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Frankenstein: The 1818 Text

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley,

Charlotte Gordon (Introduction)

Start date: January 1, 2023

Finish date: January 31, 2023

Discussion: Science Fiction and Fantasy

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What Members Thought

May 19, 2017 Chrissie rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, fiction, philo-psychol, audible-uk, magic, deals, 2017-read, regency

This is a beautifully and dramatically told story. Shelley's prose is fantastic. I thought, "Wow, that is just so perfectly captured, beautifully written, impeccably described." I particularly adored her description of landscapes - the towering Alps, the majestic Jura Mountains, the verdant, lush countryside around Oxford, Scottish moors, the riverbanks of the Rhine, even the Orkney Islands! She captures the beauty of a summer day, the drama of a threatening storm and the silence and cold and st ...more

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Sep 17, 2012 Carrie marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Shelves: own, read-my-shelves

*Edit: Writing this here as a reminder for myself. Read this book before the year 2014 is over, preferably within the the next few months (July 31/14)

I've read Mary Shelley's Frankenstein: Novelization but not the real book, which I've had on my shelves for years and keep on meaning to get too. ...more

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Oct 27, 2015 Charlotte Clementine rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Never again will I be annoyed when someone "mistakenly" calls the monster Frankenstein because, honestly, like his creature, Victor Frankenstein is indeed a monster. Two monsters and two victims, victims of each other and of society in the case of the creature. Not that this absolves him or his actions.
Out of the two, Victor is probably the most frustrating one, it is at times painful to see someone so brilliant act so stupidly.
A great, timeless story which deals with fascinating themes, I onl ...more

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May 02, 2017 Meika rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. After a discussion with some friends about monsters and their hidden meanings, I took it to task to read this one.
It's a simple moral problem in some ways - the creature only wanted to be loved and accepted. And Frankenstein failed to provide that, so he let the creature loose on the world with a shaky emotional foundation of abandonment and revulsion. The creature IS emotional, and inherently good. Except that he doesn't keep the moral high ground, and resorts to murdering Frankenstein's infan After a discussion with some friends about monsters and their hidden meanings, I took it to task to read this one.
It's a simple moral problem in some ways - the creature only wanted to be loved and accepted. And Frankenstein failed to provide that, so he let the creature loose on the world with a shaky emotional foundation of abandonment and revulsion. The creature IS emotional, and inherently good. Except that he doesn't keep the moral high ground, and resorts to murdering Frankenstein's infant brother, who is innocent, in order to make a statement. He issues an ultimatum to Frankenstein to roll the cosmic dice one more time and make the monster a wife, or have everything he loves destroyed. Frankenstein accepts the ultimatum at first, but considers the lessons he learned from his first mistake - monsters are unpredictable and capable of agency. And maybe the second one will, as her own agent, reject the first monster, turn out evil at heart (anything is possible) and Frankenstein will have the burden of responsibility for two emotionally volatile monsters. So he destroys the second monster. Then the first monster destroys everything Frankenstein has to live for and in the end both exist at the center of each other's universe as the enemy and they implode. So it's over. But there's something interesting about the narrative... at the start we are led into the story through a very long letter home. In the end, we realize it is addressed to none other than the first family the monster attaches himself to, a kind family from whom he learned how to be human. This family is headed by an old man who is blind. He is vulnerable, but able to give the monster what he desperately needs - acceptance and care - but the son comes in and can't see past the monstrous apparition of what, at heart, is a lonely man and attacks the monster. The monster is shunned by those he has grown to love.
What does that mean? That vulnerability is monstrous? That the real monster is the man who can't see past the surface of a person? How many monsters are there in this book??? Or maybe we are all monsters and maybe we all create the monsters that we think we are. The story, framed by the letter, is less about the monster Frankenstein made, and more about the monsters we make of ourselves and others, I think.

I think it is also interesting that in the forward of the book it talks about Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, who is at the forefront of feminism. This was based on a dream, and who knows what was stewing in her mind when she had that dream, but I can imagine that being a foreigner in a city and an individual woman in a society that views women as "the fair sex" can introduce alienation and vulnerability into the mix of a person's psyche. So maybe the monster is a woman. ...more

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Mar 01, 2015 Melissa rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: classics

While the way the story is written hasn't aged as well as the ideas behind the story, listening to it read by Christopher Lee (Saruman, Dracula, real-life badass Nazi hunter) was pretty awesome ...more

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Apr 24, 2021 Susan rated it liked it · review of another edition

I didn’t want to go try to find my edition of Frankenstein amid the 9000 plus listed.The edition I read is I believe the 1831. ?edition but it has the letters before the 1st chapter and additional letters at the end by Walton. I don’t think this is the 1818 text but Mary Shelley’s revised edition

I read this in tandem with a series hosted by the Rosenbach Museum’s Sunday’s withFrankenstein which was held spring 2021.Their analysis thoroughly enhanced my enjoyment of her book by going in depth i ...more

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Oct 29, 2010 Amanda rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, favorites, 5-stars, teacher-reads, classics, epistolary-of-my-heart, ap-literature

Spring 2019,

This book for read/taught to the Dual Credit Senior's this year as a combination of Metaphysical/Romantic/Gothic text, switching it out from teaching Wuthering Heights last year. I always love reading this novel. I always the surprise in the first few chapters when I remember how lush of a Romantic Era novel that Frankenstein is. How placed in the high intelligence, the swing of the grand fixation on the sublime, and the questions between God, Man, Creation, and Creator, and who has ...more

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Apr 02, 2014 Susannah rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: listened-to-audiobook, reading-the-classics

I've read at least two novels based on Mary Shelley's creation of the Frankenstein story. Who knew that they would be better than the novel itself? Although the audiobook was very well performed, the book itself was a disappointment. Is the reader actually supposed to be sympathetic to Victor? When he spends all of his time calling his creation a demon and shunning it? The dude made his own bed! With that said, however, kudos to Mary Shelley for making Victor Frankenstein a consistent character. ...more

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