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No-one in the grip of Mary Shelley's FRANKENSTEIN, with its mythic-minded hero and its highly sympathetic monster who reads Goethe and longs to be at peace with himself, can fail to notice how much more excellent the original is than all the adaptations, imitations and outright plagiarisms which have followed in its ample wake. In her first novel, written at the instigation of Lord Byron and published in 1818, Mary Shelley produced English Romanticism's finest prose fiction.


From the Hardcover edition.

Frankenstein, loved by many decades of readers and praised by such eminent literary critics as Harold Bloom, seems hardly to need a recommendation. If you haven't read it recently, though, you may not remember the sweeping force of the prose, the grotesque, surreal imagery, and the multilayered doppelg?nger themes of Mary Shelley's masterpiece. As fantasy writer Jane Yolen writes of this (the reviewer's favorite) edition, "The strong black and whites of the main text [illustrations] are dark and brooding, with unremitting shadows and stark contrasts. But the central conversation with the monster--who owes nothing to the overused movie image ¡­ but is rather the novel's charnel-house composite--is where [Barry] Moser's illustrations show their greatest power ... The viewer can all but smell the powerful stench of the monster's breath as its words spill out across the page. Strong book-making for one of the world's strongest and most remarkable books." Includes an illuminating afterword by Joyce Carol Oates.

Customer Reviews:

• The name refers to the scientist
  I love this book and how fitting it should be written by the child of Mary Wollstonecraft and Percy Shelley.
  
  I just think on what my Literary Types prof at the University of Michigan had to say...
  
  "It's the story of a crazed undergraduate."
  
  "All right, Viktor, you put the twelve-inch [organ] on the monster and what do you think he's going to do with it?"
  
  Made a 7 a.m. class worthwhile....more info
• Highly relevant
  In an age where scientific knowledge is rapidly expanding, Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" is especially important. Science warrants both caution and careful use of conscience from those who unlock its secrets; for what is labeled "progress" can unexpectedly backfire and cause harm.
  
  Early in the novel, Victor Frankenstein reveals his deep desire to acquire knowledge of science. The young man proudly proclaims that he will achieve "far more" than anyone else ever has and that he would "pioneer" new ways to "unfold to the world the deepest mysteries of creation." He diligently carries out his operation without carefully considering the consequences of his actions. For Victor, completing the task takes priority over worrying about the possible consequences.
  
  One can easily draw a direct connection to our own world. Genetic researchers are often faced with ethical dilemmas in which others accuse them of "playing God." Perhaps the day isn't too far off where one will be able to order not only clothes but also kids from catalogs. Nike kids would be better athletes and Calvin Klein could sell children that would blossom into beautiful models.
  
  Today it is just as important for scientists to proceed with both caution and conscience. If, like Victor, they work only to achieve a goal at any cost, it is very possible that the holocaust of the new millennium won't be as visible to the public because the weak, the handicapped, the diseased, and any so-called "undesirables" will be silently discarded before they ever have any kind of a chance.
  
  Should be required reading for high school and above....more info
• Is Frankestein a book for 13 years old and under
  I enjoyed Frankestein, but I don't recommend the book for kids, unless they are really good readers. There are many words that are harder for kids to understand because it was written in old english. Frankestein was written very well even if it was a harder book. From the beginning to the end there was always some "action" or excitment going on. I don't want to discorage young readers from reading this book, but you'll understand it much better if you wait a couple of years to read it....more info
• great story
  i read this book right after dracula and well, it's definitely a good read and an edge of your seat thriller. it has stood the test of time in terms of it's theme and lesson. ...more info
• The Original Version of the Classic
  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....more info
• Frankenstein: The Good and the Bad
  One reason why I don't like this book is because I don;t like scarcy books, but this is a very interesting book. I also think that it is totally cool that a woman wrote it because that proves that women can like spooky stories even if most don't....more info
• I feel sorry...
  for the people who hated this book and gave it poor reviews. Really missed out on what may be the greatest novel of all time. For me it's hard to put down. And the themes are deep and everlasting ones that humans will forever struggle with. Life and death, God vs science, good and evil, spiritual themes, and social ones also, all wrapped up in a GREAT story. Oh well, you can't expect everyone to get it and resonate with it.
  
  One thing about this Rieger version: it says it "reproduces for the first time in more than a century the text of the first edition published in 1818". Not true. Donohue produced at least three editions (I have them) around 1895 that are all the 1818 text.
  Just an FYI.
  
  Believe the hype! This book is hard to surpass. I virtually never give 5 stars to ANYTHING. This deserves it.
  
