Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, is the story of Victor Frankenstein and the creation of his monster. Victor Frankenstein is an obsessive scientist who dedicates himself to creating life. When his plan succeeds, it sends Victor and the monster he created down a path of violence that endangers not only Victor, but his family and friends.
I am torn on my opinion of this book. On the one hand, the story is gripping and exciting. I sympathize with Frankenstein’s monster and found the monster’s conflict both compelling and saddening. I didn’t expect to find themes of grief and alienation in the story, but I believe they were explored deeply. On the other hand, the language is sometimes hard to understand from a modern perspective. I dislike Victor Frankenstein quite a bit as well. I found him very cowardly and whiny. I didn’t find the novel particularly scary, but it did have a spooky feeling. I am not often a fan of books from the Romantic era, but I think Frankenstein is well written despite my dislike for books in that time period. I would recommend this book to fans of classic novels, and to those who are willing to read through some boring description of the environment in order to get to the deeper themes of a novel.