Book Review: She Made a Monster
Title: She Made A Monster How Mary Shelly Created Frankenstein
Author: Lynn Felton Illustrator: Felicia Sala
What’s it About?
It’s the year 1816 and Mary Shelly is spending time in a cabin with friends, many of them writers. Over the course of the months the friends spend together, they decide to hold a host story contest. Uninspired, Mary spent nights thinking about what to write, until she finds just the inspiration she needs when she hears two of the men talking about some scientific advancements currently causing a lot of talk. Believing that the men are asking the wrong question and should not be asking if it can be done, but should it be done, she sits down to write a story exploring that very question.
Other Thoughts:
I’ll be honest, one of the reasons this book caught my eye was becuase one of my friends and I have been spending a lot of time talking about horror movies. While we tend to focus more on vampires and mummies, I couldn’t help wondering just how Frankenstein came to be. The truth is, I don’t think I
I know even now, after reading the book.This isn’t becuase the book was unclear or didn’t answer the question, but because it seems that our friend Frankie has changed quite a bit over the years since his origin. But I loved hearing the story of how the original Frankenstein’s monster came to be and am now even more eager to read the book (which I’m ashamed to say, I’ve never read before).
One of the first things I noticed was the dark mood that the entire book had. It wasn’t just the parts about Frankie, but all of it, and I kind of loved it. While the picture above does look creepy, the overall mood of this book is dark it generally shies away from nightmare fuel for the littles. I have to admit, I liked that. It helped to make the book feel fun, and the mood right for the creation of a monster that may have already filtered into the nightmares of young readers.
I also appreciate the idea of pulling back the curtain back and removing the fear. It’s hard to be terrified of something you know isn’t real, something that was created to be scary in order to explore the dangers of scientific advancement in the extreme and intended to make readers think about if we should be doing something just because we can. It’s a question that even Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton explores.
I enjoyed having my own questions answered, “Who would come up with something like this?”. It was hard for me to wrap my mind around the myth of Frankenstien’s monster that I know. The fact that this is all from one posed question from a woman not allowed in the conversation of science, makes the story even more appealing to me.
And, at the end, after this story that can not quite be called non-fiction but was absolutely inspired by real events, there can be found a retelling of the version that Mary Shelly added in a version of the book,the story of Shelly spending time in a cabin with her friends and participating in a ghost
story contest and how she found inspiration for said contest after overhearing a conversation between friends about a scientific advancement.
As you may have noticed, at the time of me writing this review, we are heading into the spooky season. Which, if I’m honest, is another reason I happily delved into this book. At at time when we are surrounded by monsters and nightmares, a time when kids are seeking out that which scares them and the idea of monsters in the closet and under the bed seem at their most real, could there be an even more perfect time to explore the store of how one such monster, one classic monster who has metamorphosed into so many versions over the last one hundred and ten (about) years and explore why these monsters are scary. There’s something about knowing how something was created that makes it a little less scary and, truthfully, aren’t most monsters the exploration of a question circling that which fears us the most?
Ratings:
I give this book a
6
out of
10 ghost stories
But that’s just what I thought. What did you think? Did you think learning about how Frankenstein’s monster was originated was fascinated? Or were you bored with the monster’s birth? Let us know what you thought in the comments.
