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Skankenstein
Sometimes the ugliest monsters come in the prettiest packages...
Victoria Frank is the picture of teen perfection – she’s talented, witty, and ruthless – but being queen of tiny Geneva, NY isn’t enough. Tired of merely designing the perfect outfit, she sets out to design the perfect person. But by the time she realizes beauty is only skin deep, she’s already unleashed her monster on the world. Now it’s a race against time to stop the vile creature from destroying her life, and she has to do it in the most evil place of all – high school.
After ditching her horrifying creation in L.A., all Victoria wants is the perfect senior year, but it becomes impossible when the dreaded beast shows up in her own backyard. Armed with a new body, a new attitude and a new name, M turns the school hierarchy on its head. But when M suffers the embarrassment of a lifetime and sets her sights on revenge, our queen bee finds herself pitted in a cat fight to the death where kid sisters, boyfriends and tiaras are all fair game. It’s a twist on Frankenstein unlike any before, with an ending so explosive it’ll leave your bowels quaking.
Victoria Frank is the picture of teen perfection – she’s talented, witty, and ruthless – but being queen of tiny Geneva, NY isn’t enough. Tired of merely designing the perfect outfit, she sets out to design the perfect person. But by the time she realizes beauty is only skin deep, she’s already unleashed her monster on the world. Now it’s a race against time to stop the vile creature from destroying her life, and she has to do it in the most evil place of all – high school.
After ditching her horrifying creation in L.A., all Victoria wants is the perfect senior year, but it becomes impossible when the dreaded beast shows up in her own backyard. Armed with a new body, a new attitude and a new name, M turns the school hierarchy on its head. But when M suffers the embarrassment of a lifetime and sets her sights on revenge, our queen bee finds herself pitted in a cat fight to the death where kid sisters, boyfriends and tiaras are all fair game. It’s a twist on Frankenstein unlike any before, with an ending so explosive it’ll leave your bowels quaking.
- GenresFantasy
228 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 11, 2011
88 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
March 15, 2013
An original story line as told by a spectator, Mary Walton. Mary met a strange girl sharing her dormitory at the start of college. On further questioning, her new room mate, Victoria Frank shares her strange story.
While the characters lack a three dimensional approach, the story is the main selling point. It is interesting and makes you question a lot of things. I should guess that the moral of the story is do not help anyone willy-nilly, and make sure that you do not have a hidden agenda while doing so.
The story is quick to read and aimed at young readers, although I did get a kick out of reading the end bit and was disappointed that it ended a little soon.
While the characters lack a three dimensional approach, the story is the main selling point. It is interesting and makes you question a lot of things. I should guess that the moral of the story is do not help anyone willy-nilly, and make sure that you do not have a hidden agenda while doing so.
The story is quick to read and aimed at young readers, although I did get a kick out of reading the end bit and was disappointed that it ended a little soon.
May 17, 2013
Skankenstein by David Fumarola and Katie Reiter is an expertly restitched adaptation of Frankenstein. This was one that I literally could not put down until I'd reached the conclusion, which exceeded my expectations.
I still recall reading Frankenstein in high school English class, and what I found most interesting about this retelling was that it managed to maintain the structure of Mary Shelly's novel while still being packed full of contemporary humor and wit. All of the basic plot points are present, but Shelly's novel has been given a Mean Girls style makeover. Instead of an aged and weathered Victor Frankenstein telling his tale to the ship captain Walton, Skankenstein has a college-aged Victoria telling the story of her high school hell to her new roommate, Mary Walton. The gender roles are practically universally switched.
There doesn't seem to be any topic that makes these writers uncomfortable. Eating disorders, plastic surgery, date rape, hate crimes and even murder are all tackled in the relatively short novel. However, even though the humor is often borderline offensive, the protagonist still shows a tremendous amount of growth throughout the novel. Of course, a lot of it is comical, but heavier emotions are tackled when the plot requires it.
I feel the need to give a special shout out to whomever edited the book, whether it was the authors themselves or a third party. Other than some formatting issues, the text is presented at a professional level.
I hope to read more from these authors in the future. If you like easy reads that will both shock and amuse you, you should definitely check out this book. Being familiar with Frankenstein definitely enhances the reading experience, but Skankenstein stands on its own as a darkly humorous commentary on the obsession with beauty and perfection in the modern world.