  ...more info
• The Modern Prometheus
  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....more info
• Gothic at its best
  Mary Shelley was the daughter of the famous feminist and author, Mary Wollstonecraft, who is best known for her work The Vindication of the Rights of Women. In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, a young university student, Victor Frankenstein, obsesses with wanting to know the secret to life. He studies chemistry and natural philosophy with the goal of being able to create a human out of spare body parts. After months of constant work in his laboratory, Frankenstein attains his goal and brings his creation to life. Frankenstein is immediately overwrought by fear and remorse at the sight of his creation, a "monster." The next morning, he decides to destroy his creation but finds that the monster has escaped. The monster, unlike other humans, has no social preparation or education; thus, it is unequipped to take care of itself either physically or emotionally. The monster lives in the forest like an animal without knowledge of "self" or understanding of its surroundings. The monster happens upon a hut inhabited by a poor family and is able to find shelter in a shed adjacent to the hut. For several months, the monster starts to gain knowledge of human life by observing the daily life of the hut's inhabitants through a crack in the wall. The monster's education of language and letters begins when he listens to one of them learning the French language. During this period, the monster also learns of human society and comes to the realization that he is grotesque and alone in the world. Armed with his newfound ability to read, he reads three books that he found in a leather satchel in the woods. Goethe's Sorrows of Young Werther, Milton's Paradise Lost, and a volume of Plutarch's Lives. The monster, not knowing any better, read these books thinking them to be facts about human history. From Plutarch's works, he learns of humankind's virtues. However, it is Paradise Lost that has a most interesting effect on the monster's understanding of self. The monster at first identifies with Adam, "I was apparently united by no link to any other being in existence." The monster, armed only with his limited education, thought that he would introduce himself to the cottagers and depend on their virtue and benevolence; traits he believed from his readings that all humans possessed. However, soon after his first encounter with the cottagers, he is beaten and chased off because his ugliness frightens people. The monster is overwrought by a feeling of perplexity by this reaction, since he thought he would gain their trust and love, which he observed them generously give to each other on so many occasions. He receives further confirmation of how his ugliness repels people when, sometime later, he saves a young girl from drowning and the girl's father shoots at him because he is frightful to look at. The monster quickly realizes that the books really lied to him. He found no benevolence or virtue among humans, even from his creator. At every turn in his life, humans are judging him solely based on his looks. The monster soon realizes that it is not Adam, the perfect being enjoying the world, which he is most alike. Instead, he comes to realize that he most represents Satan. The monster is jealous of the happiness he sees humans enjoy that he has never attained for himself. The monster tells Frankenstein that he found his lab journal in his coat pocket and read it with increasing hate and despair as he came to understand what Frankenstein's intent was in creating him. The monster curses Frankenstein for making a creature so hideous that even his creator turned from him in disgust.
  
  Shelley's intent here is plain to see. "The fate of the monster suggests that proficiency in `the art of language' as he calls it, may not ensure one's position as a member of the `human kingdom." In a sense, she is showing that both her parents were mistaken when they advocated greater education reform for people. They thought education would make people better, which in turn would improve society for all. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein contradicts this belief.
  
  Starting with the full title of Mary Shelley's book, Frankenstein: or The Modern Prometheus one can instantly see that mythology was integral to her book. Lord Byron, poet and friend of the Shelley's was writing a poem entitled Prometheus, and Mary was reading the Prometheus legend in Aeschylus' works when she had a dream, which was the impetus for her book. The Greek god Prometheus, is known for two important tasks that he performed, he created man from clay, and he stole fire from the gods and gave it to man. The stealing of fire really angered Zeus because the giving of fire began an era of enlightenment for humankind. Zeus punished Prometheus by having him carried to a mountain, where an eagle would pick at his liver; it would grow back each day and the eagle would eat it again.
  
  The presence of fire and light in this gothic story helps to point to the similarities to Prometheus and Victor Frankenstein, the creator of the monster, in Shelley's book. The book uses light as a symbol of discovery, knowledge, and enlightenment. The natural world is full of hidden passages, and dark unknown scientific secrets; Victor's goal as a scientist is to grasp towards the light. Light is a by-product of fire that the monster learned quickly when he is living on his own. The monster experienced fires' duality when he first encountered it in an unattended fire in the woods. He is mesmerized by the fact that fire produces light in the darkness in the woods, but is shocked at the sensation of pain it gives him when he touches it. Victor is defiant of god in the same way that Prometheus was defiant of Zeus. Victor steals the secret of life from god and creates a human out of spare body parts. He does this out of an altruistic wish to spare humankind from the pain and suffering of death. Thus, Victor Frankenstein embodies both aspects of the Promethean myth creation and fire. Victor in a sense has the same experience with the fire of enlightenment similar to his monster; he is "burned" by the fire of enlightenment. Victor also suffers from the classic Greek tragic condition of hubris for his transgression against god and nature.
  
