Frankenstein

Rating:
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.

Rating:
Summary: Classic
Review: Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is a classic book. Everyone knows the story line-well at least what they've seen in the movies (which is actually pretty different from the book). A man creates a "monster" who is evil. The most interesting aspect of this book in my opinion is the monster's true personality. In contrast to the common view of the monster as a cold-blooded killer, he is really compassionate and intelligent, but because he is never accepted in society because of his horrid appearence, his loneliness causes him to go on a killing spree to get revenge against his creator for bringing him into such a cruel world. This book is an excellent read, but may be somewhat boring to some (I just read it for my senior english class and most of my class hated it!).

Rating:
Summary: A classic reading experience
Review: All my life I have heared and seen movies about Dracula, Frankenstein and Dr. Jekell and Mr. Hyde. Normally I do not read horror/ science fiction but I was curious about these three and decided to find out how these literary characters attained such long lasting lives. The time spent reading the three books was worth it. It was an entertaining cultural experience.
I'll leave it to the experts to try to tell you why they are classics. I don't know, but if you are always short on time, like I am, my order of preference is as listed in the first sentance above.

Rating:
Summary: The Modern Prometheus
Review: Popular culture would have us believe that Frankenstein is a hulking green cartoonish character, while in reality, Frankenstein is actually the name of the man who created the monster. Having read Mary Shelley's classic for a British Literature class, I feel that it is a shame that the majority of the population has a misrepresentation of Frankenstein.

Prometheus is a figure in Greek mythology who stole fire from the gods and gave it to man, and was punished by Zeus for it. Victor Frankenstein is quite young when he goes abroad to study and becomes obsessed with the occult side of science, ambitiously desiring to overcome death. Victor also desires to have a race worship him as creator, and in his ambition he feverishly toils, robbing graves and laboratories to build his monstrous creation, which he fashions to be beautiful. Upon completing his work, the fever that has led Victor on immediatly flees, and he sees his work as a monster, and runs terrified from it. This creature is infinitely more terrifying and horrible than the one described by popular culture--"...I had selected his features as beautiful. Beautiful!--Great God! His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was of a lustrous black, and flowing; his teeth of a pearly whiteness; but these luxuriances only formed a more horried contrast with his watery eyes, that seemed almost of the same colour as the dun white sockets in which they were set, his shrivelled complexion, and straight black lips."
Frankenstein abandons his monster, and returns home, tortured by what he has created. After several misfortunes befall Frankenstein, he again meets the creature, who, we learn, has become eloquent and learned, but, scorned by every human, has become bitter and vengeful toward Frankenstein. He appeals to Frankenstein to make him a companion, or he will destroy Frankenstein and those he loves.
The rest of the novel follows Victor as he struggles with this decision, and as more misfortunes befall him.

Different types of readers will find sympathy with different characters. I myself found little sympathy for Frankenstein; his selfish ambition and ensuing cowardice and rationalization render him utterly pathetic in my mind. There is some ambiguity as to whether the creature is simply a misunderstood being, or whether he really is a malicious devil as our somewhat unreliable narrator tells us. What a reader chooses to believe will determine the themes that reader derives from the novel.

Frankenstein could be seen as a charge against vain amibtion, or it could be seen as an account of man's inability to act as God. I myself felt that Mary Shelley was perhaps questioning God's relationship to man, a plausible explanation considering that Mary Shelley's husband was Percy Shelley, who got kicked out of Oxford for distributing an atheist pamphlet. What, exactly, is a creator's responsibility to his work? To whom do the boundaries of ethics apply? Who is the real monster, Frankenstein's creature or people who unfeelingly reject him? These are only a slice of the themes that intersect Shelley's novel, which is much more than a campy horror story. Frankenstein is a solid read that should not be overlooked by the modern reader, for it contains messages relevant to to us.

Rating:
Summary: A must read
Review: Mary Shelley was ahead of her time in writing what some consider to be the first ever science fiction novel. What I found most intriguing about this book was that the main story was not defined to me until one moment at the very end. In fact, I am still unable to decide for myself whether it is what it is. A definite must read for anyone who is at all interested in fantastic fiction.

