Customer Reviews

Gods and Monsters (P.S.)

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This is a great book, guys. I came from the angle of being a fan of old Hollywood, and if it's black and white, I've heard of it.

"Frankenstein" is by far the best of the Universal monster movies, and it has a lot to do with the subject of this novel: James Whale. The guy took the unwieldy, even boring, Shelley novel and pulled out the story of a sad monster and the redemption of its creator. He's also the reason why we have "Young Frankenstein" - so there's a lot to love about the guy.

The most intriguing thing about the novel, is the author creating a fictionalized "untold story" of Whale's final days - an act of literary bravado that could easily go wrong, but didn't, and it didn't in a big way. I'll spare you the plot synopsis because if you're reading this, you've already read that, but I will tell you this is a great book in the sense that college classes will make it required reading and the sense of being accessible to the masses.

Don't let anyone fool you: This is not a "movie book" or a "gay book" it's just a book; and a damn good one.

I really dig this particular edition for it's "postscript". It's the kind of stuff DVD extras are made of...an interview with the author, an after word and so on. As someone who invested the time to read the 300+ pages, it was great to hear directly from the author of how he came to tell this story, his thoughts on the movie based upon this book among other things.

Mark my words, soon you will see "Special Editions" of nearly every book you can think of...not just for the insights of the author or analysis of its historical context...but as a marketing tool by which we will end up buying our favorite books all over again. :)

Gods and Monsters (a.k.a. Father of Frankenstein) is a great novel on lots of different levels. It explores the gay world of Hollywood in the 1950s, the impossibility of overcoming stereotyping (can we say Joseph Heller?), and the way that the horrors of the First World War were morphed into a classic horror movie, among other themes.

But most of all, Gods and Monsters is about life and death. What gives meaning to life? Can one grow into life by being part of another man's death? Why is death so feared? These questions are all raised and adressed, although the answers are left for the reader to determine.

I have read many gay novels, and this one is a masterpiece. It transcends the genre and approaches the level of the great writers of our time. Well worth reading!

The descriptions on Amazon of Gods and Monsters, first published as Father of Frankenstein, do not do the book justice. This novel, about the last (fictionalized) days of the director of the Frankenstein movies, is simply marvelous. It takes as its premise a simple situation: an ailing, homosexual director, his fame long-gone stale, gets the idea to incite his very masculine, working-class landscaper into murdering him because he doesn't have the courage to commit suicide. A modern, minor masterpiece of psychology and subtext, the sleek, subtle plot creates a page-turner which never loses site of its deeply drawn, sympathetic, flawed and unique characters. Bram is a master of the simile and has a perfect instinct for story arc and form. The novel could hardly lose or gain a single word without suffering. In every way it is a gem.

It is rare for a book to be renamed 10 years after first being published but this book is also known as Father of Frankenstein. A leading actor in the film version did not like the name and the film was called Gods and Monsters. Both titles are unappealing to me but do not let the title put you off which ever title you choose to read. The latter has some interesting comments by the author about the writing of the book and the creation of the film.
Based on the real life of Hollywood director James Whale, a gay man in his sixties who has recently had a stroke and is living alone with his maid, Maria. Clay, an homophobic ex-marine, is the yardman (gardener) for Whale and agrees reluctantly to pose for Whale, an amateur artist. The novel revolves around Whale reminiscing over various events in his life: growing up in a working class family in the Midlands, UK, in the trenches in the first World War, in an English touring theatrical group in the 1920's and Hollywood in the 1930's. The interaction between Whale and Clay is well written and creates a wonderful contrast between a gay man suffering from memory loss and frailty and the fit 25 year old homophobic Clay. Bram is a self-confessed film buff and this book would have greater appeal if I was too but this is an entertaining account of life in Hollywood during the 30's to the 50's.

This novel is reminiscent of such films as SUNSET BOULEVARD and WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE. The story concerns the last days of has-been director James Whale who in his prime had directed the films SHOW BOAT and THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN, among other hits. In 1957 he was a virtual recluse in his expensive Hollywood home, despondent after suffering a stoke. His death by drowning in his swimming pool was ruled an accident, but many years later, his former companion made public Whale's suicide note. From this grim material, Christopher Bram has fashioned a sweet and far-from-sentimental love story of Whale and his obsession with his handsome ex-marine gardener. There are a lot of surprises along the way, some of them hilarious, some truly disturbing. Once again Bram intermingles fictional characters with real people. In this volume Elsa Lanchester, Greta Garbo, Charles Laughton, George Cukor, Princess Margaret and Elizabeth Taylor make appearances. My favorite scene was when Whale takes his gardener to a lawn party thrown by George Cukor in honor of Princess Margaret. This is a great party scene worthy of Proust himself. Although the relationship between Whale and the gardener is a chaste one, it is nonetheless a love story. I found this a beautiful book with a lot of heart and humor. I laughed aloud several times. I liked this edition with its appendices and author's afterword.

My only real criticism is that once again Bram has contemporary slang usage coming from the mouths of characters who lived in a previous era. I hope that if Bram writes another novel set in the past that he will have an expert go through the manuscript with him to correct this. But nonetheless, I really like Bram's writing and plan to read more of his work. Everything I've read by him so far has been very intelligent and entertaining. Four stars.

I had no intention of reading this book. I felt I had ruined it by seeing the movie so it was shelved for years. Then I was doing something on my computer that took some rendering time. I reached for the closest book. "Gods and Monsters" was it. At first I read it lazily, thinking I only had a small amount of time to look at it so my concentration was non-committal. The computer finished what it had to but I kept reading. I was captured.

The book is about James Whale, the director of "Frankenstein" and other horror films, but you don't have to be a horror enthusiast to love this book. There is a slight "witch hunt" element surrounding Whale's homosexual life---and there is some indication by the author that he empathized with Whale. (He's gay and became obsessed with Whale's life, which is totally understandable--authors often become obsessed with topics for reasons they can't explain.) But you don't have to be a politically angry homosexual or horror lover or even a movie enthusiast to love this book.

Per chance while I was reading the book my husband heard a Podcast on Whale's life saying that this book was inaccurate. I was a little angry at that simplistic conclusion--the FACTS of his life for me are of no consequence. What's important is that the author here captures the essence of a life--a far greater skill in many ways than documenting the facts and often closer to the "truth".

You empathize with Whale. You understand that he had artistic talents and contributions he could have made as a director that were thwarted by lesser minds. He had the courage to walk away but the consequence was isolation and a bitterness that chased his lover and perhaps others out of his life.

Our poor gardener, strong and straight, finally learns to be a man through a queen. That's a powerful enough idea with its obvious paradox and lesson to be learned but I winced when I read the author's take on the character--that he called him Clay Boone because he wanted a good "white trash" name.

Being more closely affiliated with the white-trash side of the tracks and less with the glamorous side of the arts and theater, I found myself a little annoyed with Boone being so reduced. Here homosexuals play the role of the victim while enjoying the finest things life has to offer while the working class is labeled the oppressor and gets to get up and labor in their gardens yet another day. All the while the movie(s) ("Frankenstein") is full of insider, homosexual jokes that the naive workingman won't see because he is blinded by the sweat in eyes and knows no better but to get up and do it again and again. But he pays for the movie ticket, a small distraction from his futile life, and so I can't help but think perhaps Boone and his kind is the victim; the one really being laughed at and treated with contempt for what he is.

Nonetheless, it is a beautifully written book, filling you with empathy for these characters. Whether the facts are accurate or not I cannot help but believe I have an understanding of the person James Whale, and consequently a more powerful way of viewing others and myself.