Frankenstein's Monster: A Novel [Paperback]

Susan Heyboer O'Keefe (Author)

Book Description

Release date: October 5, 2010

“Behind me, stiffened with frost, lie the remains of Victor Frankenstein.”
 
What becomes of a monster without its maker? At the end of Mary Shelley’s classic novel, the creator dies but his creation still lives, cursed to a life of isolation and hatred. 

Frankenstein’s Monster continues the creature’s story as he’s compelled to discover his humanity, to escape the ship captain who vowed to the dying Frankenstein to hunt him down—and to resist the woman who would destroy them all.

This is a tale of passion, revenge, violence, and madness—and the desperate search for meaning in an often meaningless world.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The eponymous monster of gothic horror rises once again in this well-wrought sequel to Mary Shelley's classic tale, the adult debut of children's author O'Keefe (One Hungry Monster with Lynn Munsinger). Narrated by the articulate and sensitive monster, the novel picks up immediately after the end of Shelley's original, with explorer Robert Walton deciding to avenge the death of his œfriend  Victor by relentlessly pursuing Frankenstein's creation to its death. In retaliation, the monster treks to England to destroy Walton's family only to befriend and fall in love with Walton's capricious niece, Lily Winterbourne. Run-ins with misunderstanding humans and the monomaniacal Walton as the couple attempt to flee to the desolate Orkney Islands give the monster ample opportunities to reflect on the inherent cruelty of humans, the nature of compassion, and mysteries of life and death. O'Keefe credibly extrapolates the moods and thoughts of the monster from how Shelley first imagined them in one of the better recent treatments of the Frankenstein theme.
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From Booklist

Literary spin-offs and sequels are all the rage now, and children’s author O’Keefe jumps on the bandwagon with her first adult novel. Beginning where Mary Shelley left off, she imaginatively resurrects the monster from the ambiguous conclusion of Frankenstein, contemplating his own suicide after the death of his creator, Victor Frankenstein. Vowing to take up Victor’s crusade to hunt down the creature and destroy it at all costs, Captain Robert Walton pursues the monster across Europe at a fast-paced clip. Infusing the monster with an introspective nature and Walton with an obsessive call to duty, the author does an admirable job of picking up the philosophical threads—ambition, responsibility, and humanity—Shelley wove into the original. Never forgetting that Frankenstein is first and foremost regarded as a gothic horror classic, she interweaves the requisite elements of romance, suspense, terror, and revenge into the page-turning narrative. --Margaret Flanagan

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 344 pages
• Publisher: Broadway; Original edition (October 5, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0307717321
• ISBN-13: 978-0307717320
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.8 x 7.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (62 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #754,765 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Coming this October is Susan Heyboer O'Keefe's adult debut novel, FRANKENSTEIN'S MONSTER, a tale of violence, passion, revenge, and redemption that continues the dark story of Mary Shelley's creature. Susan's first title was the bouncy, best-selling counting book ONE HUNGRY MONSTER. Sandwiched between these two very different books are twenty years of bunnies, eggplants, cemeteries, nuns, mysteries, comedies -- and more monsters.

A lifelong resident of New Jersey, Susan grew up in a town so small that not even people in the next town over had heard of it. (Amazing but true.) She now lives in another small town, which a visitor from Manhattan once described as the "end of the world." Since you might be eaten by bears trying to find it, she recommends that you visit her at her bear-free website at www.susanheyboerokeefe.com.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Whatever Became of Frankenstein's Creature? August 27, 2010

By The Movie Man VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

I always wondered what happened to the monster at the end of Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein." The book's ending almost invites a sequel, since the monster is alone in the Arctic. Does he die there? Is he hunted down by Capt. Walton after Victor Frankenstein's death?

Susan Heyboer O'Keefe's novel begins with a log entry written in the Arctic in 1818. It chronicles the events that led to Victor's demise, Walton's discovery of Frankenstein's man-made monster, and some bloody happenings on board ship. The novel borrows from "Les Miserables" as it describes Walton's Javert-like, relentless pursuit of the monster. He has become obsessed with fulfilling Victor Frankenstein's deathbed wish to destroy the abomination.

