Frankenstein (AmazonClassics Edition) by Mary Shelley (PDF)

Description

Obsessed with the secret of creation, Swiss scientist Dr. Victor Frankenstein cobbles together a body he’s determined to bring to life. And one fateful night, he does. When the creature opens his eyes, the doctor is repulsed: his vision of perfection is, in fact, a hideous monster. Dr. Frankenstein abandons his creation, but the monster won’t be ignored, setting in motion a chain of violence and terror that shadows Victor to his death.Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, a gripping story about the ethics of creation and the consequences of trauma, is one of the most influential Gothic novels in British literature. It is as relevant today as it is haunting.Revised edition: Previously published as Frankenstein, this edition of Frankenstein (AmazonClassics Edition) includes editorial revisions.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐First, a note about the cover of the Penguin Classic Deluxe Edition: I’ve noticed in several other reviews of various books in this series that readers have negatively commented on the “cartoonish” like covers. Personally, I happen to like most of the covers in the Classic Deluxe series because they are bright and fun. Sure, it is nice to own a nice edition of a favorite classic. Yet, I don’t see the harm in the fun covers — there’s no rule that says that because something is a classic that it has to be bound with a stodgy, serious cover. Maybe the comic-like covers will catch someone’s interest, someone who might not normally read a book. Getting someone to read a book is the most important thing, right?In the introduction to this particular edition, author Elizabeth Kostova (who wrote a modern take on the Dracula story: “The Historian”), says that she picked up the book to reread, to refresh her memory, and as she was reading it she realized that she wasn’t rereading it at all. She’d never read it. She realized that she knew the myth of Frankenstein, the Hollywood version, the Halloween version, the bolt through the neck version. What she knew (or thought she knew) had come from pop culture.I knew that I had never read Frankenstein. It was always on my ‘to read …sometime” list. I couldn’t pass up the cover, so I bought the book. Like Ms Kostova, I felt that I knew the story of Frankenstein and his monster. Growing up in the 1970s, with all the weekend and late-night sci-fi/horror movies, I’d seen the old Bela Lugosi version, and many of the various other old black-and-white retellings. And lets not forget the Mel Brooks adaptation (which I was fairly certain had little to do with Shelley’s novel).When I sat down to read the book, I was drawn into the tale by the letters of Captain R. Walton, who is on an expedition to find his way through the icy waters of the north. Walton catches a glimpse of the monster, and not long afterwards rescues Victor Frankenstein from the icy water.The book is broken into three parts: Part One is mostly told via letters from Walton to his sister; Part Two is Victor Frankenstein’s narrative for the first part, then the monster’s narrative for the second half. Part Three takes up the story with Frankenstein again, ending with a few letters from Walton.There are several more detailed summaries of the plot, so I won’t go into much detail. However, there are a few things that I think are important to know (they are, in a slight way, spoilers — but, I promise not to give any of the major points away).The book is quite noticeably different from the Hollywood myth that most of us grew up learning. There’s no scene where Frankenstein is in a tower awaiting lightening, there’s no evil madness to him — he looks at making a creature as a scientific enquiry, rather than anything with evil intentions. There is no Ygor/Igor. There’s no little girl who hands the monster a flower. And, most astonishing: the monster speaks — eloquently.There are several gaps, parts where the reader just has to let the story unfold without pausing to think to rationally about it (the lack of detail on how the monster was created, the way the monster was educated and learned to speak and read, etc.) Don’t get caught up in trying to accept the logic — it’s not there. Just follow the tale, don’t think too deeply about how the monster learned so much from watching a family. Just go with it. The gaps aren’t really that important.What is important is that our pop culture has distorted the story so much that when one hears the word “Frankenstein” one thinks of the monster, not the doctor. In the novel, the monster is never given a name – he is simply referred to as monster, daemon, creature, horror. And, our pop culture version of the story has taken away the deep