Shelley, Mary “Frankenstein” Bantam Classics.1984 978-0553212471.


Have you ever heard of the monster, Frankenstein? What if I told you that the monster’s name is not Frankenstein, and he isn’t what Hollywood has portrayed him to be? Frankenstein by Mary Shelley is the heartwarming and suspenseful original Frankenstein story. The author also includes an introduction of how traumatizing events in her life led her to write this book for Lord Byron’s challenge. The novel hooks the reader from the first chapters which are a series of four letters written by Robert Walton to Margaret, his sister. The chapters of the novel start with Victor Frankenstein’s childhood and his education. The readers get to understand the mind of Victor and his remorse over creating the monster is apparent from the beginning.

The writing style of this novel is so unique in that we get the perspective of Robert Walton, Victor Frankenstein, and the demon. Victor is thinking about “its(the monster’s) gigantic stature, and the deformity of its aspect” is “more hideous than belongs to humanity.” All the while the monster tells Victor “All men hate the wretched; how then, must I be hated, who am miserable beyond all living things!” Yes, the monster learns to speak quickly and with an excellent vocabulary! It is so interesting to see how Hollywood has made Frankenstein out to be a terrible creature when in reality he was made out of perfect areas of human body parts and was just misunderstood. The events of this book lead up to the ultimate death of many of the main characters including one which will make every reader tear up! Everyone should read this book because the life lessons about letting ambition take over one’s life and love life is very useful to any teenager with high hopes.