  The book also adopts two other great mythic legends. One is Adam from the Bible. Victor Frankenstein bears striking resemblance to Adam and his fall from grace for eating the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge. The other is Satan, a mythic figure that Shelley admired from her readings in Milton's book Paradise Lost. In an interesting juxtaposition of booth myths, she expands on the motif of the fall from grace in her book when she portrays the monster comparing himself to Adam; after he read, Milton's book Paradise Lost. The monster tells Victor, that he at first identifies with Adam God's first creation. "I was apparently united by no link to any other being in existence." However, after several incidents of mistreatment that he suffered from the humans he encountered in his travels; the monster soon realized that it is not Adam, the perfect being enjoying the world, which he was most alike. Instead, he came to realize that he most represented Satan. The monster's feelings of hatred and despair stem from the fact that humans found him grotesque to look at and would not accept him as a member of human society. The monster cursed Victor for making a creature so hideous that even his creator turned from him in disgust. Thus, it is obvious for all to see that Shelley's Frankenstein is replete with mythological references and they are central to the plot.
  
  This was required reading for a graduate course in the Humanities. Recommended reading for anyone interested in history, psychology, philosophy, and literature.
  
  
  ...more info
• Frankenstein review
  I think that "Frankenstein" is worthy reading material at nearly any level. Besides a short portion in the middle of the story, this book stays rather interesting throughout. I especially enjoyed the character Victor. His emotions, thoughts, and reactions to his creation are convincingly real. Also, I liked the fact this book did tend to keep the reader a little chilled and anxious. I feel that this book is appropriate for high school or college courses and is surely a great leisurely read....more info
• Romantic delight
  Rereading this work one wonders is it silly or not, and if it is not silly, why couldn't Mary Shelley have repeated her achievement. She lived a long life, enjoying fame as Shelley's widow.
  
  The work is seemingly as marvellous as ever. The wild story is perfectly balanced by the writing done in the classical style of the times. Frankenstein is, of course, a variant of the Prometheus myth. Both Byron and Shelley were working on the myth in their poetic careers when this novel was composed, rather as a lark.
  
  Mary Shelley describes Scotland and Switzerland, places of particular and significant happiness to her. Victor Frankenstein discovers he has the power of bestowing animation. He beholds the monster he created on a day in November.
  
  Victor learns from his father of the death of his younger brother William. Returning to his father's house, he discovers that a girl, Justine Moritz, is suspected of having committed the murderous deed. Victor puts forth the claim that Justine is innocent. Poor Justine is convicted and seeking absolution at the point of her execution, she makes a false confession. Victor feels that he is really the murderer. His visage shows despair, subject to detection by his cousin Elizabeth.
  
  Victor finds the demon at Mount Blanc. The monster reminds him that he is his creation. The monster recounts to Victor his adventures in voyeurism. He surreptitiously assisted the cottagers upon whom he spied. He gathered wood for them. From them he became aware of language and began to note their poverty. The monster educated himself by means of the works of Goethe, Plutarch and Milton. By showing himself, the monster caused the family to depart.
  
  He wants Victor to produce a female. Victor fears the disappointed fiend, but finds he cannot overcome his repugnance to make a mate for the creature. He is also faced with the duty and desire to wed his cousin, but he is conscious of the threat of death to his bride should he wed. Victor undergoes the death of his friend Clerval and imprisonment in Ireland. His fiendish adversary pursues him to the end. The finale is operatic. The doubling effect throughout the novel is masterly. ...more info
• Is Frankestein a book for 13 years old and under
  I enjoyed Frankestein, but I don't recommend the book for kids, unless they are really good readers. There are many words that are harder for kids to understand because it was written in old english. Frankestein was written very well even if it was a harder book. From the beginning to the end there was always some "action" or excitment going on. I don't want to discorage young readers from reading this book, but you'll understand it much better if you wait a couple of years to read it....more info
• A Story That Shall Always Be Remembered
  I had to read this in my English class and I always wanted to read it. Mary had quite the imagination! The novel did not disappoint me whatsoever. I found it to be a great read and overall one of those stories that you just can't instantly judge as which character is the antagonist or the protagonist. The novel makes you think deeply about both Victor and the monster he created. It's the splitting image of a gothic novel and indeed just as scary and amazingly thought up as can get. To imagine one man creating his own human is an idea that is mad as well as amazing to think even of.
  The story starts off where a ship up North finds a man and takes him up on their ship, and the leader listens to the story the man tells in agony and woe. It's of Victor as when he was younger, and happy and fascinated in an idea he conjured, of creating his own human. But only discord happens afterwards, and Victor realizes he must destroy his creation before the whole human race is in danger. But alas, the monster has a negotiation, and Victor must decide if he will uptake it for the sake of his family and the rest of the world's safety.
  This is a story that will leave you thinking deeply and possibly shedding a tear. It's up to the the reader nonetheless, to wonder if they dare read such a chilling tale....more info
• What? Frankenstein is not the name of the monster?!?
  Like many teenagers, I was under the impression that Frankenstein (thinking it was the name of the monster) was a remorseless brute that got joy from torturing people. But after reading Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, my perception completely changed.
  