I still recall reading Frankenstein in high school English class, and what I found most interesting about this retelling was that it managed to maintain the structure of Mary Shelly's novel while still being packed full of contemporary humor and wit. All of the basic plot points are present, but Shelly's novel has been given a Mean Girls style makeover. Instead of an aged and weathered Victor Frankenstein telling his tale to the ship captain Walton, Skankenstein has a college-aged Victoria telling the story of her high school hell to her new roommate, Mary Walton. The gender roles are practically universally switched.
There doesn't seem to be any topic that makes these writers uncomfortable. Eating disorders, plastic surgery, date rape, hate crimes and even murder are all tackled in the relatively short novel. However, even though the humor is often borderline offensive, the protagonist still shows a tremendous amount of growth throughout the novel. Of course, a lot of it is comical, but heavier emotions are tackled when the plot requires it.
I feel the need to give a special shout out to whomever edited the book, whether it was the authors themselves or a third party. Other than some formatting issues, the text is presented at a professional level.
I hope to read more from these authors in the future. If you like easy reads that will both shock and amuse you, you should definitely check out this book. Being familiar with Frankenstein definitely enhances the reading experience, but Skankenstein stands on its own as a darkly humorous commentary on the obsession with beauty and perfection in the modern world.
July 20, 2014
... most everyone knows the story of Mary Shelley's *Frankenstein*, that of a scientist (Victor Frankenstein) who tries to create life but instead only creates a monster.
In this YA version of the story, the main character is Victoria Frank, the most popular girl at Geneva High School. She's self-centered, into fashion and creating it, won homecoming queen her junior year, and can be very manipulative if she wants to be. Between her junior and senior years, she flies to LA to fashion camp, where she's a small fish, and she sets out to find a way to prove she's better than anyone else. And it hits her when she sees a poor girl working in the design institute's cafeteria, one who has been badly damaged by a fire: she can remake this girl into living fashion! Of course, Victoria created a monster with a beautiful facade, a poor deluded soul, who only wants revenge on Victoria for abandoning her. ... and of course, gets it, in horrific ways.
The story is chilling, somewhat scary, and could actually possibly happen! It's a well-written, quick read.
The authors did a great job of staying true to the original intent of Shelley's story, as well as throwing in items that allude to her life (for example, she and her family lived in Geneva, Switzerland, for a time) and the story itself (Victoria tells her story to her college roommate Mary Walton; Walton is the name of the character who tells the story of Dr. Frankenstein, and Mary is the original author's first name).
Why only four stars? Because I had a hard time really caring for Victoria (and the other characters, for that matter, since they are shown through Victoria's first person point of view). I mostly want to smack her (mainly because in HS, I was one of the decidedly NOT cool kids). The authors also didn't answer a few questions that I wondered about, like what did Victoria end up doing for her fashion camp final since she abandoned the girl and went back to Geneva, NY?
However, it did make me think about who or what are really monsters....and if they can ever be stopped.
Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
In this YA version of the story, the main character is Victoria Frank, the most popular girl at Geneva High School. She's self-centered, into fashion and creating it, won homecoming queen her junior year, and can be very manipulative if she wants to be. Between her junior and senior years, she flies to LA to fashion camp, where she's a small fish, and she sets out to find a way to prove she's better than anyone else. And it hits her when she sees a poor girl working in the design institute's cafeteria, one who has been badly damaged by a fire: she can remake this girl into living fashion! Of course, Victoria created a monster with a beautiful facade, a poor deluded soul, who only wants revenge on Victoria for abandoning her. ... and of course, gets it, in horrific ways.
The story is chilling, somewhat scary, and could actually possibly happen! It's a well-written, quick read.
The authors did a great job of staying true to the original intent of Shelley's story, as well as throwing in items that allude to her life (for example, she and her family lived in Geneva, Switzerland, for a time) and the story itself (Victoria tells her story to her college roommate Mary Walton; Walton is the name of the character who tells the story of Dr. Frankenstein, and Mary is the original author's first name).
Why only four stars? Because I had a hard time really caring for Victoria (and the other characters, for that matter, since they are shown through Victoria's first person point of view). I mostly want to smack her (mainly because in HS, I was one of the decidedly NOT cool kids). The authors also didn't answer a few questions that I wondered about, like what did Victoria end up doing for her fashion camp final since she abandoned the girl and went back to Geneva, NY?
However, it did make me think about who or what are really monsters....and if they can ever be stopped.
Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
June 8, 2013
This story begins with Mary, a freshman starting her college experience with a very despondent roommate Victoria. As Mary tries to get to know Victoria, to open her up and learn her story Mary discovers that Victoria has a secret, a secret about why she is there. A secret about a monster that Victoria created a year early. A monster she followed to college to take care of once and for all.
