Frankenstein (Book) Review

"All men hate the wretched; how then, must I be hated, who am miserable beyond all living things! Yet you, my creator, detest and spurn me, they creature, to whom thou art bound by ties only dissoluble by the annihilation of one of us."

Author: Mary Shelley
Release Date: 1818
Length: 240 pages
Summary:
A sailor finds a disoriented scientist in the middle of the sea. After he recovers, he tells him how he got stuck on the ice: a few years before, he attempted to find the thin line between life and death, and he accidentally made a monster. The scientist flees and the monster escapes and he isn't heard of for a year or so, until the scientist's brother is killed. The monster didn't feel loved anywhere, so in his despair he killed a young boy, who happened to be the scientist's brother. He tells him that everyone shuns him because of his ugly appearance. Because his master created him, the monster renders him responsible for his misfortune. He promises to leave the human society if the scientist makes a wife for him.
The scientist refuses, because he doesn't want to create another being that is so harmful to society. In response, the monster kills his best friend and his wife. The scientist chases him all across Europe in order to kill the monster, but after a while, when he chases him across a big, frozen sea, the ice breaks and he is trapped (which is where the story begins). After a while, he dies. The monster goes to the ship and sees his master. He feels guilty and jumps off the boat to kill himself.

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I'd been wanting to read this for a long time. Mainly because of the influence it has had on pop culture but also just because the story is appealing to me. Let me tell you one thing: it's nothing like the film. There is no burning windmill, the monster isn't green and the scientist doesn't yell: "IT'S ALIVE!" the story is not very eventful, but it is very nice to read. It's endearing to see how much joy the monster gets from seeing normal people and their families.
What I didn't like was the end. I was really rooting for the monster, because I though the scientist was really selfish for just leaving his monster. I would've liked it more if the monster hadn't felt any remorse at all.

-The Shy Hipster