"Frankenstein", A Novel for Halloween

[@themusicsnob]

Frankenstein is absolutely one of my favorite books. So glad you talked about it! It is definitely seasonally appropriate, and pretty amazing that Mary Shelley wrote it when she was 18.

[@itsbrynnleebish]

I read Frankenstein as a senior in high school. Don’t remember much of it, but this video has sparked my curiosity to read it again. I’m gonna see if it’s at my library! Thanks , Robert!

[@kaylag9579]

I read this for the first time this year. It was amazing!

[@ElizaBlue-o1i]

'Frankenstein' has been one of my favourite novels since I first read it as a youngster, and like you I find every time I've come back to it through the course of my life I'm astonished all over again. The level of scientific, philosophical and theological thinking in this book would have been extraordinary at any time, but it astounds me that it came out of the mind of a 19 year old girl in the Regency period. Given her extraordinary parents and upbringing I guess we shouldn't be so surprised, but still, I find the maturity and originality of her thinking in this novel quite mind-blowing. She asks some serious questions about the nature of life and the relationship between us and our Creator, that leave you thinking for a long time afterwards. How poignant and remarkable too that the idea came to her after she'd lost a baby, and dreamed that she'd warmed the poor little thing back to life by the fire.

[@naimajacob-menon8846]

I love that edition!

[@scholasticstudio]

I really enjoyed your presentation as well as Pat's... Thank you so much!

[@alyakblu3]

I’m a HUGE Frankenstein lover, one of my favorites. I need to reread it. Love your edition!

[@Ninaluv118]

I definitely want to pick this up. Thank you!

[@BobJacobs10]

Loved it when I read it a whole way back. Should maybe reread it soon!

[@TheScholarGentleman]

For a decent depiction of the monster, check out the PENNY DREADFUL TV series. Examines the contentious relationship between creator and creation. 12:38

[@jonathanbrewer7072]

Great book ( unabridged ! )

[@LesHugg]

Currently reading it for the first time and I'm relieved that I'm not alone in being quite confused. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.

[@BookChatWithPat8668]

Wonderful discussion of the novel, Robert! Thank you, too, for the lovely things that you've said about my analysis. I loved your discussion first of the history of Frankenstein throughout popular culture. Your readings of these key passages are also very powerful. I think your theological interpretation is right on target. Dr. Frankenstein is indeed a man who plays god. He is, as Mary Shelley herself said, "the modern Prometheus." And I think you are absolutely right that he creates a being but cannot give it a soul, and he does indeed lose his own soul in the process of creating and then rejecting this being. Excellent, insightful, and engaging presentation. I really enjoyed every minute of this one! Happy Halloween! I hope you're doing well, my friend.

[@RobertGReaderofBooks-r3p]

Thanks, Pat. I appreciate your comments as well. I wonder if we could generate some interest on BookTube for a Gothic Horror tag or something similar? Open for suggestions.

[@BookChatWithPat8668]

@@RobertGReaderofBooks-r3p oh that would be fun!

[@daisycampbell8]

I just started this today!

[@pennyg156]

Enjoyed your thoughts on the novel and you've made me want to revisit it. I had much the same experience as you. I loved the old black and white movies as a child. It took me three readings to really divest myself of that image and really appreciate the brilliance of the novel. I think the most like the novel portrayal of the monster on screen was on a series called Penny Dreadful.

[@TheScholarGentleman]

I'm putting that on the list for next Halloween... 10:14

[@VanessaKittredge]

I can’t believe I haven’t read Frankenstein! My daughter just read it for her high school English Lit class. I’m reading The Witches about the Salem Witch Trials, by Stacy Schiff, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Cleopatra.

[@cecileganel]

I just recently read Frankenstein for the first time. I thought it was a good book, not excellent, not terrible. Though to be fair to the book. I read it on my phone through the kindle app and I regret reading it that way. I think I lost a lot in regards to formatting especially for the letters which may have taken away from the book. I want to get a physical copy and reread

[@teakara]

Frankenstein is one of the saddest books I’ve read, And a warning to us all

[@RobertGReaderofBooks-r3p]

Agreed. The tragic elements - and they cut deep - I think are often overwhelmed by the horror.

[@maren618]

I just finished reading Frankenstein for the first time! Surprised by how intelligent and articulate the monster becomes; so different from the modern interpretations. His vocabulary is better than mine! Got sick of dr. Frankenstein’s whining though ugh we get it your life is so hard!! lol great book though

[@RobertGReaderofBooks-r3p]

Hahaha

[@marnasorensen988]

An eerie, profound book. Read in school and didn't like any of the movies.

[@RandoCommando24]

I've read it twice and both times I too was struck by how much more disturbing the novel is compared to any movie I've seen. The movies always feel cartoonish in comparison.

[@AloBal-n1g]

Every son,child comes over his father's.i thing.

[@CionMohler]

Is Frankenstein’s creation referred to as a monster in the book? I can’t remember as it has been several years since I read it. Personally I think the creature deserves some compassion. Talk about having a difficult life. Oy veh.

[@RobertGReaderofBooks-r3p]

Good question. Dr Frankenstein heaps such continual disdain on him - referring to him as a demon, a fiend, a wretch, a creature, and so on - I'm sure somewhere in there he is called a monster. Of course, most damning of all: the creature is never given a proper name.