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May 09, 2019Brontina66 rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
I am always interested in books that tell traditional stories from the point of view of the women. In this case, the narrator is Elizabeth Lavenza, the adoptive sister and then wife of Victor Frankenstein. The story has a fast pace and brings you from Switzerland to German to other places in Europe. Elizabeth is in a way chasing and protecting Victor, because that is the only way she can survive, orphan and poor as she is. We read about her loving relationship with Justine and about her misjudgment of Victor himself. The end is - in my opinion - satisfying, but I will not say more because I don't want to spoil the story. Written in first person narration, the book throws light on a character all too often forgotten or considered unimportant. Mary Shelley does not apparently devote much attention to her, but that might be her way of criticizing the Victorian upbringing of women. Mary was a true disciple of her mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, and believed that - in order to be real companions to men - women had to be educated like them. Elizabeth is allowed a limited education and in the end she is unable not only to save Victor, but to save herself. Had she been allowed to be independent and able to understand Victor and his scientific dreams, things might have gone differently. In this book, they actually do.