Frankenstein

Mary Shelly

Because I am fearless I am most powerful

Frankenstein is a humanoid creature that has been haunting my shelf for years. You may have been assigned to read this book at some point in your educational career or picked up a copy for spooky fun. I have owned my copy of Frankenstein since 2010 when I was assigned Frankenstein as a summer read…..10 years later I sat aside the time to finally listen to the book cover to cover.

Yes, listen. It is rare I read a classic book these days. Since I found Librivox, I listen to almost all the classic books I want to read. Librivox is a free to use website and app. The readers are volunteers and the dramatic readings are always worth the listen. The audio makes the reading fun. If you are using Librivox, definitely check it out.

What is this story about?

In short, Victor Frankenstein is a man of science. He doesn’t have time to study anything other than what will help him achieve his thirst to create life. Once his work is done, he views his creation as a monster.

Frankenstein’s monster stalks the countryside. Victor is happy to be done with it, but it haunts his mind.

He returns to his childhood because a dear family friend is killed. This death shakes the foundation of his family. Frankenstein fears his creation may be responsible, through this fear he takes time to get to know his monster.

So should you read it?

Meh. If you have an appreciation for the classics, snag a copy and get reading. Frankenstein is not a hard read, but it is slow. Frankenstein and I did not jive. Even listening to the book I didn’t really care what was going on until mid-book. I didn’t love this book.

I did develop an appreciation for the story and found many quotes moving. I think this is a great piece of literature to study, but not to read for pleasure. If you are trying to read “horror classics” that have inspired many of our modern monsters, check out Dracula.

You can read Frankenstein for free here.

The book cover featured is from the 0.99 Kindle version, which you can purchase on Amazon.

Have you read Frankenstein? What are your thoughts?