Frankenstein (Collins Classics)

Shelley’s novel is transgressive in its content, and more transgressive in its nature – written by a female (at age 19!) under a pseudonym to penetrate the public approval. This novel explores human emotions, good and bad, in response to the ‘Other’ in true gothic fashion. The grunting, green-faced, bolt-bearing monster depicted by film and media is a pale imitation of Shelley’s masterpiece – but the original is a 'blue-print' for all monster creations. Despite being a cautionary tale on how nature, which is essentially good, can be corrupted by ill treatment – contemporary depictions have departed from the original characterization of an extremely well-spoken monster with immense speed and grace.PLOT (4.5/5)An intelligent and ambitious young student indulges a moment of thoughtless scientific passion and creates life. Horrified at his creation, Victor Frankenstein shuns the creature and attempts to discard it from his life and thoughts. The creature, however, is lost in an unkind world and seeks affection, and upon rejection then seeks revenge.STUDENT NOTES (5/5)+ Although many reviewers note The York Notes version usefulness at GCSE, I found in instrumental at helping me receive an A* at A-Level as well:a) The (character, theme and quotation) analysis is brilliant, clear and precise.b) The exam questions, key quotations and chapter summaries were invaluablec) The responses to the text, both modern and those from Shelley's contemporaries are invaluable (especially the feminist and psychoanalytical essays).CHARACTERS (5/5)+ Both main characters are easy to empathise with despite being completely at heads – both Victor (the ambitious scientist who realises his overreach and attempts to redeem himself) and the monster (whose fragile psyche is birthed from rejection)STYLE (4/5)+ The original, but nevertheless still one of the most remarkable science fiction stories ever written, its relevance persists today as scientific discovery journeys further than before into ethical ambiguity (GM food, AI, cloning) and discrimination still exists in all its forms.+ Typically Romantic and beautifully descriptive prose, particularly regarding the natural world.- The book begins very slowly with excessive detail, and the epistolary form makes it hard to convey any sense of suspense. But if you persist despite this you will be drawn in to Shelley's world.

This version is not compatible with the penguin edition of the book and many pieces of the text is summarised, skipped or altered which of course takes away from the actual meaning of the text. The reading in itself is of good quality and is comfortable to listen to but that means very little when what is being read is not in accordance with the original text. If you just want to read Frankenstein for the pleasure of it I suppose it will do but I would argue having listened to this version you cannot really claim to actually have read Frankenstein as it is so lacking in content that I wouldn't bother.Still waiting for someone to do a full text reading of the book but for now I'll just have to read it out loud to myself.

NOTE: THIS REVIEW IS SPECIFICALLY ABOUT THE 2020 EDITION OF "FRANKENSTEIN" WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY BERNIE WRIGHTSON, AND DOES NOT REFER TO ANY OTHER EDITIONBernie Wrightson could well be Exhibit 1 if you were making the case for the history of American comics as being characterised by the enormous superiority of their artists over the stories they illustrated. Thankfully, in producing illustrations for "Frankenstein", the foundational text for most modern horror and science fiction, he found a project commensurate with his talents. The illustrations he produced were stunning, and all recognisably Wrightson: stylish, imaginative, atmospheric, simultaneously modern and yet consistent with the period (1818) when the novel first appeared, and technically superb.There have apparently been four editions of Bernie Wrightson's "Frankenstein", including this one. The consensus seems to be that the previous editions were all superior to this, due to substantially larger page size and better print quality. Unfortunately, they're all out of print, almost impossible to find, and command eye-watering prizes.For those of us who missed out on the previous editions, this one will have to do for now. And, despite what other reviews say, it's not a BAD book. It just could have been better. It's obvious the illustrations would look better at a larger scale, and some detail is clearly lost in the reproduction, a situation reflects poorly on the publisher. But the greatness of the illustrations is still apparent, and they are, even in this reduced and impaired format, an absolute joy to look at. I would love to have them in a better quality edition, but I'd also rather have them in this edition than not have them at all, and, until I can find an acceptably priced copy of an earlier edition, this will suffice. And I'm not holding my breath over that acceptably priced copy turning up.As well as the full text of the novel (including Mary Shelley's introduction to the 1831 edition), this edition contains an amusing but unenlightening preface by Stephen King, and some general notes on the early 19th century which could have been cribbed from a GCSE crammer. The production values are good, with a robust hard binding and good quality white paper. For what you get - notwithstanding things could and should have been better - the price isn't excessive.So I'm hanging on to it for now. But I'll be like a greyhound out of the traps the second I catch sight of a superior edition at a reasonable price.