Frankenstein 🧟

This is my 101st post, so we can call this: Frankenstein 101! I recently posted about To Kill a Mockingbird, which my class read for school. Frankenstein is another book I read for English class. From my perspective, many people know about Frankenstein, but very few have actually read Mary Shelley's original novel. Here are a few things I've learned on the way.

• Common Misconception: This might be the most well-known, but also most forgotten fact. Frankenstein is actually not the monster's name. The zombie face that everyone remembers is referred to as "the creature" throughout the story. Dr. Victor Frankenstein is the name of the mad scientist who created the creature!

• Who Is...: Mary Shelley is the iconic writer behind the book. It was very rare for a female to write and publish a book at this time. Speaking of "this time," the book itself was published in 1818. Back then, women had hardly any rights, so it was impressive to publish a whole novel!

• Behind the Book: Mary Shelley wrote this book during a long, rainy summer. Her husband and some family friends all got into a horror writing competition while stuck inside. For the life of her, she could not think of a topic to write about. The premise of Frankenstein came to her in a dream.

• Plotline of Frankenstein: Almost everyone knows that Victor Frankenstein created the creature, but not many are aware of the other storylines. Frankenstein travels around the globe (first in attempts to escape the creature, but later to capture him). The monster slowly (but surely) kills off everyone close to Victor. Victor faces a point of total despair. The book dives into declining mental health, without directly naming that aspect.

• Honorable Mention: This final bullet point isn't as much of a fact, but I believe it is important to note that my dog, Frankie, dressed up as the creature for Halloween recently. This ties into the book's Halloween associations. My dog slayed and basically won Halloween forever. It is also important to note the pun (Frankie = Frankenstein). Thank you.

Honestly, this book was so good. I would 100% recommend it to any 8th through 10th grader! It’s not the type of book that I would normally read on my own. English class was the only reason I read in the first place, but I think it was well worth my time. Overall, the plot was clean, the dialogue interesting, the setting unique, and all of my usual standards were exceeded. This book returns to my roots with the “classics” and I love revisiting those kinds of books!

Separately, I ended up quitting The Once and Future King, but that does not mean you shouldn’t read it! I have started Then She Was Gone now and am loving it! You can expect a post on that within the next two weeks! If you have read this far already, you will be pleased to know that this Wednesday’s posts will go into my shelved books (books that I started and put away for the time being). Honestly, that is something that I avoid talking about on this blog, so I'm excited to dive into it! Anyways, Frankenstein was incredible, and as always: GO READ A BOOK! 😘