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Frankenstein (Signet Classics) [Mass Market Paperback]

Mary Shelley , Harold Bloom , Walter James Miller
4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (895 customer reviews)

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Book Description

August 1, 2000 0451527712 978-0451527714 Reprint
Here is the classic novel of supreme horror that has held readers spellbound since its publication in 1816. This new edition will also feature an examination of the films inspired by Shelley's groundbreaking work, plus a fascinating look into genetic engineering and the modern implications of this immortal tale.


@NotoriousDOC Just did a bit-torrent-style grave robbery. My new ‘man’ will be an artful collage. Also, good conversation starter.

It’s alive! I’d better beat it over the head repeatedly with a fire extinguisher.

So sometimes you build something, and it gets away. They’re gonna can me at the university if they find out about this.

From Twitterature: The World's Greatest Books in Twenty Tweets or Less


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Frankenstein (Signet Classics) + Brave New World (P.S.) + How to Read Literature Like a Professor: A Lively and Entertaining Guide to Reading Between the Lines
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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Frankenstein, loved by many decades of readers and praised by such eminent literary critics as Harold Bloom, seems hardly to need a recommendation. If you haven't read it recently, though, you may not remember the sweeping force of the prose, the grotesque, surreal imagery, and the multilayered doppelgänger themes of Mary Shelley's masterpiece. As fantasy writer Jane Yolen writes of this (the reviewer's favorite) edition, "The strong black and whites of the main text [illustrations] are dark and brooding, with unremitting shadows and stark contrasts. But the central conversation with the monster--who owes nothing to the overused movie image … but is rather the novel's charnel-house composite--is where [Barry] Moser's illustrations show their greatest power ... The viewer can all but smell the powerful stench of the monster's breath as its words spill out across the page. Strong book-making for one of the world's strongest and most remarkable books." Includes an illuminating afterword by Joyce Carol Oates. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

From School Library Journal

Grade 9 Up-Full-color drawings, photographs, and reproductions with extended captions have been added to the unedited text of Shelley's novel, thus placing the work in the context of the era in which it was written. The artwork faithfully represents the text and makes this edition appealing to reluctant readers. Unfortunately, many of the captions provide tangential information that, although interesting, interrupts the flow of the story. However, readers will quickly learn that it is not necessary to read every caption and appreciate this volume for its many quality illustrations.
Michele Snyder, Chappaqua Public Library, NY
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

  • Mass Market Paperback: 272 pages
  • Publisher: Signet Classics; Reprint edition (August 1, 2000)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0451527712
  • ISBN-13: 978-0451527714
  • Product Dimensions: 4.1 x 0.7 x 6.8 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 4.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (895 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #28,348 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Mary Shelley was born in 1797, the only daughter of writers William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin. In 1814 she eloped with poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, whom she married in 1816. She is best remembered as the author of Frankenstein, but she wrote several other works, including Valperga and The Last Man.

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Customer Reviews

Altogether, the story was very well written. Hitsugaya Toushiro  |  90 reviewers made a similar statement
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
140 of 153 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars A moving, disturbing, depressing, but also touching tale December 31, 2004
Format:Paperback
Much like Bram Stoker's "Dracula", Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" is a story we all think we know, but really don't. Very few films have consciously attempted to follow the novel too closely (which shouldn't detract from the excellent James Whale/Boris Karloff film, or its masterpiece-sequel, "The Bride of Frankenstein). Thus, everything popular culture "knows" about "Frankenstein" does not originate from literature, but from films. This is a shame, in a way, because the novel itself is, if not the progenitor, an early vessel of so many archetypes found science fiction and horror.

The basic plot remained intact when transferred to other media. Swiss medical student Victor Frankenstein discovers the secret of life (which he never reveals, lest someone repeat the mistake). He then puts together a body, essentially a man, from various corpses. He then becomes horrified by the creature he has built, and abandons. The creature, suffering a great deal of neglect and abuse, still manages to get a thorough education, and learns of his lineage. After murdering Victor's younger brother, and framing the family maid, the creature tells his (admittedly) sad tale to his "father", and then demands a mate. Victor, in a panic, agrees, then thinks better of it at the last moment, destroying the new bride. In retaliation, the creature murders all of Victor's loved ones (including his wife), and leads Victor on a merry chase across the world.

Most probably know that Mary Shelley wrote this book in response to a challenge issued by Lord Byron, during a vacation at Lake Geneva. (Along with this story came John Polidori's "The Vampyre", the first English vampire novel.) Most probably also know that Shelley went on to write other works of imaginative gothic fiction.
... Read more ›
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419 of 496 people found the following review helpful
1.0 out of 5 stars DO NOT BUY THIS EDITION!!!!!! January 31, 2007
Format:Mass Market Paperback
This "enriched classics" is a bowdlerized version of Mary Shelley's original text. It eliminates passages, changes the diction, abridges the chapters, and changes the entire structure of the novel. Our school bought this edition thinking that the additional notes would be helpful to students studying the text, but there was no indication at all on Amazon's website that this version had been substantially altered by the editors. The book is so bowdlerized that our school bought an entire new set of texts for the students at a considerable finanacial loss for the school. WHATEVER YOU DO, BUY SOME OTHER VERSION OF FRANKENSTEIN. THIS ONE IS A MONSTER CREATED BY SOMEONE WHO HAS NO RESPECT FOR THE AUTHOR. BANTAM, PUFFIN, OXFORD -- THEY ARE ALL FINE. Irene Nicastro, English teacher, The American School of The Hague.
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79 of 91 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars More Relevant Today Than When First Written November 18, 2003
Format:Paperback
Modern readers must jump through a number of hoops to enjoy this legendary novel. Written between 1816 and 1818, this is very much a novel of its era, and both language and ideas about plot are quite different from those of today. That aside, and unlike such contemporaries as Jane Austen, author Mary Shelly has never been greatly admired for her literary style, which is often awkward. But perhaps the biggest hurdle is that of our own expectations: while it certainly sent icy chills down the spines of 19th Century readers, FRANKENSTEIN is not a horror novel per se.

