Status Updates From Mary Shelley: Romance and R...

there are so many people and sidebars and tangents and i don’t know every single person involved in European 1830s literati

to be clear, this book is well researched. unfortch, it is not convincingly argued - it often feels like Sunstein is picking such small quotes that they could mean anything in any context. also, Sunstein clearly likes Mary Shelley too much and is getting real delulu with it.

“Mary deluded herself, some say, about the gratifications of her union with [Shelley], but these skeptics misunderstand...”

this is the perfect quote to describe how I feel about this book. even from the biased picture being painted, Mary Godwin Shelley seems ABSOLUTELY DELULU over her dipshit philandering husband & Sunstein has no claim on being a Mary Shelley savant, the Only Person to Understand Her

“…a dialectic that still continues between equality and ‘difference’ feminists.”

wHaT dOeS tHaT mEaN?!

I'm torn. Part of me is finding Shelley's life fascinating, especially given how much happened to her at such a young age (and she hasn't started writing Frankenstein yet). But part of me is frustrated at the presentation of her story. It's not just dry; it has an overly academic feel to it, where it seems as if the author is using words and phrases simply to sound erudite.

My sophomores are just starting Frankenstein, so I thought it was a good time to check this out. Having just read the introduction, I worry that this might be a dry read, but we shall see...

Interesting to note the changes in Mary as she grows older. In her 30s she chooses to make the best of what she has rather than fight so much against life. I can relate!

I pretty much can't abide how Mary's father treats her and still uses her lover's (Percy Bysse Shelley) money to pay his debts.

Checking in on Ms. Shelley tonight. Apparently she wrote tales for her father, William Godwin's, publishing company.