Just finished

Frankenstein
by Mary Shelley

Fabulous! Not the book I had expected. The story, it seems, has morphed into something one-dimensional for Hollywood. This is the version I thought I would be reading; how an unfeeling monster is created and goes on a terror spree.

By the way, Frankenstein is the name of the scientist, not the Being. The Being doesn't have a name throughout the story. Although the Being is repulsive to look at, he doesn't lurch around like Boris Karloff's rendition. He has, in fact, superhuman speed, is wily, observant, articulate and intellectually developed.

The story of Victor Frankenstein starts in a series of letters penned by Walton, an English explorer icebound in the Arctic. While studying in Geneva, Frankenstein discovers how to give life to inanimate matter and from dead flesh constructs his Being. As the Being's mind and thoughts and mind develop, his loneliness and misery build and he acts out in deadly violence. After the Being's last murder, he flees to the North Pole with Frankenstein following to destroy him to stop the violence and his guilt. Once there, Frankenstein meets Walton, who saves him from drowning in the frigid waters, and confesses the horror that has drawn him into the Arctic.

The story was created in the early 1800s so some of the English may be a bit "Shakespearean" but it is not that difficult a read. I highly recommend it!