While Mary Shelly might have been stylistically weak, her story was not. Nothing like it had been written before, and the concept of a student endowing life upon a humanoid creature cobbled together from charnel house parts was unexpectedly shocking to the reading public. But even more shocking were the ideas that Shelly brought to the story. Having created this thing in his own image, what--if anything--does the creator owe it? And in posing this question, Shelly very deliberately raises her novel to an even more complex level: this is not merely the conflict of man and his creation, but also a questioning of God and his responsibility toward his creation.

In some respects, the book is written like the famous philosophical "dialogues" of the ancient world: a counterpoint of questions and arguments that do battle for the reader's acceptance....

Mary Shelly is a rare example of a writer whose ideas clearly outstrip her literary skill--but whose ideas are so powerful that they transcend her literary limitations and continue to resonate today. And indeed, as science continues to advance, it could not be otherwise so. Mary Shelly could not see into the future of DNA research, laboratory-grown tissues, test-tube babies and the like--but between 1816 and 1818 she wrote a book about the ethical dilemmas that swirl around them. And for all its flaws, FRANKENSTEIN is perhaps even more relevant today than it was over a hundred and fifty years ago.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer Read more ›

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18 of 18 people found the following review helpful
1.0 out of 5 stars Kindle edition is the 1831 edition, not 1818 February 21, 2011
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
I got the free Kindle edition from the link on the page for the Norton Critical Edition of the 1818 text. Mary Shelley made many significant edits to the book for the 1831 edition. I assumed it was the same edition because the link was from the same page. I didn't realize it was different until I went to write my assigned essay and went online to search for page numbers for the passages I wanted to quote. Many of the quotes I wanted to use don't even appear in the original version. This is a very important distinction, and I wish it had been labeled correctly so I would not have had to waste so much time looking for online versions of the correct text in order to replace the quotes I could not use from the later version. This edition is fine if you just want to read the book, but if you're reading it for school, you have more than likely been assigned the 1818 version, which is very different. The Kindle edition is also lacking in any kind of Kindle formatting, making it a hassle to find locations in the book.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars great
I finally got a chance to read this classic sci fi thriller. Jesus, must of scared them back in the day. Anyway read this now
Published 4 days ago by seanstr26m
4.0 out of 5 stars Frankenstein
Interesting book. It was an ok book. I've never read it till now. Some parts I didn't understand. I did get lost at some parts.
Published 5 days ago by Computer Mentors Group
4.0 out of 5 stars A different approch to story telling.
The book is very different but it seems to me it deals with some issues that we face in life. It has real pathos and it seems to me it says something about mans relation to his... Read more
Published 5 days ago by T. Spencer LeGrand Sr.
4.0 out of 5 stars a great book that the movies don't do justice
What a great story about abandonment and the root of evil. I find it interesting that this sorry is often retold portraying Frankenstein's creation as an evil monster from the... Read more
Published 6 days ago by NK
5.0 out of 5 stars A classic
A...classic
The title says it all, people. It's a classic horror story that should be read by everybody in the world.
Published 6 days ago by Kate Mckee
5.0 out of 5 stars Is a great classic
To read the true story of Frankenstein after seeing the movie versions was a great pleasure.
This book is a classic with little relationship to Ted Hollywood version.
Published 8 days ago by TED HALEY
4.0 out of 5 stars Read it when I was younger.
Reread it and understand it better now. Not like the Karloff movie, more like the sequel. Little more chilling now, when i understand the consequences now then when i was younger.
Published 8 days ago by Meviews
5.0 out of 5 stars A Classic Monster Tale
I forgot this was an "epistolary" novel (written entirely as letters from one person to another), but it's still a brilliant read and one of the greatest "monster"... Read more
Published 11 days ago by Jeffrey C. Warshaw
5.0 out of 5 stars Read it Again!
What a beautifully written story. Sensitive and epic. It was nothing like the movies made over the years. AND free was amazing!
Published 11 days ago by Susie
1.0 out of 5 stars Boring, self-absorbed "hero"
After all these years of hearing this book raved about, I finally broke down and read it. What a disappointment! Read more
Published 12 days ago by Princess in Training
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truth to story that frankenstein and dracula result of bet?
Just a fun fact, the legendary night as mentioned by silt is depicted in the bizzarre, 1980 B- Movie, "Gothic". To add to the lore of that infamous gathering, John Polidori, Lord Byron's physician, was supposedly present and conceived his story, "The Vampyr" on that same... Read more
Jun 16, 2011 by J. M. Binion |  See all 6 posts
Was Frankenstein the first science fiction book ever written?
I'm taking a historical science fiction course right now, and I don't claim to be an expert but The Republic and Gilgamesh are often mentioned as the first of what became SF. However, from that time on there was a distinct lack of SF. Frakenstein is, in my course material, shown to be the first... Read more
Jan 22, 2011 by JCols |  See all 7 posts
Please help me!! Mystery search!! Be the first to reply
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