Listening to the Silence

Victor Frankenstein has lived a charmed life. When he leaves behind Geneva for the colleges of Ingolstodt and his study of the natural sciences he is excited and gifted. Before three years are out he has surpassed all his teachers have to teach him and endeavors to discover the secret of life. To this end he creates for himself a man, cobbled together from the bits and pieces of cadavers. Yet his great success will also prove to be his demise.
An epistolary novel, we learn this story as Frankenstein tells it to Robert Walton, a ship's captain on a voyage of discovery as Walton records it in letters to be sent back to England for his sister. I was pleasantly surprised by this novel. Normally Gothic novels and horror don't work for me, but in this case, I found it quite enjoyable. I do think that it suffers a bit from the fact that everyone already knows this story. If I had been reading it for the first time shortly after publication I think I would have enjoyed it more. I am not disappointed that I finally read this book and will definitely explore more by Mary Shelley.