  I literally knew nothing about the story save that Frankenstein--again thinking that it was the monster--was repulsive in aspect.
  
  As I read the story I came to find out that Frankenstein was actually the name of the man who created the abominable creature. Also, I would have never guessed that the creature would have been made malicious by human disdain. The "daemon" was at heart benevolent and innocuous, but human scorn turned his ways and he sought revenge.
  
  Altogether, the story was very well written. It did have a few flaws, such as the overuse of the word "endeavour" and the impractibility of a man remembering such long a story and actually narrarating the whole of it, not forgetting to omit a single quote. Despite the few flaws, Frankenstein is indeed a horror classic (although, I failed to find any horror in it) and should be read by the fans of the genre....more info
• This is a Classic?!
  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 friggin' Frank Norris with his stupid novel McTeague. 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. ...more info
• A must read
  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. ...more info
• The first work of science fiction
  Mary was a truely great woman, braving heavy literary snobbery, her own tradgic personal life, social and moral opression to write not only a classic work of literature, but also the first ever science fiction story. A revolutionary of her time and a genius writer with a full and budding imagination....more info
• Spellbinding and Gruesome but Interesting
  Reading Frankenstein and thinking it would be like the movies in Hollywood is totally wrong. When reading Frankenstein in the beginning it is somewhat slow but turns gruesome. People get killed even in their innocents. The monster is truly evil, not nice. Middle of the book becomes interesting but you feel sorrow and some sympathy for the monster. In the end the monster himself reveals the complete truth of what he is. This may sound like a book report but feelings cannot capture the feeling that erupts inside during the novel.
  
  If you look at the novel from a critique point of view it is a horror but still spellbinding. The story is not just simple and scary but helps you understand the nature of emotions and the beast inside our hearts. Love and wanting of acceptance is an emotion that is not understood easily but this book uncovers the secrecy on how one is wanting to be accepted in society.
  
  For the people who like books of horror but no meaning this book is okay. People who want a true classic but be mystified by a monster that is untaimable this is an excellent book. If you are looking for a sweet feminine or just a normal novel this might not fit you. This novel in my opinion is a true classic and you can tie it to todays world easily even though this was written over 100 years ago....more info
• After 200 years, Shelley's still got it!
  If you haven't seen gimmicky Frankenstein paraphanelia strewn about every grocery store in sight then you've been living under a rock. Nearly everyone living in the western world is familiar with this story, at least in a Halloween movie, lame costume sort of way. Yet behind the commercial gimmicks is a genuinely human and insightful story. Ever since I've read the book(and I've read it several times) Frankenstein has kept its spot one of my favorite books of all time.
  
  In case you've been living under a rock: a gifted Swiss doctor named Victor Frankenstein creates a creature from corpses, hoping to prove that he can give life to dead matter. He succeeds in giving it the spark of life but is horrified when the thing(which is never named), awakes and reaches out for him like a child reaching out for its father. Frankenstein abandons the creature and flees, leaving the creature to its own devices. The resulting storyline follows the creature's desire for revenge on his creator, and Frankenstein's attempts to atone for what he's done. The creature, ridiculed for its horrific appearance, exacts revenge by slowly murdering those that Frankenstein holds dear.
  
  I started Frankenstein expecting a difficult read and was surprised by the ease of the passages. For a book written almost two hundred years ago this book is surprisingly easy to understand for the modern reader. Like Dumas's writing, the focus is on the admittedly awesome story, not the intricacies of the writing itself(though these are definitely there, they flow into your mind at an almost subconscious level).
  