philosophical aspects of the novel. And, we’ve learned that the creature is the ‘bad guy’, but, there’s much to be said about Victor Frankenstein – most of it not nice. In many ways, he is the ‘bad guy’ of the story. He’s so intent on bringing a creature to life that when he does and sees how ugly and horrid the creature is, he immediately abandons it, leaving the monster to fend for himself. Frankenstein is relieved that the monster disappeared and barely gives him much thought until tragedy strikes the Frankenstein home. Two years have passed and monster and creator finally meet, and the monster speaks what I find to be one of the saddest things I’ve read. Frankenstein is angry at what his monster had done, and wants to kill him. In reply: “‘I expected this reception,’ said the daemon. ‘All men hate the wretched; how, then, must I be hated, who am miserable beyond all living things! … Remember that I am your creature; I ought to be thy Adam, but I am rather the fallen angel, whom thou drivest from joy for no misdeed. Everywhere I see bliss, from which I alone am irrevocably excluded. I was benevolent and good; misery made me a fiend.”The monster believes that if Victor will make him a wife, he will have someone to share his misery and torment with — they will be bound by their both being outcasts. Frankenstein first agrees to create a bride, but then realizes he cannot do so, for he might make more evil creatures.What is most interesting to me is that the Doctor is really a whiny, narcissistic man; he made the creature, and ran off immediately afterwards, abandoning the monster. When the monster does some bad things, Frankenstein takes no responsibility — he never thinks “maybe if I stayed and taught him what it was like to be human, he might have had a chance.” Instead, he let the monster loose in the world, and because of the creatures size and hideous features, he’s attacked and chased off everywhere he goes. He doesn’t learn about life from a benevolent creator — he learns about life from the flawed humans that inhabit the earth. But Frankenstein moans and groans about how tragic his life has become because of the monster without every really acknowledging his own lack of responsibility. In a way, part of the idea of the creature’s character comes down to the old Nature versus Nurture argument. In this case there was no nurture — he only had the horrified reactions of people to learn from. As the monster says “All men hate the wretched.”I was surprised to find that I disliked the Doctor so much. While I can’t say that I found the murderous monster lovable, there was certainly something very sympathetic about him. Frankenstein spends pages lamenting the misery of his life, yet it is a ‘woe is me’ type of lament. The creature seems more philosophical about his wretched existence and suffering — the monster isn’t about a bit of whining and lamenting, but he seems to have learned things about life that Frankenstein (the supposedly more educated one) fails to grasp.There are a few flaws in the tale — I’ve mentioned some above (i.e. how the monster learns to read and write). But there are some technical flaws as well — it’s difficult to keep track of how much time has passed. Sometimes it seems very long, until it’s mentioned only a few months have passed. Other times, years have passed with barely a mention. Frankenstein was a young man, in his mid-twenties when he created the monster, though it was tough to tell how old he was at the end. Stylistically, the novel is by turns engrossing, followed by a several pages that seem to drag on and on, making the pacing of the novel feel uneven. Yet, in spite of these small flaws, the story is much deeper in meaning, more philosophical in nature than I expected. It’s a novel that could lead to good conversations about the nature of good and evil, about who was the real monster of the story, and did Doctor or monster learn anything of value along the way.Most importantly, the legend of Frankenstein in our culture is one of horror — it’s often called a horror novel. But, it really isn’t. There is a bit of violence, though not graphic at all. Mostly, it’s a meditation on good and evil, life and death, and what we should or shouldn’t do if we have the power to do something. The story just happens to have a monster as one of the main characters. It’s not a story that would give you bad dreams, or make you feel fearful if you were home alone.I’m glad the comic-book cover captured my attention, and that I got around to reading the story sooner rather than later. I think it is a story that will keep me thinking for some time to come. I highly recommend the story (in whatever edition fits your budget or catches your fancy.) I give the story 4.5/5 stars.

