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Gothic
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 11, 2025
2.5, rounded up.
This is the third and final volume in my mini-deep dive into novels depicting the circumstances surrounding Mary Shelley's composition of her masterpiece, Frankenstein. A novelization by the screenwriter, of Ken Russell's 1986 film of the same name, which is perhaps the most interesting of the four films I have seen on the subject - it is unfortunately the worst of the written versions. The prose is overly rococo, and it is often hard to follow when it isn't being just a tad boring. It's been long OOP, and was rather expensive on the secondary market, and I probably shouldn't have bothered.
On to a reread of the Shelley novel itself, after having seen del Toro's new film a week ago.
This is the third and final volume in my mini-deep dive into novels depicting the circumstances surrounding Mary Shelley's composition of her masterpiece, Frankenstein. A novelization by the screenwriter, of Ken Russell's 1986 film of the same name, which is perhaps the most interesting of the four films I have seen on the subject - it is unfortunately the worst of the written versions. The prose is overly rococo, and it is often hard to follow when it isn't being just a tad boring. It's been long OOP, and was rather expensive on the secondary market, and I probably shouldn't have bothered.
On to a reread of the Shelley novel itself, after having seen del Toro's new film a week ago.
July 25, 2017
Wow! Quite stunning. I had seen the Ken Russell movie version many times and thought I know what to expect.I was wrong. The novel is amazing. It pretty much follows the film exactly and is just as unrelenting and cruel as the movie, if not even more visceral. Sadly, the book is out of print but it is fairly easy to procure a very cheap used paperback copy. I decided I needed to read the novel version after reading a collection of short stories by Stephen Volk. He is a great writer and a superb prose stylist, which for me is essential in a novelist. If you love gothic fiction, I highly recommend you pick this jewel up.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews