Frankenstein

Written by Mary Shelley

Narrated by George Guidall

On the deck of his ice-imprisoned ship, explorer Robert Walton watches from a great distance as an enormous apparition travels with much haste across the frozen shore. The next day, Walton fishes from the sea a melancholy scientist named Frankenstein, who shares with Walton the horrifying account of his life and of the "hideous progeny" he set loose upon the world. Frankenstein was written while 19-year-old Mary Shelley vacationed in Geneva with poets Percy Bysshe Shelley and Lord Byron. An incessantly rainy summer prompted Byron to challenge the members of the party to write a tale of the supernatural. While listening to a discussion concerning the theory of electrical reanimation, Mary Shelley was struck, almost to terror, with the idea for Frankenstein: "The idea so possessed my mind that a thrill of fear ran through me, and I wished to exchange the ghastly image of my fancy for the realities around ." A universal classic, Mary Shelley's romantic tale of an ambitious doctor who places himself in the dangerous role of God was first published anonymously in 1818. Master narrator George Guidall skillfully brings to life the doctor and his unhappy creation.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
• Release date: Dec 16, 1999
• ISBN: 9781449800734

Mary Shelley

Mary Shelley (1797-1851) was an English novelist. Born the daughter of William Godwin, a novelist and anarchist philosopher, and Mary Wollstonecraft, a political philosopher and pioneering feminist, Shelley was raised and educated by Godwin following the death of Wollstonecraft shortly after her birth. In 1814, she began her relationship with Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, whom she would later marry following the death of his first wife, Harriet. In 1816, the Shelleys, joined by Mary’s stepsister Claire Clairmont, physician and writer John William Polidori, and poet Lord Byron, vacationed at the Villa Diodati near Geneva, Switzerland. They spent the unusually rainy summer writing and sharing stories and poems, and the event is now seen as a landmark moment in Romanticism. During their stay, Shelley composed her novel Frankenstein (1818), Byron continued his work on Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage (1812-1818), and Polidori wrote “The Vampyre” (1819), now recognized as the first modern vampire story to be published in English. In 1818, the Shelleys traveled to Italy, where their two young children died and Mary gave birth to Percy Florence Shelley, the only one of her children to survive into adulthood. Following Percy Bysshe Shelley’s drowning death in 1822, Mary returned to England to raise her son and establish herself as a professional writer. Over the next several decades, she wrote the historical novel Valperga (1923), the dystopian novel The Last Man (1826), and numerous other works of fiction and nonfiction. Recognized as one of the core figures of English Romanticism, Shelley is remembered as a woman whose tragic life and determined individualism enabled her to produce essential works of literature which continue to inform, shape, and inspire the horror and science fiction genres to this day.

Reviews for Frankenstein

[Jordan Paree · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

What makes this book as great as it is is its atmosphere, subtlety, and imagination. Mary Shelley was truly ahead of her time, and should continue being celebrated among the truly great authors of all time, let alone female authors.

[inezeaton · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Mary Shelley, literary pioneer. RIP you brilliant creation. A must-read!

[alistairhood03 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

First time reading (listening). The book is a classic for a reason! Fantastic language and thoughtful narrative.
Very well read!

[Ken Clary Jr. · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The audio narration was great. It deserved a 5 for that reason.

[navi_ad · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

As many do, I only knew about Dr. Frankenstein and his monster from popular, contemporary depictions. None of that is in here. What is here is a dark tale of the pursuit for companionship and acceptance. It struck me as remarkably relevant to our days as a social commentary. Beautifully written, this chilling, at times heartwrenching classic proved to be far more intriguing and profound than I anticipated.

[Jesse Lang · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A surprisingly bad plot with verbose and redundant prose. This whole novel could have been half as long