O'Keefe's style is reminiscent of Shelley's, and she takes great care to emphasize the human qualities of the creature even though it is capable of and undertakes heinous deeds. This balance is what makes the book so interesting. The creature isn't painted in broad strokes, but with nuance and care. We shudder one moment, we are touched the next. This is good writing.

I've always loved "Frankenstein" and have read and re-read it often. "Frankenstein's Monster" is a respectable follow-up to that classic, one that satisfies our interest in the original novel and answers some fascinating "What if...?" questions. The narrative moves briskly and the author's interspersing of prose, dialogue, and journal entries provides the book with welcome variety.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Violent, Repetitive, and Ultimately a Big Disappointment February 3, 2011

By K. Franklin VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

I'm a big fan of the original Mary Shelley Frankenstein and so was eager to read this follow-up modern novel. The style of the writing grabbed me right away. This author has a wonderful command of the English language. The idea - the continuing saga of Frankenstein's Monster, also piqued my interest. I was ready to love this book.

By a third of the way through, the Monster's whining was really getting to me. Yeah, he's had a bad life. Yeah, everyone hates him, is scared of him, wants to kill him and ruin any chance he has for happiness. But it was like a concert played on one note. POOR ME. It didn't make me sympathetic. There was nothing redeeming about him. He was just pathetic.

Also, there is a lot of violence. A LOT. After a while there is an annoying sameness to the bone-crunching and slashing and head-splitting. Too often, and too much. It detracted from the very sense of jeopardy it was intended to convey.

Lily, the female love interest (if it can be called that) was loathsome. Why would any self-respecting monster, even a desperate one, want the love of such a wretched woman? She was cruel, deceptive, manic,, mean, tormenting, and unnatural WITHOUT being all that interesting. I lost all respect for the Monster because he so craved her. When he wasn't thinking about raping and strangling her, he was wishing she would be nice to him.

Much of the motivation for the entire story is that the Monster wants sex with above mentioned harridan. He keeps hoping. He's a virgin. He wants a woman. She turns him away, taunts, tempts...so finally he runs out into the woods, sheds his clothes, and finds a willing DEER to relieve him. Deer as in, four-legged wild animal. Mary Shelley's Creature would never have stooped to bestiality - he had far too much dignity. The scene was sickening and perverse, and yes, pathetic.

There are a couple of "secrets" that are revealed at the end. I won't ruin it for those who really want to read this book - but just let me say that they were so obvious,and so heavily hinted at beforehand that they weren't surprises at all.

I read Frankenstein's Monster to the bitter end. By the time I was three-fourths of the way through I just wanted it to be OVER, and skimmed whole pages, looking for ANYTHING to make me feel it had been worth my time. It isn't a nice, tight, narrative - there is a lot of stuffing. When I was finished I was deeply disappointed and was glad at least that I had gotten the book from VINE - free.

There was not one likable character in this book. Nothing hopeful, no real love, no romance, and no adventure other than Monster Against The World Trying To Get Really Horrible Girl to Sleep With Him. I say, Pass.

Perhaps it is best to let the unanswered questions of classical literature remain unanswered.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars This Isn't the "Official" Sequel, Is It??? September 30, 2011

By willofthewisp

Format:Paperback

It was ambitious, I'll give it that, and that it is a sequel to the original book and not the countless movies. However, the plot isn't really very tight, the Creature hard to relate to after awhile, and what I'm guessing the author intended to be twists were predictable. It borrows a bit from Les Miserables/The Fugitive with Robert Walton, the captain in the book, doggedly pursuing the Creature for reasons that never really feel believable. Slight spoiler: I hope you aren't a fan of his character! This is pushed to the side, though, and the rest of the novel can basically be summarized as: the Creature befriends someone/they either betray him or there is a huge misunderstanding. There is also a romance of sorts, well, two romances, but it felt to me that the author wasn't really comfortable diving into that. I also missed the eloquent prose the Creature possessed in the original book. This book conveys his intelligence and ambivalent feelings towards humanity, and it would be a difficult task for any author to get inside the mind of the Creature, but his voice doesn't feel unique and it just sounds tired and repetitive after awhile. I was disappointed, but I can see how it would appeal to someone of slightly different tastes.