I listened to this classic, gothic tale on Audiobook (tip - it’s free on iBooks!) and was very much surprised and slightly bewildered to learn that Frankenstein is not so much about the monster, but more about the man who created him and his many sorrows as a result of that.

So has Hollywood has been lying to us all this time?
Well, that’s at least how it looks.
Unfortunately, popular culture has put so much emphasis on the monster himself, and his dramatic creation, (think thunder, lightning, screaming etc, all of which is absent in the book) that the real story is lost.
It isn’t about about the creation of a monster at all.
At least, not wholly, not in its essence.

Frankenstein is a well constructed, thought provoking tale of woe and lament. It is utterly heartbreaking too, with death looming over the creator, Victor Frankenstein’s, life as a constant shadow and torturous companion, much like the “wretch” he creates.

The story follows Victor as he grows up into a curious, clever and accomplished, if very arrogant, young man, willing to test the boundaries of science further than any man.
However, as the story unfolds, we see him cast not into glory and fame from scientific success, but instead into misery and despair from having created such a foul being as he has.
Victor ebbs in and out of crippling anxiousness, mania, grief and helplessness continuously, following the fateful night he creates the “wretch”.
Ever trying to rid himself of the agony that he is in, Frankenstein tries all that he can, in wild desperation, to overcome the demon in some way, while continuously at the mercy of an unrelenting foe.

The windows Shelley creates into Victor’s life and losses make for an immersive read, and you will finish it feeling as if his sorrow is indeed your own.