The Casebook of Victor Frankenstein: A Novel by Peter Ackroyd (PDF)

Description

A New York Times Notable Book andProvidence Journal Best Book of the YearFrom the incomparable Peter Ackroyd: a brilliant re-imagination of the classic tale that has enthralled readers for nearly two centuries. Victor Frankenstein, a researcher, and the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley form an unlikely friendship as first-years at Oxford. Shelley challenges the conventionally religious Frankenstein to consider his atheistic notions of creation and life—concepts that become an obsession for the young scientist. As Victor begins conducting anatomical experiments to reanimate the dead, he at first uses corpses supplied by the coroner. But these specimens prove imperfect for Victor’s purposes… Filled with the literary lights of the day, including Percy Shelley, Godwin, Lord Byron, and Mary Shelley herself, and penned in period-perfect voice, The Casebook of Victor Frankenstein is sure to become a classic of the twenty-first century.

User’s Reviews

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

⭐Some might wonder why a retelling of “Frankenstein” is actually necessary, but “The Casebook of Victor Frankenstein” makes such questions moot. Peter Ackroyd has long been obsessed with the city of London, on both a nonfictional and fictional basis, and his fictional metier has been to rewrite classic British novels in one form or other. In this one he imagines that Victor Frankenstein was a real person living in the late Georgian era, who was well known to Percy Bysshe Shelley, Mary Shelley, Lord Byron and Dr. John Polidori, the quartet who spent a stormy evening in 1816 in a Swiss chalet conceiving ghost stories, which ultimately resulted in the novel “Frankenstein” and a few other fragments of seminal horror fiction. In this version, Frankenstein creates his monster in London, in the squalid Limehouse district, and then lives to regret it, while others around him die for it. In one sense, it is a combination of the original novel’s philosophy with the laboratory scene spectacle of the myriad films that came a century later, but in another it is the story of a man whose intellect thrusts toward the cutting edge of known science, while remaining totally lost in society. Those given to reading in subtext will (and have) find plenty in the relationship between Frankenstein and his friend, the fragile poet Shelley, just as those who are devoted to Ackroyd for his recreation of a long-gone London will find plenty of rich detail in the scenes set in the city. Much has been made of the book’s ending, and while it will be a stunner to some, it is not entirely unpredictable (particularly if you’ve closely studied the influential 1957 Hammer film “The Curse of Frankenstein,” which can be read the same way). I’m not going to give the ending away, since I believe the hottest corner of Hell is reserved for people who spoil the endings of novels and movies for others, but it does pack a punch. If you are already a Peter Ackroyd fan, this will count as one of your favorites. If you are not, you may not react as strongly. But it is still a wonderful, militantly literate achievement.

⭐This is remarkably written, a very effective remake of a well known story, told from the point of view of Victor Frankenstein, the mad Swiss scientist who created the monster that we all know. The style is remarkable – you feel yourself drawn into Frankenstein’s sick mind, seeing the world with his eyes, meeting all the people he is involved with, in particular Mary Shelley (the author of Frankenstein), her husband naturally and also Byron who was a close friend.What I personally didn’t like in this book is the way it slows down in the middle: one keeps expecting Victor Frankenstein’s creature (a corpse he has electrified, what else?) to somehow haunt Mary Shelley, her husband and Byron through their trip in continental Europe, but that doesn’t happen. Instead, we are offered insights into the complex relationship between Byron and Shelley, while Mary, a sweet eighteen at the time, helplessly watches on the sideline. This is all very interesting, but a little too intellectual perhaps, and certainly not scary stuff. A bit of a letdown for horror fans!This said, it is still a very good read and a remarkable reconstruction of a kind of gothic early 19th century English that puts you straight into a dark, ghoulish mood.

⭐I really wanted to like this novel. I have read a number of Peter Ackroyd’s English history books, and found them very engaging. I figured somebody who could write such good non-fiction should be able to write good fiction. And revisiting the myth of Frankenstein and his monster, well, an intriguing place to start.The book takes us into a world where scientific discovery and free-thinking are challenging every aspect of society. Bold, radical ideas captivate the brilliant minds of the young generation.. The new science of electricity, and especially the discovery that an electric shock can “re-animate” the dead tissue of a frog’s leg, inspire the obsession of the young Victor Frankenstein.The story is well told, and the characters who befriend or work with Victor Frankenstein are fairly engaging. The monster he creates is both complex and vengeful.My problem with the book is, having created his characters and their world, Peter Ackroyd seems to run out of things to do with them. I won’t go into how things devolve, just in case you do want to read the book. But I will say that the ending drops on you like a ton of lead. My reaction was, “What? Is that how he resolves all this?”A decent idea for a story deserves a satisfying, even impressive ending. I can say the ending was a surprise, but it was anything but satisfying, and if I may say so, artless. It is almost as if the author said, “There, I’m done with it… finally!”I’m still reading Peter Ackroyd’s English histories, and enjoying them. Maybe he’ll take another crack at writing fiction, and do a better job with the bringing a good story to an impressive resolution.

