I picked this book up because "Frankenstein" is one of my favorite horror novels of all time [right up there with "Dracula"]. Also the premise was intriguing: What if Mary Shelley's classic monster of literature wasn't fiction, but a real character? One who visits Shelley as a young girl visiting her mother's [feminist Mary Wollstonecraft] grave? This is the...
more I picked this book up because "Frankenstein" is one of my favorite horror novels of all time [right up there with "Dracula"]. Also the premise was intriguing: What if Mary Shelley's classic monster of literature wasn't fiction, but a real character? One who visits Shelley as a young girl visiting her mother's [feminist Mary Wollstonecraft] grave? This is the premise of "A Monster's Notes", and the creature here is imagined to have survived into the 21st century, afflicted by questions regarding its identity, as what the creature understands about itself is based on the background Shelley created for it in the original story.
The book in essence, is based on the monster's musings based on fictionalized letters from Shelley, her inner circle, and two other characters [both fictional], one from the original "Frankenstein", and the other a leper in an Italian sanatorium. The letters are included in the book as part of the creature's journal, and besides the letters, there are notes on music, philosophy, and a host of other subjects.
Though the author deserves praise for taking a unique approach to the novel format, as a reader, I found myself rather mired in the the writing, which tends to get heavy-going. What I did like was the fleshing out of some of the characters, such as Shelley and her exploits. Through the convoluted letters and notes, Shelley's creature comes to gain a deeper perspective of how he came to be, though the entire mystery of the creature is never completely solved.
Recommended for those who like to get adventurous in their reading choices.
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