YOUth Review: Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley is an iconic piece of literature. Taking place in the 1700s, the story is told from the perspective of an arctic sailor, writing letters to his sister back home. The first few pages are written in the form of notes as he tells his sister about his journey, before he finds the titular Frankenstein wandering the ice. The story from then on is told not in the format of letters, but in a much more familiar chapter-book type style.

Despite how well-known the name Frankenstein is in popular literature, I doubt many people have ever actually READ the book itself. If you’re reading these reviews, I wholeheartedly recommend you fix that, immediately.

There is, however, one problem. One really big problem with the book: Victor Frankenstein, the man behind the creation of the very being around which the whole plot revolves. I HATE Victor Frankenstein, completely and utterly. I know that for the story to have happened, at all, he had to have abandoned his creation, and subsequently suffered for it, but why? Why would he have done such a thing? I still can’t wrap my mind around it, it makes no sense.

He abhors his creation due to how ugly it is, but he’s the one who made it. He worked for countless days and nights, and yet somehow never noticed in all that time that what he was building was ugly? Seriously, I don’t know if there’s any other reason why he abandoned his creation. Still, despite my personal vendetta against the Frankster, the book is a really well written one. 10/10, go read it.

Review by Daniel G.