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Congratulations! You made it to the end of the book.

This book counts for the following challenges (and probably more because we have two spelling challenges as well):
New to You (probably--Shelley hasn't written many books)
Halloween Challenge (#s 2, 4, and 7)
4th Quarter Holiday Music Challenge (October #9)

Just finished! any thoughts? Likes or Dislikes?

I rated this 3 stars. It just was not what I was expecting and I found the story to drag at parts. I don't really care about forays into cities when Frankenstein has a major decision to make. The entire book I wanted to slap Frankenstein, because obviously when you mess with life and act as "god" you are going to disturb something. He seemed so pitiful and was so hard to relate to. Also was bothered by the fact that Shelley is a woman, yet none of the female characters had much substance.

I liked all the underlying meanings and how Shelley is essentially warning about the dangers of the Industrial Revolution and playing "God." I can see why modern authors have retold this story again and again.

This was a reread for me as I read it about 15 years ago as part of a University course. I found it thought provoking on the subject of whether we think enough on whether we should do things rather than can we do them and also on the subject of beauty and our reactions to people who do not look 'normal'.

However, there were some bits that I didn't like:
a) the lack of science in the novel (hardly anything was explained)
b) that Justine's background was told through a letter received by Frankenstein from Elizabeth as Frankenstein knew who Justine was so it felt like a plot device to deliver the info rather than something that would naturally happen
c) that we knew very little of Elizabeth's personality and that Justine didn't seem bothered to fight against the charges laid against her - like Kelsi I found that as these are really the only 2 female characters it was disappointing they were both so weakly portrayed

I give it 4 stars.

I was so glad to be done with this book. The first half of the book was pretty good and kept me interested. After the death of Justine, the book started going downhill for me.

Like the two posts above, I didn't find much character development except for Frankenstein himself and the villian.

By the end, I was nearly bored to tears and about jumped up and down with excitement to be finished.

Therefore, I give this book 2 stars.

I see I'm not exactly alone in my experience with this novel - when I was 16 I adored it. Over ten years later, though, I admit - it wasn't exactly a riveting experience.

I still love the Frankenstein story, but not in a way that has much to do with the original novel, apparently! (But I won't recommend the Dean Koontz interpretation, either - I'd rather seek out theatres. My very first meeting with the Frankenstein story was as performed on stage, and now I definitely think that's where it works best.)

Well, anyway. My complaints were much like those already listed by others. Also, the whole creepiness thing where people are raised as siblings, yet expected to marry each other, yikes?

I agree with all of you! I've never seen any Frankenstein adaptations, on film, in books, or on stage. Of course, I had seen bits and pieces, enough to know what the monster looked like - good thing too, as he wasn't described much in the book! I had seen the movie Young Frankenstein (which is hilarious by the way!), but that wasn't based on this book.

Anyway, I'll post my review here so you can see what my issues were with the book. I'm pretty torn as to my opinion, as you'll see:

I just finished this, and I'm still quite undecided on my rating. On one hand, I was not a fan of the style of writing or the characters. I found the whole book to be grating and an exercise in frustration. Throughout the story I was annoyed at both main characters; they both seemed to me to be selfish and egotistical snobs. Frankenstein was so self centered it made me sick! And the monster was not much better. I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree...
BUT on the other hand, it isn't the authors fault I didn't like the style of writing. This book is old! Shelley was just writing in the style of the time and so I can't very well dock marks on this book based solely on the language and style. The two main characters were very real, and had definite personalities which differed from one another in some ways but also reflected key aspects of one another. I think the question of morality which this book raised was interesting. In the end, the main theme of the book is "who is in the wrong?" and I find it a very hard question to answer. Both characters were driven to do unbearable things, and they both were right and wrong in so many ways! I think I would enjoy a class based around this book, maybe analyzing what is a monster and what is not. Further study of the book would probably cause me to understand and like it better.
So does my liking the theme of the book trump the fact that I hated the characters and found myself struggling to continue reading about them? I don't know. For now I have rated this a 3-star read. Perhaps on further reflection I will adjust it.

I just finished reading this book and found it a quite interesting read. However, I felt that both the beginning and the end were a bit dry, and expected a bit more at the ending.

I think the message that the author tried to get over through the characters was clear and strong. I always appreciate a good metaphor.

I also am in agreement with many others who have already stated that the writing was a bit verbose. Extra care was taken to paint beautiful pictures of the countryside, which often seemed a bit unnecessary. It points to Ms. Shelley's poetic nature. The pictures she painted were a stark contrast to the story. How could so much pain and ugliness happen against a background so serene and beautiful. At points it seemed to take away from the story.

I will give it a 5 star rating. While it does take some time to get into the story I do believe in the end it was worth it, because the author left me we some fine nuggets to digest.

Well I finished last night. The book wasn't what I expected, I was expecting a scary thriller! I give it 2 stars. The only movie I've seen regarding Frankenstein would be Young Frankenstein ... I think I would have preferred the book to be more like that spoof :)

Sharon wrote: "Well I finished last night. The book wasn't what I expected, I was expecting a scary thriller! I give it 2 stars. The only movie I've seen regarding Frankenstein would be Young Frankenstein ... ..."

Me too Sharon! I've only seen Young Frankenstein as well.

I'm a bit behind as I left it almost finished for a few days but I just read the last 20 pages and can reflect upon the rest of the story a bit.

I agree with Trevor that I think this would be a good story to read in an educational environment, I didn't study it at school but I know it is on the syllabus, and rightly so. It is thought provoking, and I often wanted to jot down notes about it, but I wouldn't say it is an enjoyable read or one for pleasure.

Considering how short it is I found it incredibly difficult to both get into and to finish, only really enjoying the second part. I think I shall give it 3 stars.

That's exactly how I felt Georgina.

I guess I'm a bit of an anomaly here. I quite liked the book. I was expecting horror, but I don't really like horror, so I was pleasantly surprised to find that this book was much more than a horror book.