Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

WOW.
That was my reaction after finishing Frankenstein. I was thoroughly fascinated throughout the entire novel. Perhaps this is because I had such low expectations. Not because I thought it would be poorly written or stupid, but because I assumed I would be bored. Well, I was wrong, wrong, WRONG!! The book is anything but boring. It is eerie and strange, and yet so much more than a horrific ghost story.

I was surprised to find so many layers to the book. The character of Frankenstein is so famous: a giant green monster with bolts in his neck and stitches on his face, who walks like a zombie and is really stupid. So it was a surprise to learn that the character of Frankenstein is a handsome young philosopher from Sweden and the creature he makes (which we have for some reason named Frankenstein) has no name.

This leads to another level of the story. Shelley investigates the limits of science, the ethics that should be involved. She also poses fascinating questions: does the creator of something owe anything to what he or she created? As creator, must we love what we have created simply because we did indeed create it? I thought this was so interesting.

The book is sad, really. And it's difficult because there's really no "bad guy" in the story. There's only the bad parts of good people. The character of the "monster" is so heartbreaking that I almost couldn't bear reading some parts. He is so innocent and is so in love with goodness and beauty, though he does not even quite understand it. :( He seeks to be loved and never finds it.

The set up of the story is really clever in my opinion. The elements that Shelley uses involving the narrators reminded me of how Wuthering Heights was organized.

Shelley does an amazing job of writing from the point of view of a scientist. At first, I felt a little as though she just wasn't very adept at writing from different points of view, but after finishing the novel, I understand what was done (if indeed my suppositions are correct) and I am in awe of her skill.

The end of the story is really, really interesting. I sort of wish Shelley had written a sequel, but then, I suppose it ended just right.