I first read Frankenstein in 11th grade for English class. I didn't like it. It was too formally written, which caused me to read slower, which in turn reduced my free time after I got my homework done. I hardly paid any attention to the story and only remebered the key plot points so I would pass my quizzes. I was a bad reader in high school.
Then when I heard that I was supposed to read Frankenstein again for Literature of Horror, Fantasy and Sci Fi class, I promised myself to actually read and involve myself in the book. Needless to say, my second time reading it went a lot better. Even though it was still slow going because of the formal language, I took my time and read slow enough to understand it. It's still not my favorite book in the world and I probably wouldn't read it again on my own, but for a school assigned book it wasn't bad.
I thought some parts of the story just dragged on and on. For example, when Victor goes on holiday with Henry and visits different places, the book goes into deep detail about each of the places he visits. It just seems like unnecessary fluff. Victor is also kind of a angsty brat. There were points when I was just thinking, “SHUT UP VICTOR. I already know how much your life sucks, you don’t have to bring it up again!” I don’t know, I just found it really hard to relate to Victor’s character. Especially since it’s his own fault that everything around him falls apart.
The monster surprised me. The only version of the monster I’d known was the hulking, moaning and groaning green guy with bolts through his neck. While I assumed that it wasn’t true to the original version, I didn’t expect the monster to speak better English than me. And really, it was the monster that won most of my sympathy. Yeah, he killed people and that kind of sucks, but nobody, NOBODY would have anything to do with him. Even his own creator was terrified to confront him. I can’t even imagine the loneliness.
The part that really miffed me was when the monster said, “I’ll be with you on your wedding night,” and Victor assumes that the monster’s going to kill HIM. I was thinking, “Dude, the monster’s been killing off the people you love. Don’t you think you should be worried about your wife?”
Overall, a decent read but it’s better as a “school book” than a “read for fun” book.
