Frankenstein

Rating:
Summary: Thorough and intellectual
Review: I can't speak highly enough of Bloom's notes in general. They are distinctly different from other summary-type works in that much of the book is critical reviews, while the rest is a structural and thematic analysis. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone enrolled in high level literature classes (such as myself) or anyone who wishes to gain a deeper understanding of the novel, not just a cursory plot summary.

Rating:
Summary: Glad I read it, but there was just a bit too much of it.
Review: When I closed the book after reading the final page, I looked back at the novel and came to the conclusion that I did not regret reading it. With all the cheap conceptions people have today about Frankenstein, it was great to read this and fully understand what Frankenstein was ORIGINALLY meant to be! I liked the novel, but I found it at times to carry on just a little too much. Chunks of the novel could have been cut without any significant damage to the plot. I found myself fed up somewhere in the middle of the novel because of this, but at the end I was satisfied.

Rating:
Summary: 3.5 stars, actually.
Review: All right, I agree, Frankenstein is a very tedious book to read. It's repetitive, rambling and very often, boring. The term "miserable wretch" can be found practically every two pages, Shelley likes to have her characters write marathon-length letters to each other and the good Dr. Frankenstein has a tendency to go staring at mountains for chapters at a time. If you can ignore all these imperfections, Frankenstein truly is a rare gem indeed. It has withstood the test of time by infecting many-a-generation with the vision of a solitary, man-made creature and his tortured creator. More movies and books have been created around Shelley's idea's than I have fingers. A tour down a local CVS during Halloween will yield you with at least five different "Frankenstein" costumes to pick from. Frankenstein is a part of our culture. Media and commercialism aside, Frankenstein also has a lot to say about our science as well. I honestly can't think of any other fiction book that expressed the same concern for the state of bio-technology and ethics than this novel. Worried about test-tube babies? Human testing? Cloning? This book has it all. And to add more icing to the cake, this book was one of the first to worry about it. Sure, the text might be unrefined. But the idea itself is worth the 233 pages, and enough to make me give this book a 3.5 on the rating scale.. Read this book when you have the spare time, you'll be pleasantly surprised!

Rating:
Summary: An entertaining look at ethical issues
Review: Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is an interesting, enjoyable, and thought provoking novel, depicting the consequences of one immoral decision on the behalf of Dr. Victor Frankenstein. Frankenstein is then faced with whether or not to create a second monster to appease the first, which has already killed his brother in his fury. This second decision, which he saw as a choice between his family and the human race, was what angered the originally kind-hearted creature and turned him to a path of evil and revenge. While the story of Frankenstein is commonly thought to involve an evil "monster," I particularly liked that either the doctor or the creature (or both) could be seen as evil. Frankenstein had sought fame in the ability to bring one back from the dead but he never paused to consider the moral implications of his actions. Abandoning his creation, Victor saw only evil in his creature and, blaming him for the death of his brother, vowed revenge. Victor would not sympathize with the creature's hard life and refused to grant him one request that would end, or so he promised, his evil doings. Similarly, the creature entered the world with a good heart and had intentions only of helping others. He wanted nothing more than acceptance and love, but people were unable to see beyond his hideous appearance. After being shunned by the human race, the creature vowed revenge on the person who had cursed him with life, his creator. Once Frankenstein refused him a companion, and with it, any chance of happiness or love, the creature vowed to make Frankenstein pay for his selfishness. Mary Shelley's story is captivating and intriguing; it portrays the classic horror story plot in an enjoyable manner with emphasis on the issue of who is "right" and "good", and what the responsibilities of Frankenstein, as the creator should be to his monster.

Rating:
Summary: Bond and struggles between monster and creator are portrayed
Review: Contrary to my original belief that Frankenstein was a generic monster story, I found Shelly's novel to be engrossing. When Victor Frankenstein went to study at Ingolstadt, his quest for knowledge became the center of his life. He focused solely on his scientific creation, leaving little time for outside connections. However, when he finally brought life to his creature, Frankenstein had no idea that his "work of science," would eventually control his life. Shelly's novel breaks the boundaries set by dull science-fiction stories and enters a world of human nature, with love, vengeance, misery, anguish, and regret. The ending to this well written classic is just as enthralling as the first page, as the term "mad scientist" takes on a whole new meaning.

Rating:
Summary: Very true to the flavor of Shelley's novel
Review: I found this to be an excellent play. It was obviously well researched and very true to the flavor of the original novel. This is not Hollywood's version of Frankenstein but a much more full bodied study of man's arrogance. I highly recommend performing it as well as reading it.

Rating:
Summary: I'm embarassed to say that I read this book
Review: Mary Shelley wrote this book when she was 18 and it really shows. This was the one of the worst books I have ever read, seriously I would rather read the berstein bears. Mary Shelley uses a lot of fancy words and complicated sentence stucture but the book really doesn't say anything. There is no underlying message, it seems that she creates scenes to move her plot along, for instance the monster must learn how to talk and read so he camps out in someones shed and observes them for months without detection, it just so happens that there is a foreign woman at t the house learning how to speak French. What a coincidence. The plot is not justified, Victor hates the monster because .... I don't know he isn't the evil spawn of satan or anything, and then there is the monster drove to kill because he was lonely? Come on now. Shelley tries to reach emotional climaxes and moving passages but she didn't have anything to say. The book was boring, it had a bland and combined a very vague writing style full of tautology with not much content, and a "sissy" plot, not at all scary or even plausible

Rating:
Summary: This a great horror book for readers everywhere!
Review: A thrilling tale of monsters and insanity,(on the madd scientist's part of course). It's a thrilling tale of horror that will take the breath away from readers.

Rating:
Summary: powerfull masterpiec of literature
Review: beautiful book. mary shelly really had the writers blood in her! she opens up days of discussions with this novel. aspects such as the power of science and morality, that are still looked at today.

Rating:
Summary: Much better than a guy sitting on a stool reading the book
Review: This is a full cast dramatization of this wonderful classic. Very exciting. The voices brought back the fear I felt the first time I read it 25 years ago. Fantastic!!