Book Review: Frankenstein
Including this book, I have 11 books on my to-review list. So, this will take a lot of dedication from me, and a lot of patience for all of you, but at the end, you will have a wealth of books that you can read or not read as the fancy strikes you.
I'll be honest. I didn't want to read this book. I didn't think I'd like it. I thought it would be a horror movie in book form. Once again, I have realized that you shouldn't judge books by their covers (nor their cultural adaptations). And I LOVED it! I never would have imagined that I would even begin to like Frankenstein. But, I kind of felt like it was a cultural literacy question. Compound this with the fact that one of my coworkers named it her favorite book. I believe that there is considerable respect for other people in reading their favorite books, and so I read it. Let me start by saying one thing: It is nothing like any of the movies. Not even kind of close.
I have always been fascinated and enamored with the idea of human suffering. I don't know why, but that has just been something that I have spent a lot of my time thinking about. Why? How? To what end? Is it a good thing? A bad thing? I believe that Mary Shelley and I may have been of the same mind in this fascination. And I loved her poignant musings.
I am also a scientist, so I did like the questions of creation and God. If you are going to create something, or find some discovery, do you then obtain responsibility over it? So many good questions that I could talk about for a good amount of time in terms of bioethics. This could also extend to whether or not a scientist, finding that their discovery had unintended consequences, do they bear moral responsibility for it?
I keep on trying to think of something to criticize about this, but I really can't. The emotions were flowery, but that's Gothic literature for you, and I think that the depth of emotion was beautifully handled. I know a lot of people aren't fond of the Robert Walton parts, but I actually think he created a great "viewer" to the story.
I also like books that don't really have clear villains. That's where I have like-mindedness with Solzhenitsyn. People are neither good nor bad. Every person is both. And, even though in the end I think I'd have to side with Frankenstein and condemn the monster, I vacillated at times about it. And I think that's a good thing.
Anyhow, read it. It's good. Five stars. End of review.
I'll be honest. I didn't want to read this book. I didn't think I'd like it. I thought it would be a horror movie in book form. Once again, I have realized that you shouldn't judge books by their covers (nor their cultural adaptations). And I LOVED it! I never would have imagined that I would even begin to like Frankenstein. But, I kind of felt like it was a cultural literacy question. Compound this with the fact that one of my coworkers named it her favorite book. I believe that there is considerable respect for other people in reading their favorite books, and so I read it. Let me start by saying one thing: It is nothing like any of the movies. Not even kind of close.
I have always been fascinated and enamored with the idea of human suffering. I don't know why, but that has just been something that I have spent a lot of my time thinking about. Why? How? To what end? Is it a good thing? A bad thing? I believe that Mary Shelley and I may have been of the same mind in this fascination. And I loved her poignant musings.
I am also a scientist, so I did like the questions of creation and God. If you are going to create something, or find some discovery, do you then obtain responsibility over it? So many good questions that I could talk about for a good amount of time in terms of bioethics. This could also extend to whether or not a scientist, finding that their discovery had unintended consequences, do they bear moral responsibility for it?
I keep on trying to think of something to criticize about this, but I really can't. The emotions were flowery, but that's Gothic literature for you, and I think that the depth of emotion was beautifully handled. I know a lot of people aren't fond of the Robert Walton parts, but I actually think he created a great "viewer" to the story.
I also like books that don't really have clear villains. That's where I have like-mindedness with Solzhenitsyn. People are neither good nor bad. Every person is both. And, even though in the end I think I'd have to side with Frankenstein and condemn the monster, I vacillated at times about it. And I think that's a good thing.
Anyhow, read it. It's good. Five stars. End of review.
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