Rating:
Summary: Who is the REAL Frankenstein?
Review: Frankenstein is a classic that every child had heard of, but who is the Frankenstein we imagine when we hear that name? A scary, green, ugly monster that holds his hands up like in the maraca? Or is it a lonely and curious scientist that releases an alien creature into a society that kills and destroys? Mary Shelley named the ladder Frankenstein and she did so correctly.

Who are the Frankenstein's in our society today, who are the enemies, who are the destroyers? The scary creatures of man or the quiet, good looking men who smile and fade away? This book is amazing because of the issues it presents by answering this question. This classic doesn't only use the language of the old British that sweep your tongue and give you the feeling of intellectual bliss, but it also poses a question that continues to be asked throughout the centuries. Who are the REAL Frankensteins?

Mary Shelley knew her answer and gave evil a beautiful name that most have used and see each day. Evil is disguised in the finest clothing and the richest words, evil is not in the ugly, the uneducated, the unknown, it is in the men and women who question how to create. Curiosity of God's work, God's hands, God's power. At the end of this book you know where evil resides and who Frankenstein really is. This book will give you a different image every time you heear the word Frankenstein and question, who is the real Frankenstein?

Rating:
Summary: This is a Classic?!
Review: I was forced into reading this for my senior AP humanities class over the summer. I began about three weeks before school started, and it took me a week to get though, despite being a relatively short book. I literally almost fell asleep every ten pages. Mary Shelley almost as much in need of a good editor as John Milton with his insanely written Paradise Lost. She spend eons talking about how lovely the mountains are, then spends around five seconds explaining the birth of The Monster. This tendancy to skip over the exciting parts as though they were unimportant may have been intentional (that's what my humanites teacher tells me) but it still bored me. Also, I don't really care what the mountains looked like. Victor Frankenstein whines his way through the entire novel, which is really irritating because everything that happens to him is his own fault. When it comes to the development of The Monster, Mary Shelley seems to think that somehow, magically, The Monster knows way too much. Too many convient things happen. For example, he just happens to hang out behind a hut housing several very nice peasants, and they never notice? Yeah, right. Also, he just happens to find three very important and significant texts that have striking parallels to his own situation? Again, yeah right. It reached the point of ludicrocity. I sincerley did not enjoy this book, and though I know that it may partially be Percy Shelley's fault (evidently, he was her editor), and I know that Mary Shelley had many miscarriages and children's deaths and this book is about that and blah blah blah, I will never enjoy it.

Rating:
Summary: The Original Version of the Classic
Review: The original version of Frankenstein (or, The Modern Prometheus) was published anonymously in 1818. However, the version of Frankenstein that most people have read is the 1831 edition, which has significant changes from the original 1818 text. This book gives the readers a chance to experience the original text, which is less refined and a bit darker then the revised text. It also provides a wonderful introduction and notes discussing Mary Shelley's life, the context in which this story was written, and the differences between the original text and the 1831 edition. These notes and introduction are by Marilyn Butler, who was a Professor of English Literature at Cambridge.

The story is well known, although certainly the book is nothing like most of the movies that use its name. While clearly one can find many issues from Mary Shelley's life and times that are addressed in this book, what makes it stand the test of time is how it can be made to relate to modern day issues as well. One theme, science creates a "monster" which it cannot control and which ultimately destroys the lives of those that created it, can be found today in areas such as genetics, nuclear physics, etc., and will undoubtedly be with us in the future as well. Other themes from the story carry forward from 1818 to today as well, which undoubtedly why this story is a classic and will always endure.

Rating:
Summary: GREAT BOOK
Review: One on a list of many that I always wanted to read... Recently finding the time, i picked it up from the library and read it. It was a great read, its written in old/middle english, but not bad enough that you cant tell whats going on. Its a great story, it really is. Forget what you think you know about the story of Frankenstien, read the book !!!

Rating:
Summary: The BEST book I EVER read
Review: I have read the Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, the Hobbit, the Silmarillian, Star Wars books, Treasure Island, and much much more. But this is the best book I have ever read. I would recomend this book to almost anyone.

P.S.Dont expect the flat headed monster from the movie (its nothing like that), but dont try to get bang that image from your head either it fun to see the contrast.

P.P.S. I dont want to insult anyone but if you have limited vocabulary dont read this book, you simply wont apreciate it enough.

P.P.P.S. Please excuse my horrible spelling.