⭐2018 marks the 200th anniversary of the publication of Mary Shelley’s FRANKENSTEIN; OR, THE MODERN PROMETHEUS. While I did not read – or in this case listen to – the novel because of the anniversary, it does seem appropriate that I picked this time to read what is generally considered the first true science fiction novel. I would imagine that most people, myself included, first encountered FRANKENSTEIN as the 1931 movie of the same name, which is somewhat based on the novel. As we know, the movie recounts the story of a scientist who, along with his assistant, piece together a human-like creature from the pieces of dug up corpses. Most infamously, Henry Frankenstein’s assistant Fritz acquires the brain of a criminal for the Creature (played by Boris Karloff), thus lending the story the conflict it needs when the Creature comes alive and begins wreaking havoc throughout the local countryside. There have been many movie and literary adaptations and spinoffs of the original FRANKENSTEIN. I am particularly fond, of course, of Mel Brooks’ movie Young Frankenstein, in which Peter Boyle portrays the Creature. I’m also fond of Michael Bishop’s 1994 novel BRITTLE INNINGS, which links the FRANKENSTEIN story and baseball.It probably would surprise no one who has only seen the movie that it bears only a small resemblance to Shelley’s novel.Shelley’s novel is told as a framing narrative. The story starts out recounting the correspondence between Robert Walton and his sister Margaret. Walton is traveling to the North Pole to gain scientific knowledge. While on the journey, he and his crew first spot a dog sled driven by a large man, then rescue a man who is near death. The man is Victor Frankenstein, who has been pursuing the man in the dog sled. As Walton nurses Frankenstein back to health, they become friends. Walton shares his story of intense desire for scientific knowledge. Frankenstein, seeing much of himself in Walton, recounts the story of how he arrived on Walton’s boat and why Walton should think twice about his intense thirst for knowledge.The framing narrative becomes layered as Frankenstein first recounts his story of becoming obsessed with scientific knowledge, and especially that of how to bring life to an inanimate being. He almost quite literally becomes the “mad scientist”, spending all his time researching the subject and then, once he discovers the actual process to bring a creature to life, doing nothing but what it takes to make it happen. He rarely eats and sleeps, and his relationship with his family deteriorates to almost nothing. He does finally bring the Creature to life, but once he sees it he is appalled and disgusted with what he has done, and he aims to destroy it.Next comes the Creature’s story as told by the Creature itself, which takes up the bulk of the novel. Unlike Karloff’s portrayal of the Creature, the novel shows the Creature learning about himself, learning about language – to the point where he becomes erudite to the point of sounding as if he had what we might call a college education – and learning how and why he is shunned by the rest of humanity. He then realizes that he is what he is because of Frankenstein (resulting in what would be a fascinating study of the nature versus nurture – or in this case, lack of nurture – discussion) and vows to deprive Victor of happiness much like Victor has deprived him of happiness. Eventually the narrative returns to Frankenstein’s story and eventually Walton’s, culminating with Walton meeting the Creature itself.It was somewhat surprising to me how short the novel actually is. As readers we have been trained to expect complex stories like this to be at least double the length. And while there is much detail that could be discussed – and I refuse to be concerned about spoiling a story that is over 200 years old at this point – I will stop here and let those who have yet to read the novel go ahead and do so without giving it all away.I was pleasantly surprised by FRANKENSTEIN. I guess I’ve been conditioned by the movie, which I’ve seen several times, to expect one thing while the novel turned out to be entirely something else. While the name Frankenstein usually is used to refer to the Creature, it’s pretty clear that the real villain of the novel is Victor himself. His hubris in creating life from where there is none – and at the time FRANKENSTEIN was written the implication was that Victor was stepping where only God was meant to tread – resulted in a Creature who quite understandably was ticked off at his situation and who also quite understandably blamed the only person he knew to be responsible for his plight. The Creature was shown to be a compassionate being, and one who gave Frankenstein every opportunity to shut down the violence and death that was occurring around him. Yet,Victor chose to let it continue, and indeed brought so much suffering upon himself by his actions the reader might be tempted to believe that he is the Wretch (as the Creature is sometimes called) and not the Creature itself.Jim Donaldson provided an adequate narration of the novel. As I listened to the book, I felt that his voice and tone were perfect for the gothic nature of the story. His gravelly-voiced rendition of the Creature could not have been easy for him to do; at the same time, I was taken out of the story by his portrayal of the Creature. He sounded like a crotchety old man, which does not fit with my image of the Creature. That could be due to me being influenced by Karloff’s rendition of the Creature, although his gutteral roars do sound like an old man too, I suppose.If you’ve never read the book, I suggest you do so. It’s interesting to contrast the novel and the movie, and of course that’s something we do with today’s movies anyway – from Lord of the Rings to Hunger Games to anything else. I can see why this is considered a classic, and it’s well worth the time for you to read it for yourself and, hopefully, come to the same conclusion.

