So, my new aspect to my d-land site is to give at least one book review every two weeks or so (as that is the time period for each book in my class). So, first off, this is what will be coming up:
Week 1/2 : Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein"
Week 3/4: Charles Dickens' "Oliver Twist"
Week 6/7: George Eliot's "Adam Bede"
Week 8/9: Rider Haggard's "She"
Week 10/11: Thomas Hardy's "Tess of The D'Urbervilles"
Week 13/14: Oscar Wilde's "The Picture of Dorian Gray"
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So, let's start right away shall we?
I won't make this some boring attribute to the author and her clever writing, I am going to examine parts of the book that I find interesting and perhaps use certain criteria to compare and contrast things in today's world. It should be rather interesting I think.
First off, I am not even half way through the book yet and I find myself immediately appalled with one of its primary characters: Victor Frankenstein. I feel that at one point in my life I have known one or two people like him. He is so overly concerned with his own grief that he practically cares nothing for the suffering of those around him, which often times he has been the cause of!
And what of this selfish man who always sees everything in bitterness and despair? How is it possible for someone to be so...what's the word? Entirely consumed with theirself? It's annoying. In his life, he has many people who care and love him and he does nothing but bid them all to suffer from the creature he has created, while in the action of playing God. Mary Shelley herself wrote in the introduction: "Frightful must it be; for supremely frightful would be the effect of any human endeavour to mock the stupendous mechanism of the Creator of the world. His success would terrify the artist..."
I recently read an entry of my friend's (http://rojo2jojo.diaryland.com) and she was instantly talking about her faith and how she felt...lost in a sense. I think that this book is a searing reflection of an atheistic view of the world. And my professor, who is absolutely astounding, was reading out of a book which was mentioned in the book as being read by the creature...it was written and published by Percival Shelley (Mary Shelley's husband/lover) who is undoubtedly and Angry Atheist. I have never had a strong sense of my faith, I've always wanted to believe in God and I have always wanted to open my heart to His love, but after hearing some of the things that were written in this book I thought about what it would be like to be without any faith or religion.
I am going to continue looking into these ideas; I want to be informed, not necessarily persuaded on any given topic, but I want to know what others think, what others feel and believe. Maybe then I will be able to truly understand what it is I think, feel and believe.
Well, I must be off, I have more reading to do tonight, but please feel free to comment and I would highly recommend that everyone read Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein," if not for the pure literature than for the reasoning and meaning behind it!
Goodnight everyone!
*Always.
Caitlin
Sometimes those most worthy of love are not made happy by it. ~Dangeous Liaisons
It is on the strength of observation that one finds a way; so we must dig and delve unceasingly. ~Claude Monet 1840-1926