#Review: (Rupa Classics) Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

RUPA CLASSICS

Frankenstein 
Author: Mary Shelley 

I went into Frankenstein expecting the monster I had grown up associating with popular culture—the stitched face, the bolts of electricity, the frightening creature. What I found instead was a far more complicated and surprisingly philosophical story about creation, loneliness, responsibility and the consequences of abandoning something we bring into the world.

Mary Shelley’s novel follows Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist whose obsession with discovering the secrets of life leads him to create a living being. But the moment his creation comes to life, Victor is horrified by it and turns away. What follows is not simply a battle between a creator and his monster, but a tragic chain of rejection, isolation, anger and revenge.

What stayed with me most was how much the novel makes us question who the real “monster” is. The creature is undoubtedly capable of terrible acts, but Shelley also gives us his perspective, his longing for companionship and his desperate need to be accepted. That made the story considerably more unsettling for me than a straightforward tale of horror. The creature isn’t born cruel; his experiences shape him.

I also enjoyed the way the novel moves between different narrators and perspectives. It gives the story a layered quality and makes us constantly reconsider what we think we know. And despite being written in the nineteenth century, its questions about scientific ambition, ethical responsibility and the consequences of playing with forces we don’t fully understand feel remarkably relevant.

This Rupa edition, with a foreword by Ruskin Bond, is a lovely addition to the shelf, and the illustrated cover gives this classic a slightly more accessible feel.

For me, Frankenstein is ultimately less a horror story and more a tragedy about what happens when we create something without being prepared to take responsibility for it. And honestly, that is far more frightening.

Find the book here.