To celebrate the National Year of Reading, we will be regularly publishing student book reviews. One of our Year 10 students, Liv H, has taken on the challenging text of Frankenstein this year, in wake of the new film release on Netflix. 

If you like the ideas and themes Liv presents in her review below, the following books might be of interest:

  • Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro - A haunting dystopian tale about cloned individuals raised for a dark medical purpose, probing what it means to be human

  • Permutation City by Greg Egan – A philosophical and deeply speculative science fiction about artificial life and simulated reality, interrogating identity and creation

  • Bioforms series by Adrian Tchaikovsky (starting with Dogs of War) – Dystopian sci-fi exploring bioengineering, non-human intelligence, and the blurred lines between created beings and people

  • Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton – Although older than the others, it’s a classic modern cautionary tale about genetic engineering and science out of control, with clear thematic links to Frankenstein

  • Clay by David Almond – This novel revisits the “creation” concept, with eerie consequences

This is her review of the book:

Frankenstein is a classic written in 1818 by Mary Shelley, who wrote it at 19 years old. It’s about Victor Frankenstein, an ambitious, hardworking scientist, who bends the rules of nature and creates life in an inanimate, once deceased body. The novel details Frankenstein’s inner turmoil and regret about creating the monster, and the monster’s experiences when faced with the hostile society of that day.

I really enjoyed this book. I think the ‘social commentary’ of sorts about how appearances affect how society judges you, no matter what you’re like inside, is quite telling and meaningful. Additionally, I think the artificial intelligence aspect of this book is especially apt and perhaps needed in today’s world, in which AI is pervasive and essentially inescapable.

I like how this novel challenges the traditional ‘hero vs villain’/ ‘good vs evil’ narrative. Initially, Frankenstein’s monster is introduced to us as the evil villain, however when we are told of the monster’s perspective, about his struggles with identity, acceptance and purpose, the reader is forced to sympathise with him. Once the reader has come to know everything the monster had done in his short life, it turns out that he wasn’t as evil as once thought. When he first encountered humans, his first instinct was curiosity and goodwill. We see this when he anonymously collected firewood and food for a struggling family during the winter. Some may see him as a villain, but he only did what he did because of the shameful way society treated him. On the contrary, by the end of the book, the reader sees Victor Frankenstein less as the ‘hero’ but as a more villainous character. I think the conception of this idea comes from Victor’s initial creation of the monster, how irresponsibly he dealt with it upon creation and his lack of genuine accountability in his role in the monster’s life. However, I feel that today, there are misconceptions around Frankenstein’s monster that stem from traditions such as Halloween. For example, the monster is not brain dead, or completely illiterate, as portrayed in various pieces of media nowadays, but an incredibly complex, philosophical and intelligent being.

Furthermore, as a girl, I am inspired by Mary Shelley. I think that writing such a famous book that is highly regarded all over the world at the age of 19, in a society where women were put down and seen as inferior is an incredible achievement and should be used as motivation by women and girls all over the world wishing to pursue the literary arts.

Overall, I think this book is fantastic. I personally really enjoyed the somewhat complicated writing style and vocabulary, I think it was a good challenge and has helped me get into more classical literature. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys a bit of a thrill accompanied with a bit of sadness and who is willing to persevere when reading difficult and challenging writing.

Written by Liv H, Year 10