This special unabridged, multivoiced production of Mary Shelley’s masterpiece of nineteenth-century Gothic horror is narrated by film and television star Anthony Heald, joined by Grammy winner Stefan Rudnicki and actor Simon Templeman, under the direction of award-winning audio producer Yuri Rasovsky.
Dr. Victor Frankenstein, an ambitious young scientist, is consumed by a fanatic desire to create a living being. He fashions an eight-foot creature and succeeds in animating him but, horrified by his visage, perceives his creation to be a monster and frightens him away. The monster, wandering in search of human companionship, is spurned and repulsed by all he approaches and learns to hate and to kill. He confronts his maker with a terrible choice: unless Frankenstein creates for him a mate, he will go on a rampage of destruction.
A subversive tale about the corrupt tendencies in humanity’s most “civilized” ambitions, this haunting thriller, the original science fiction novel, maintains its hold in the collective imagination centuries after its first publication.
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"This book is a classic, which asks the frequent question of 'nature vs. nurture'. Many people like to blame society for the creature becoming a murderer, however in my opinion the major of the blame goes to Frankenstein himself! Blaming society is the easy way out, it answers the question blankly with an abstract criminal, leaving the punishment for the air and not for the real guilty party. Is Frankenstein cared for the creature, and not ran from him then, his child would have then grown to be nice and happy, this is shown then he looks after the family. Being rejected from them (his only source of love) then turns him into the monster. Frankenstein should have appreciated his creation and not of screamed and ran. This book is powerful and steaming with moral issues! One of my Favourites!"
— Monica (5 out of 5 stars)
“It is a mistake to read Frankenstein as a modern novel of psychological realism…Where Dracula and other conventional Gothic works are fantasies, with clear links to fairly tales and legends, and even popular ballads, Frankenstein has the theoretical and cautionary tone of science fiction.”
— Joyce Carol Oates“The quest of a solitary and ravaged consciousness first for consolation, then for revenge, and finally for a self-destruction that will be apocalyptic, that will bring down the creator with his creature.”
— Harold Bloom“A vibrant rendition of a tragic story.”
— AudioFile“A subtle and ironic prophecy that raises the question of who exactly is the real monster in this story.”
— Jesse Larsen, 500 Great Books by Women" The were many parts I really disliked about this book. There were a couple parts I did like though. The first half was good, but when the monster tells his story to Doctor Frankenstein, everything went downhill. The monsters story was WAY TOO LONG. After that meeting, most of the rest of the book is mere rambling of depressing thoughts with some overly descriptive parts of traveling thrown in. Plus, Mary Shelley turned a genius of a man into a clueless one with absolutely no common sense. I'm being generous to the first half of the book by giving it a two star rating. "
— Mollie, 2/16/2014" I was really looking forward to reading this book for my literature class. however, I was extremely dissapointed with the story and I found the book actually quite irritating at times. "
— Maike, 2/16/2014" Oh, so many themes in this book! Lots of wretchedness too. It made me think about everything from which character deserved the most sympathy to adopting rescue animals. The whining did go on rather a long time, but I wasn't bothered by it. I liked the prose. And I liked finally reading the actual story. Modern mythology does the story much injustice! "
— cartercam, 2/14/2014" Compelling story. Listened to it on CDs while riding my bike. "
— Vickie, 2/5/2014" Just okay but it's so cool that this is the first sci-fi novel. "
— Vanny, 2/3/2014" it was amazing and sure the old english takes a while to get used to but other than that it's an amazing book with a Gothic and gory theme. it will capture you and not make you stop reading until you learn Victor's story and the Creature's story as well. "
— Lissette, 1/26/2014" Another classical that gives you the chance to explore both sides of science and moral. This book is definitely a breakthrough if what you are searching is to understand how far can science go before it's considered unethical. "
— Ana, 1/20/2014" One of the strangest books I've ever read but enjoyable because of that. "
— Kerry, 1/19/2014" Mind twisting in that it is not nearly the ghost story you would expect. Shows you the other side of the story. "
— Christine, 1/16/2014" The book that started the Gothic Horror genre. Movies have yet to do this book justice. "
— Linda, 12/18/2013" I assigned this book to my senior English class so I thought that I'd better read it again. I'm so glad for the assignment and the reread. It's full of great questions and so pertinent in today's push of scientific limits/boundaries. "
— Cherrie, 11/19/2013Mary Shelley (1797–1851), née Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, was born in London, the second daughter of Mary Wollstonecraft, well known feminist, philosopher, educator, and writer, and William Godwin, famous English philosopher, novelist, and journalist. She was best known for her Gothic novel Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus, written when she was eighteen and published when she was twenty-one. She was married to the Romantic writer Percy Bysshe Shelley.
Anthony Heald, an Audie Award–winning narrator, has earned Tony nominations and an Obie Award for his theater work; appeared in television’s Law & Order, The X-Files, Miami Vice, and Boston Public; and starred as Dr. Frederick Chilton in the 1991 Oscar-winning film The Silence of the Lambs. He has also won numerous AudioFile Earphones Awards for his narrations.
Stefan Rudnicki first became involved with audiobooks in 1994. Now a Grammy-winning audiobook producer, he has worked on more than five thousand audiobooks as a narrator, writer, producer, or director. He has narrated more than nine hundred audiobooks. A recipient of multiple AudioFile Earphones Awards, he was presented the coveted Audie Award for solo narration in 2005, 2007, and 2014, and was named one of AudioFile’s Golden Voices in 2012.
Simon Templeman is a British actor who frequently voices vampire characters in video games, most notably Kain from the Legacy of Kain video game series.