Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Annotated and Illustrated: The Uncensored 1818 Text with Maps, Essays, and Analysis (Oldstyle Tales' Gothic Novels)

Completely annotated and provided with maps, essays, and chilling illustrations, this unique edition of Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" answers some of readers' most lingering questions, clarifies historical references, and probes into the sensitive biographical nature of Mary Shelley's landmark novel. One of the most influential masterpieces of horror in the English language, "Frankenstein" straddles science fiction, horror, romance, the weird tale, and the literary allegory. Aside from the monomaniacal student of dark arts, the pensive bride throttled in her uncreased wedding bed, and the dramatic landscapes of Arctic ice fields and alpine vistas, Frankenstein is the story of poor stewardship, failed fatherhood, lost innocence, painful alienation, social rejection, the entangled relationship between adoring love and septic hatred, and the unfairness of a world which evicts a warm, gentle, curious, and eager spirit based on the casing of its skin. It raises relevant questions of technology, scientific responsibility, racism, sexism, community, environmentalism, progressivism, tolerance, diversity, love, and social responsibility, all wrapped in a psychologically complex, chilling narrative of grave robbing, playing god, murder, necrophilia, sublimated sexuality, and existential horror.

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Published Jan 4, 2017

240 pages

Average rating: 7.64

912 RATINGS

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Community Reviews

jeabot
May 30, 2024
6/10 stars
Not the story I expected

I had no idea the tragedy that befell Frankenstein after he created his monster. Why did he marry when he had been warned? Senseless tragedy. I know it's a classic but it was not to my taste.
wendyhale
Nov 01, 2025
10/10 stars
I read this in high school but is definitely one to revisit. Mary Shelley’s description of the beast makes you love him and fear him at the same time
Ibekimbo
Oct 21, 2025
🌩️ It’s absolutely sublime!!! I fell completely in love with this book — the writing, the emotion, the ache of grief and loneliness. It’s so beautifully written that I found myself pausing just to absorb certain lines, annotating every few pages, and even googling new words because I didn’t want to miss a thing. I cried more than once, especially for the creature — he broke my heart in the most human way. The way Mary Shelley explores isolation and longing is just so haunting and poetic. This may honestly be my favorite book. It captivated me from the very first page and stayed with me long after I closed it. Now I can’t wait to dive into The Sorrows of Young Werther next — it feels like the perfect follow-up to this wave of emotion.
Jo Mama
Oct 20, 2025
8/10 stars
I listened to this as an audiobook and really enjoyed it! I thought the old world language would make it harder, but I think it was easier to understand hearing it rather than reading it.
JJM
Oct 19, 2025
8/10 stars
Host: McAfees I enjoyed this book. Much more poetic than I thought it would be and does not really align with the pop culture notion of who Frankenstien is today.

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