A book you must’ve heard about by now. I’ve watched some movies, and even some TV shows that are based on this book, or referenced ‘Frankenstein’ but have never read the original text.

I’m not sure why I picked up this book but maybe I was intrigued by the story behind the title ““Frankenstein: The 1818 Text””. There is an interesting story behind this which I won’t spoil because it’s explained so well in the introduction where you learn a lot about the author and the origins of this novel and the subsequent revisions made to this original text.

The story is quite different from what I imagined it might be like. The actual creation of the ‘monster’ or ‘creature’ is very vague. The novel is told through 3 different story tellers: first by the sea captain writing letters to someone about his experiences up North, then by Victor Frankenstein himself, who meets up with the sea captain, and in V. Frankenstein’s telling of his story it switches to the creature Frankenstein’s re-telling of his story, and then back again through the eyes of the sea captain. It actually sounds more complicated than it is when you read through it.

I enjoyed this novel and didn’t put it down very much over the few days it took for me to read this book. I can see why people like to read classics. It gives you an insight into the culture surrounding the book and your eyes are opened to how others riff off of and borrow so much from the classics.

An excellent read even though it’s over 200 years old! How many other novels that you’ve read would stand up so well after that long? I enjoyed reading this classic so much I shall seek other classics to read.

My Rating: ★★★★★

My 2019 Reading Challenge: Book #10