  The sheer breadth of the issues it brings up merit reading it. Issues surrounding human hubris, the role of man as creator, and the appropriateness of man using science to play as God. That's only a short list. But thought-provoking themes aside, this is a good book. The strength of Shelley's prose lies in her characterization of the monster; though you see the havoc it wreaks, you cannot help but feel a sort of aching pity for the thing. She presents the struggle between Frankenstein and his creation as a genuine moral dilemma, handling each side with genuine sympathy. If you get this book, I hope you'll like it as much as I have. ...more info
• Still the best
  Somehow, 175 years after it was first written, this story keeps holding our attention. Not just that, it says more to our modern world than it ever said before.
  
  Popularized versions of this story lack all the depth of Shelley's original. Yes, her monster was physically huge, powerful, and respulsive. In her version, though, he's a thinking, feeling, and deeply intelligent person. He is deeply hurt by the universal, unreasoning loathing that judges only his face - even from the man who created him. The creation has a majestic capacity for affection but, in a credible transformation of emotional alchemy, that whole capacity turns to rage. He is not an image of hate, but a mirror of it.
  
  The hubristic biotechnologist has an immediacy today that Shelley could scarcely have imagined. So, I think, does the vengeful lashing out by people who feel they have suffered grievous wrongs, leading to a deadly spiral of increasing hatred by all parties. I just hope that current readers will take the time needed to absorb this book properly - it was never paced for today's ADD-driven generation.
  
  //wiredweird...more info
• Interesting to Read the Actual Book that Started the Legend
  I found this book very interesting, considering the cultural clout attained by "Frankenstein" the monster. It was surprisingly not scary. There was very little descriptive gore. Some parts of it were actually bland and a little boring. The climax was obvious to the reader. I'm not sure if Mrs. Shelley meant for the reader to see what was going to happen to Dr. Frankenstein, or if she thought we'd be taken in as he was. I wasn't.
  
  The moral of the story has implications for the current push by some scientists to control the creation and termination of human life. I am glad that I had the chance to read this book. If it wasn't for the library book club doing a season on "Spooky Tales," I would have never picked it up on my own....more info
• A classic reading experience
  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. ...more info
• Classic
  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!)....more info
• Promises kept
  Like Poe, strong roots in its Gothic horror era make this story too wordy to be read as a contemporary classic (contradiction in terms, I suppose), but the basic storyline does stand up over time.
  
  A basic story, by the way, which no movie version has yet successfully captured, not even Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. That overwrought hyper-surrealistic version by Kenneth Brannagh captures the framework of the book in neat prologue/epilogue bookends, and Robert De Niro captures the menace and humanity of the creature, but Brannagh makes some boneheaded plot changes (particularly the handling of Henry and Elizabeth) that clank off the rim.
  
  That said, though, it would be hard for any movie maker to capture this story which is told strictly in first person narrative, even when told through another's eyes or voice or pen. At one point, the narrative is retold with four layers between the reader and the actor. Good luck turning that into a movie.
  
  And the basic conflict of the story still rings true, and is really what the book is about; unlike Brannagh, who dwells lovingly on the process, Shelley barely describes the creation of the creature, and wisely so. The focus is on the creature and its creator, not on the creative process. And as De Niro the creature says in the movie at a very dramatic turn, "I keep my promises". Frankenstein, the man and the creator, does not....more info
• Not as expected
  I guess I based my presumption of this book on all the movies. Frankenstein is not the creature who I thought he was. I found myself feeling sorry for him. Wishing that someone would reach out to him. Mary Shelley left it to your imagination on really what he looked like. I enjoyed this portion to. The book was exquisitely written. I felt I was actually transported to this era. Enjoyed it very much....more info
• Choose the 1818 version
  Most editions of Mary Shelley's landmark book available today follow the heavily revised 1831 version. The impulse behind this trend is an honorable one (to present what is seemingly an author's "final revision"),but the 1818 version is preferable for many reasons. Looking back on her creation in later life, Shelley felt obliged to alter the book's focus in significant ways, adding what critic Marilyn Butler accurately describes as "long passages in which her main narrator, [Victor] Frankenstein, expresses religious remorse for making a creature..." The author sought to make the 1831 edition less controversial and thereby more palatable to the tastes of the reading public. The 1818 version is closer to Mary Shelley's original intentions, though it too, unfortunately, was filtered through the sensibilities of her husband, the poet Percy Shelley, who took many of his wife's rather straightforward passages and rendered them into his own more ornate and Ciceronian style. Still, the 1818 version remains more vital, more original, and less constrained by what the author believed would be acceptable to readers in 1830s England. ...more info
• GREAT BOOK
  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 !!!...more info