• 1001 BYMRBYD Challenge
  • About Zee
  • Book Challenges 2010
  • Rory Gilmore Reading List
  • Zee’s Book Reviews

Wordly Obsessions

~ … the occasional ramblings of a book addict …

Wordly Obsessions

Tag Archives: Lord Byron

The Casebook of Victor Frankenstein by Peter Ackroyd

19 Friday Nov 2010

Posted by mywordlyobsessions in Book Review

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

book review, frankenstein, london, Lord Byron, mary shelley, percy bysshe shelley, peter ackroyd, Romanticism


Ackroyd being the expert on London and the Romantics, is in his perfect element here, as he winds through the delicate passages of Shelleyan research that he has impeccably dissected and rearranged in order to form his own grotesque monster-myth. Frankenstein has always been a firm favourite of mine, and I was a little doubtful as to whether I should read Ackroyd’s fictionalised version of events. To be honest, I was a little scared that I might be disappointed in discovering yet another clumsy rehash of the classic story – but I was wrong. Ackroyd’s fine-tuning of the essays and academic findings regarding Mary Shelley‘s modern classics shows his attention to detail. A turn of phrase, a meaningful allusion placed in the right moment adds a well-structured depth to the simple story of the man who deigned to be the modern Prometheus.

The Casebook of Victor Frankenstein

The special thing about the book is that it’s both highly readable for the average reader, yet shows it’s academic foundations very clearly to those who know a bit about the prose and poetry of the era, especially of Byron, the Shelleys, Polidori and Godwin. The scenes of 19th Century London were also vividly brought to life. There were moments were I could almost smell the filth of the city. I also enjoyed the description of the grave-robbers, which were a reailty back in the 1800’s.

I derived more pleasure spotting the moments where Ackroyd used his historical sources (even going as far as guessing down to the essay/works it was derived from) to support his dynamic storyline. The only weakness I can speak of that truly hampered the plot, is the weakness of the creature (though his confrontation with Victor was a watered down version of the one in the book) and the ending itself. Not to spoil the book for anyone, in case they should decide to read it, I will only say this much; it was a bit of a cheap trick Ackroyd… I’m sure you could have done much better than that.

So far I have read one other novel by Ackroyd, and that is ‘The Lambs of London‘. I can honestly say that ‘The Casebook of Frankenstein’ is by far his better novel.

I give this 3/5 stars.

Related articles
  • New Flavors of Frankenstein (sorcerersskull.blogspot.com)
  • Frankenstein: the Birth of a Monster (thesoftanonymous.com)
  • Friday’s Essay – Victor Frankenstein is an Annoying, Whiny Baby (lauramcnaughton.wordpress.com)
  • Books Worth Buying: Frankenstein by Nick Dear (based on the novel by Mary Shelley) (tarasphere.wordpress.com)
  • Frankenstein Was Not A Monster (rhymenreview.wordpress.com)
  • A YA Frankenstein Tale That’s, Well, Broken (crunchingsandmunchings.wordpress.com)
  • Halloween Special: Mad Scientist Showdown (slstacy.wordpress.com)
  • 5 Names for Frankenstein’s Monster (rarasaur.wordpress.com)

Share this:

  • Email
  • Print
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Reddit
  • Pocket
  • More
  • Tumblr
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn

Like this:

Like Loading...

RSS Links

RSS Feed RSS - Posts

RSS Feed RSS - Comments

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 636 other followers

Blog Stats

  • 358,085 hits

My Visitors

free counters

Recent Posts

Top Posts

  • Book Review | 'The Velveteen Rabbit' by Margery Williams
  • Sylvia Plath | 'Mary's Song'
  • Book Review | 'The Color Purple' by Alice Walker
  • Hymn to Isis | (3rd-4th Century)
  • Memorable Quote | 'Fahrenheit 451' by Ray Bradbury
  • Book Review | 'Surfacing' - Margaret Atwood
  • Book Review | 'The Electric Church' - Jeff Somers
  • Cambridge University Reading Test
  • 'The Lovely Bones' by Alice Sebold
  • Book Review | 'Almost Transparent Blue' by Ryu Murakami

The best of the best of the best…

Bookish tweets

  • @EliseStefanik I don't really know who you are... But you look a bit foreign. Where are you from? 2 days ago
  • @neilhimself Another reason to love this film! 1 month ago
  • RT @MrCrawfordEng: What do you think are the biggest misconceptions in Romeo and Juliet? 1 month ago
  • 3 of 5 stars to The Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King goodreads.com/review/show/46… 1 month ago
  • @ChuckWendig Ectopic pregnancy? Isn't that where the egg is fertilised outside the uterus? Like, in the fallopian t… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… 2 months ago
Follow @WordlyObsession

Pinning stuff on boards is fun!

Follow Me on Pinterest

What’s on the Shelf?

Reading Wishlist!!

WP Book Bloggers List

For finding things…

50 books a year 1001 book list angela carter audiobook Benjamin Lebert book challenge book review books che guevara childrens fiction chinua achebe comic books crazy Dr. Gonzo dystopian edgar allan poe fantasy fear and loathing Fiction frankenstein goodreads gothic fiction Grapes of Wrath gustave flaubert Haruki Murakami hubert selby jr humour hunter s thompson ian fleming Indian literature Its monday what are you reading? japan japanese japanese horror story jm coetzee John Steinbeck Jorge Luis Borges kazuo ishiguro kurt vonnegut l. frank baum literary fiction literature liz jensen love story meme midnights children oscar wilde Paul Auster peter ackroyd poetry readalong religion roberto bolano Robert Rankin romance rory gilmore reading list rum diary ryu murakami salman rushdie science fiction short story stephen king sylvia plath teaser tuesday the motorcycle diaries the rapture Tokyo toni morrison Top Ten Tuesday United States ursula le guin virginia woolf war wondrous words wednesday writing

Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com.

  • Follow Following
    • Wordly Obsessions
    • Join 636 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Wordly Obsessions
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.
%d bloggers like this: