“The fallen angel becomes a malignant devil.”
Frankenstein is the story of Victor Frankenstein, a natural science student, who creates a being (or fiend, as it is later identified) from various inanimate body parts . He soon becomes disillusioned and abandons his creation and tries to move on with his life. However, the being comes seeking him and changes his life forever.
The novel is divided into chapters, and impressively so. Every chapter feels complete and can to an extent stand by itself, also the uniformity of the structure of the chapters are praiseworthy. The story is in 1st person, the author has cleverly used letters to increase the depth of the story, add certain details easily, which might otherwise need lengthy explanations of their own. The letters also add a different dimension and perspective to the story. The portrayal of the protagonist is what makes this work stand out. All his hopes, fears and other emotions are beautifully expressed to the point that it is very easy to sympathise with Frankenstein. Reading further, especially about the life of the fiend (which in my opinion is one of the best parts of the book), puts the entire story in a completely different perspective. Also worth commenting is the realistic descriptions of the landscape, especially the Northern seas its vast icy desolation and bleakness and how it forms a perfect backdrop for the story. The novel tackles issues like justice, nature of good and evil, human nature with all its prejudices, moral hypocrisy and fears, ambition, isolation, vengeance, etc.
The novel left me melancholic and thoughtful. I expected the story to take a more sci-fi/horror path, but after reading this I feel this is perfect and had the story been altered in any other way it would not have turned out this good. The fact the author was only 19 years old at the time of writing this was astounding, her prowess in storytelling, her understanding of human psychology, and mastery over English language is beyond comparison.
Rating: 5/5
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ambiguousandenigmatic 