Oh my goodness I don't even know where to begin with this review, the thoughts I had as Victoria and M's tale unfolded were a mixture of a lot of things. I didn't like Victoria nor did I ever feel sorry for her. I felt sorry for those that suffered by the hand of M but never for Victoria herself. She was a hard person to like even towards the end when one should have felt something for her, sorrow, pity, something. And M, well she really was a monster in all rights. A very sorry broken girl that was very much a lone and confused and demented.
This was a true horror story. Not in the sense of blood and guts and gore but in the sense of disturbing and chilling and down right believable. People really do snap and monsters really are created, whether from love or from boredom or from hate.
The authors did a wonderful job weaving a tale of mental illness, selfishness, lust, envy, hate and revenge. The ending fit perfectly with the whole theme of the story and left me feeling horrified and slightly mystified. I am still not sure what to feel or think about the whole thing other than it truly had to have been a tale inspired from the ultimate monster himself, Dr. Frankenstein.
Oh my goodness I don't even know where to begin with this review, the thoughts I had as Victoria and M's tale unfolded were a mixture of a lot of things. I didn't like Victoria nor did I ever feel sorry for her. I felt sorry for those that suffered by the hand of M but never for Victoria herself. She was a hard person to like even towards the end when one should have felt something for her, sorrow, pity, something. And M, well she really was a monster in all rights. A very sorry broken girl that was very much a lone and confused and demented.
This was a true horror story. Not in the sense of blood and guts and gore but in the sense of disturbing and chilling and down right believable. People really do snap and monsters really are created, whether from love or from boredom or from hate.
The authors did a wonderful job weaving a tale of mental illness, selfishness, lust, envy, hate and revenge. The ending fit perfectly with the whole theme of the story and left me feeling horrified and slightly mystified. I am still not sure what to feel or think about the whole thing other than it truly had to have been a tale inspired from the ultimate monster himself, Dr. Frankenstein.
November 10, 2013
Skankenstein took me by surprise. When I read the synopsis, I wasn't quite sure what I was getting myself into. It was an interesting twist on the old tale of Frankenstein.
Overall, I couldn't quite get into this novel. I think, for me, I wasn't enjoying the main character. If I don't really care for the main character, I just can't really get invested into the story.
Now, saying that, I have to take a step back and think of the story itself. It was a great plot... There's no mistaking that really. It had great up and downs. The writing style and language used by the author was good. The novel had a really good flow to it for the most part. I did get a tiny bit bored every now and again but it passed quickly. The characters (beside my personal preference) were actually pretty good. I have to give it to the authors because the main character's growth throughout the novel was great.
I think others would definitely enjoy this novel more than I did.
Overall, I couldn't quite get into this novel. I think, for me, I wasn't enjoying the main character. If I don't really care for the main character, I just can't really get invested into the story.
Now, saying that, I have to take a step back and think of the story itself. It was a great plot... There's no mistaking that really. It had great up and downs. The writing style and language used by the author was good. The novel had a really good flow to it for the most part. I did get a tiny bit bored every now and again but it passed quickly. The characters (beside my personal preference) were actually pretty good. I have to give it to the authors because the main character's growth throughout the novel was great.
I think others would definitely enjoy this novel more than I did.
August 7, 2013
I found this book to be very unique twist on an often overdone story.
It was nothing of what I had originally expected. First let me say I am completely guilty of judging the book by the cover. I had half expected, a humorous tale of Franken-Barbie mistake gone mad. I was so far off and I am so glad. I found a heartfelt emotional story that drew me in and did not let go. I read this book in one night. I laughed, was grossed out and cried.
I was so pleasantly surprised at how well the story flowed and made you really take a good look at the world you live in to see who the real 'monster' is.
I highly recommend this book anyone who is open to a fresh take on an old classic.
It was nothing of what I had originally expected. First let me say I am completely guilty of judging the book by the cover. I had half expected, a humorous tale of Franken-Barbie mistake gone mad. I was so far off and I am so glad. I found a heartfelt emotional story that drew me in and did not let go. I read this book in one night. I laughed, was grossed out and cried.
I was so pleasantly surprised at how well the story flowed and made you really take a good look at the world you live in to see who the real 'monster' is.
I highly recommend this book anyone who is open to a fresh take on an old classic.
May 23, 2013
A smart twist on the classic tale, you follow young Victoria Frank as she creates and abandons her monster. What was her summer vacation project turns into a sheer nightmare. She's found and Victoria is stuck in the crossfire of the carnage to ensue. All leading up to its explosive ending. Skankenstein is not to disappoint.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews