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Overview
Overview
Few creatures of horror have seized readers' imaginations and held them for so long as the anguished monster of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. The story of Victor Frankenstein's terrible creation and the havoc it caused has enthralled generations of readers and inspired countless writers of horror and suspense. Considering the novel's enduring success, it is remarkable that it began merely as a whim of Lord Byron's.
"We will each write a story," Byron announced to his next-door neighbors, Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin and her lover Percy Bysshe Shelley. The friends were summering on the shores of Lake Geneva in Switzerland in 1816, Shelley still unknown as a poet and Byron writing the third canto of Childe Harold. When continued rains kept them confined indoors, all agreed to Byron's proposal.
The illustrious poets failed to complete their ghost stories, but Mary Shelley rose supremely to the challenge. With Frankenstein, she succeeded admirably in the task she set for herself: to create a story that, in her own words, "would speak to the mysterious fears of our nature and awaken thrilling horror -- one to make the reader dread to look round, to curdle the blood, and quicken the beatings of the heart."
- Format: TradePaperback
- Author: Shelley, Mary
- ISBN: 9780486282114
- Condition: Used
- Dimensions: 7.90 x 0.50
- Number Of Pages: 176
- Publication Year: 1994
Customer Reviews
Rating Snapshot
5 ★
88%
4 ★
13%
3 ★
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1 ★
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8 Ratings
0
0% Would Recommend
0 Recommendations
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Life, although it may only be an accumulation of anguish, is dear to me, and I will defend it.
Samantha C. - 2 years 3 months agoThis is a classic that everyone thinks they know the story to, and I'm sure some are correct, but I certainly wasn't. Dr. Frankenstein begins as a sympathetic protagonist, and turns into a monster of his own making. His creation knows that he is a monster but is constantly evolving, trying to become a good and functioning part of society. The dichotomy is compelling. I would suggest to everyone that they should give this a shot, even if they read it in school and did not care for it at the time. A poignant read.
HPB Staff Review -
Cult Classic
Kaydee T. - 6 years agoThis was required reading for my high school English class, and would have never imagined myself liking this book. However, after forcing myself to sit down and read it, I was instantly pulled in. I highly highly suggest reading this book! #BannedBook
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Recommend! :)
Kaydee T. - 6 years agoI love how, even though the book centers around a monster, many of the moral dilemmas the character goes through are still very relevant. The book was written in the 1800s but the language is very easy to understand.
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The Monster Wins My Heart
Kyle H. - 6 years agoThe original scary story. Set in an eerie climate of chilly weather and water, Frankenstein paints a beautiful and haunting story about passion and loss. My favorite thing about the novel is how much I love the monster. He's a tragic character who has turned into a cartoon in pop culture, but in the actual book he wins my heart. #bannedbook
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Who's The Monster?
Andrew M. - 6 years agoWell I'd been wanting to read this for ages, now I have all the time I need so I got started. For anyone who has seen any of the earlier film versions of this, forget them, there is no correlation between what she wrote and what they created. The narrative is excellent and the way your drawn through the story. The philosophical debates of the the creator of life and the created, how they are eternally connected whether they like it or not. How mankind shuns those who are kind and generous yet their looks outway their actions. A must read and I feel I will read it again soon. #BannedBook