in high school and I have observed people who will do anything to be accepted. In my opinion it is ok to want to be accepted but when a person is willing to harm themselves, just to have more friends, that is not ok with me. Mary Shelley shows us the reality of life in this wonderfully touching story.