⭐I feel like the author really wanted to write a book about Percy Shelley and company. Frankenstein’s creation feels like an afterthought who only shows up in a few chapters. The twist ending is interesting, but it feels tacked on.

⭐I can hardly imagine what this man has learned in order to provide us with this lovely reinvention. His personal bibliography is a clue; though, for those of us who have not read his previous literary offerings, this tale is a gift. I read it over a few Fall evenings with lots of rain, wind, and darkness. Ahhh.This story has so many levels of learning, and Mr. Ackroyd has intuited them all. I devoured this book and look forward to settling in to more of his writing. It is one of the most literate fictional offerings I’ve found in a long time, and that is in addition to a fantastic story, an addictive adventure, a moral mystery, and a thrilling horror all in one. Personally, I found the ending to be most satisfying as well, which is very important to me in rating a great book. This is a GREAT book!

⭐The Casebook of Victor Frankenstein is a super novel and one which gets better and better as it goes on. Peter Ackroyd is well known as a contemporary authority on London, and few writers today or at any time previously have so single-mindedly memorialised this wonderful city: Ackroyd has written not just London’s widely acclaimed

⭐Biography

⭐, a companion piece about the

⭐Thames: Sacred River

⭐that flows through it, and biographies of its more famous sons (

⭐William Blake

⭐and

⭐Geoffrey Chaucer

⭐) and some historical fiction largely set in the city.In this context it comes as no surprise that Peter Ackroyd’s reworking of Mary Shelley’s

⭐Frankenstein

⭐is also set largely in the city, despite the original’s setting in and around Geneva. On a broad scale Ackroyd’s historical themes are unified: the galvanic force of electricity invigorates and brings life; in the same way the river flows through and animates the great metropolis. Life having been given, in each case does as it will, as dirty and degenerate as it is upstanding and honorable, and it is surely no coincidence that Ackroyd’s creature makes his home in the wild reaches of the Thames estuary, and draws strength and wickedness in equal measure from its frequent immersion in the river, both at Limehouse and up river at Marlow.Ackroyd’s historical rendering of early nineteenth century is (as far as I can tell!) flawless and as usual is exquisitely, intricately observed, and his adoption of the register of a novelist of the period is equally well rendered.The other interesting aspect of this novel is the depiction of the romantic poets and their entourage: “Bysshe” Shelley features from the outset as a struggling and somewhat neurotic gadfly; we meet Lord Byron somewhat later (a pompous, overbearing, spoilt fool) together with Mary Shelley herself (depicted far more sympathetically as the real artist amongst a bunch of dilettantes) and Byron’s long-suffering physician/drug supplier, John Polidori. The interactions of these historical figures, with their own (fictional) creation Victor Frankenstein in their midst – together with, unannounced, *his* fictional creation (yet another sweet irony!) – drives the plot for the last half, across the continent to Villa Diodati for the famous night of Gothic ghost stories and then inevitably, like a moth to a light, back to the sacred Thames for the final denouement.It’s a slow burner, but the more I reflected on a neat little tweak at the death, the more my admiration grew for Peter Ackroyd’s achievement here. And the book’s title is a neat little in-joke in itself.A modern – post-modern, even – Prometheus indeed.Olly Buxton

⭐This is an intriguingly-imagined and compelling story, mixing the startling and often heart-breaking exploits of the fictional Victor Frankenstein with real-life characters of his era, including Shelley, Byron, and Frankenstein’s original creator, Mary Shelley. The writing is exquisite, and if Mr Ackroyd let any modern expressions slip through the net, I didn’t spot them (and I am a pedant about such things…) The atmosphere and imagery of early 19th century London is so vivid it’s almost possible to smell the river and the cobbled streets and gaols, and to see the resurrectionists striking their repulsive bargains with the infirmaries. The story unfolds with the measured control of a master and is a wonderful journey. The ending is absolutely remarkable – as a professional writer I should have spotted what was coming, but I didn’t!

⭐Excellent

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