Frankenstein — Book Review

What happens when a man decides to go against the very nature of the universe? When he tries to create life out of lifeless matter? Mary Shelley explores this concept in this novel and tries to bring out a series of events leading to the creation of such a being and the following his adventures as he travels the world in search of company.

The premise sounds great, but the execution is far from it. The events seem contrived and a lot of things happen without any logic to them. I know fantasy is about believing in things out of the ordinary, but this one takes it to a level that doesn’t generate any interest. At times, there are passages describing how the creature is helpless and innocent and knows nothing about the world and in the very next passage, he would go on to do something that cannot be explained for someone as naïve as him.

The book excels in its character development though. All the characters are fleshed out well and feel real in their behavior and dialogue. The dialogue does feel very dated which is expected for a book published two centuries ago. The writing style, as expected, is ancient. This makes it hard to follow. The book is actually very small, but reading it doesn’t really feel like that. It feels stretched out at a lot of points and the story feels a bit forced.

I would recommend it to fans of ancient writing. But don’t pick it up if you are looking for a horror novel. It doesn’t have any components of a horror novel and is very philosophical. 3/5 stars from my side.