Since Halloween is this week, I figured I'd read one of the few horror novels on the list, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. I didn't really know what to expect from Frankenstein the novel since everything I knew about the story had come from the classic 1931 film with Boris Karloff. I had also seen the 1994 film version by Kenneth Branagh. I'm sitting here re-watching that film right now since it has been 18 years since I've seen it and I remember almost nothing at all about it (it is available for free streaming on Crackle). After having read the book I can say that it is not at all like the 1931 film in almost any way. The 1994 version is more faithful, but is turning out to be such a bad movie that I wouldn't recommend it (Branagh is way too old to play the Victor Frankenstein that is described in the novel and overall it just seems poorly directed).From the very start I was surprised by the novel. I skipped reading the lengthy introduction until after I finished the novel (I'll explain why I'll be doing this from now on in my next review) so I didn't have much of the background information about Mary Shelley while reading it. Her life story is pretty interesting filled with a bunch of tragedies; her mom died after giving birth to her, a couple of her kids died, and her husband Percy Bysshe Shelley drowned. Plus, she wrote Frankenstein while she was just a teenager. Why can't teenagers today write novels this well?
So, the novel does share some similarities with the famous movie. In both a scientist named Frankenstein creates a monster, the monster gets out and kills some people and... that's about it. The novel is really about the pain Victor goes through for having created a monster that shouldn't exist as well as detailing the existential crisis of the creature. In the novel, Victor runs from his lab as soon as the creature comes to life out of fear of what he's done. When he returns the monster is gone and he doesn't know what became of it until a couple years later. The portrayal of the monster is totally different in the book. It is actually very smart, actually comments on how useful fire is, has long hair and is a vegetarian. So, the monster runs away, gets educated by watching people, and only turns evil when he realizes that he has been abandoned and that no one will ever love him. The monster then kills Victor's brother, frames a servant for it, and hides out until Victor is able to find him. When the monster is found by Victor he says
"All men hate the wretched; how, then, must I be hated, who am miserable beyond all living things! Yet you, my creator, detest and spurn me, they creature to whom thou art bound by ties only dissoluble by the annihilation of one of us. You purpose to kill me. How dare you sport thus with life? Do your duty towards me, and I will do mine towards the rest of mankind. If you will comply with my conditions, I will leave them and you at peace; but if you refuse, I will glut the maw of death, until it be satiated with the blood of your remaining friends."
He is a well spoken monster. So the monster tells Victor to create a female creature for him or he will go about killing everyone Victor loves. So much of the book is the thoughts of Victor trying to come to grips with having created a monster and whether or not he should create a second one so that his family can live in peace. There are no angry villagers with pitchforks at all!
Overall I really enjoyed reading it. The book was much more thoughtful than I had anticipated and has both psychological scares as well as some real ones (the monster does strangle a good number of people and is pretty decent at framing others for it). I don't think it'll crack my top 50; but it does deserve an A.
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