⭐4 1/2 rounded up to 5 stars.I’ve had this on my list of books to read for a long long time. I’ve actually had it downloaded to my kindle, but not started for at least a year or two, I’m not sure why it took me so long. I have to admit that one of the main reasons that I wanted to read it was that its author, Mary Shelley fascinated me. Even without that to recommend it, it is a gripping story and one that I polished off in a day. (Admittedly, I’m in bed with COVID and have very little else to currently occupy me.)I couldn’t help but feel sorry for the unnamed monster that Frankenstein created. Yes, Victor Frankenstein himself suffers greatly at his hands, but if he hadn’t dealt with his creation as he did in the beginning, I can’t help feel that the outcome might have been very different.It’s funny, when you think of how often Dracular or stories that begin with that premise have been turned into film and TV, it’s strange that a classic such as this is relatively rarely dealt with. Is the idea of a created man, just too scary or perhaps its that he’s simply not sexy enough? Either way, I really enjoyed this read.

⭐NOTE: THIS REVIEW IS SPECIFICALLY ABOUT THE 2020 EDITION OF “FRANKENSTEIN” WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY BERNIE WRIGHTSON, AND DOES NOT REFER TO ANY OTHER EDITIONBernie Wrightson could well be Exhibit 1 if you were making the case for the history of American comics as being characterised by the enormous superiority of their artists over the stories they illustrated. Thankfully, in producing illustrations for “Frankenstein”, the foundational text for most modern horror and science fiction, he found a project commensurate with his talents. The illustrations he produced were stunning, and all recognisably Wrightson: stylish, imaginative, atmospheric, simultaneously modern and yet consistent with the period (1818) when the novel first appeared, and technically superb.There have apparently been four editions of Bernie Wrightson’s “Frankenstein”, including this one. The consensus seems to be that the previous editions were all superior to this, due to substantially larger page size and better print quality. Unfortunately, they’re all out of print, almost impossible to find, and command eye-watering prizes.For those of us who missed out on the previous editions, this one will have to do for now. And, despite what other reviews say, it’s not a BAD book. It just could have been better. It’s obvious the illustrations would look better at a larger scale, and some detail is clearly lost in the reproduction, a situation reflects poorly on the publisher. But the greatness of the illustrations is still apparent, and they are, even in this reduced and impaired format, an absolute joy to look at. I would love to have them in a better quality edition, but I’d also rather have them in this edition than not have them at all, and, until I can find an acceptably priced copy of an earlier edition, this will suffice. And I’m not holding my breath over that acceptably priced copy turning up.As well as the full text of the novel (including Mary Shelley’s introduction to the 1831 edition), this edition contains an amusing but unenlightening preface by Stephen King, and some general notes on the early 19th century which could have been cribbed from a GCSE crammer. The production values are good, with a robust hard binding and good quality white paper. For what you get – notwithstanding things could and should have been better – the price isn’t excessive.So I’m hanging on to it for now. But I’ll be like a greyhound out of the traps the second I catch sight of a superior edition at a reasonable price.

⭐Shelley’s novel is transgressive in its content, and more transgressive in its nature – written by a female (at age 19!) under a pseudonym to penetrate the public approval. This novel explores human emotions, good and bad, in response to the ‘Other’ in true gothic fashion. The grunting, green-faced, bolt-bearing monster depicted by film and media is a pale imitation of Shelley’s masterpiece – but the original is a ‘blue-print’ for all monster creations. Despite being a cautionary tale on how nature, which is essentially good, can be corrupted by ill treatment – contemporary depictions have departed from the original characterization of an extremely well-spoken monster with immense speed and grace.PLOT (4.5/5)An intelligent and ambitious young student indulges a moment of thoughtless scientific passion and creates life. Horrified at his creation, Victor Frankenstein shuns the creature and attempts to discard it from his life and thoughts. The creature, however, is lost in an unkind world and seeks affection, and upon rejection then seeks revenge.STUDENT NOTES (5/5)+ Although many reviewers note The York Notes version usefulness at GCSE, I found in instrumental at helping me receive an A* at A-Level as well:a) The (character, theme and quotation) analysis is brilliant, clear and precise.b) The exam questions, key quotations and chapter summaries were invaluablec) The responses to the text, both modern and those from Shelley’s contemporaries are invaluable (especially the feminist and psychoanalytical essays).CHARACTERS (5/5)+ Both main characters are easy to empathise with despite being completely at heads – both Victor (the ambitious scientist who realises his overreach and attempts to redeem himself) and the monster (whose fragile psyche is birthed from rejection)STYLE (4/5)+ The original, but nevertheless still one of the most remarkable science fiction stories ever written, its relevance persists today as scientific discovery journeys further than before into ethical ambiguity (GM food, AI, cloning) and discrimination still exists in all its forms.+ Typically Romantic and beautifully descriptive prose, particularly regarding the natural world.- The book begins very slowly with excessive detail, and the epistolary form makes it hard to convey any sense of suspense. But if you persist despite this you will be drawn in to Shelley’s world.

⭐This version is not compatible with the penguin edition of the book and many pieces of the text is summarised, skipped or altered which of course takes away from the actual meaning of the text. The reading in itself is of good quality and is comfortable to listen to but that means very little when what is being read is not in accordance with the original text. If you just want to read Frankenstein for the pleasure of it I suppose it will do but I would argue having listened to this version you cannot really claim to actually have read Frankenstein as it is so lacking in content that I wouldn’t bother.Still waiting for someone to do a full text reading of the book but for now I’ll just have to read it out loud to myself.

⭐I’m not sure it’s worth my reviewing the story in this book, since everyone is so familiar with it. But if you haven’t actually read this original version then it is well worth doing so, if you can cope with the beautiful classic writing style.The main reason I wanted to do this review was to let you know just how nice this book is physically.The format is a Flexibound Edition by Barnes & Noble. It’s basically a faux leather-bound cover. Obviously not real leather, it is a soft feel plastic or rubber which is marginally flexible in the hand.The first and last pages are backed in the old-world style using frantically patterned end papers.The page edges are colour sprayed to complement the cover.There is also a page marking ribbon.Even the relatively thick paper stock has slightly off white colouring and lends itself to the feel of an old original collectable.In short, for the incredibly low retail price of this book you get an absolutely stunning edition, which looks fantastic on the shelf in a collected set and feels great in the hand as you read. Barnes and Noble do a nice collection in this format. Just search for (Barnes Noble Flexibound editions) on Amazon.

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