Two Words, One Answer.
Frankenstein
 Dean Koontz's Frankenstein: Dead and Alive: A Novel $9.99 If, like me, you've been waiting years for this final sequel, you're in for a shock. Not only is there no prologue to get you up to date, you are required to rely on your memory from when you read the last two books: Dean Koontz's Frankenstein: Prodigal Son: A Novel, Dean Koontz's Frankenstein: City of Night: A Novel. In my case, that was four years ago. As others have stated, the book literally takes off where the second book ended, so no time has transpired. This flies in the face of Koontz's website posting that because of Hurricane Katrina, he had to rethink the book's location now that New Orleans had been decimated. At the time this didn't make any sense as the book takes place before Katrina, so I chalked it up to lack of interest on the author's part. The other problem with the book is the poor writing and the even poorer editing. This is a recurring theme with best-selling authors whereas editors simply rubber stamp their work and only look for obvious grammatical errors. Dead and Alive didn't even get that minimal treatment. Sentences ended with prepositions, ran on so long you had to re-read them twice, or nouns didn't match verbs. Even the characters seemed different from the previous two novels. Having stated publicly that Koontz doesn't play well with others, he tackled this third novel without the help of a secondary writer. The first two were written by him and one other person. How much of that other person's writing was exorcised by Koontz in place of his own will forever remain under any NDAs. Normally I like to lend my friends any good books I've read, but this one is so bad I was tempted to throw it out. On a lark, I lent it to a friend who had read the previous novels just to get his opinion. He was very displeased and thought I was cruel for making him suffer for three nights while he stumbled through it. The book is a stinker and Koontz obviously did it for the money. That, or he hired some intern who also signed an NDA just so people like me would stop pestering him at his website about when the final book would be ready. Now I wish he'd never written it. It's quite possibly the worst novel I've read in my life, and that's saying something about its quality. Don't buy this book and reward the author with your hard-earned money. They only see the light when it hits them in the wallet.  Frankenstein (Norton Critical Editions) $8.00 I have a fetish for classic novels and have read just about everything from Pride and Prejudice to The Three Musketeers to Brom Stoker's Dracula, so naturally when I found a copy of Frankenstein at Barnes and Noble I bought it and was not disapointed. Written in that wonderfully poetic and intelectual style of the old masters of liturature it is a tale of Ambition, forbidden practices, horror, madness, anguish, and retribution. If you are the kind of person who expects a classic horror film type story full of gore and violence then you will be in for a disapointment. The real focus of the story is within the mind of good Doctor Frankenstien himself (who was actually quite young) and the monster he created. Also, if you only like happy endings, this book is not for you. If not, this is a great book only dampened by the fact that it is not longer. Fans of Dracula will love this story and thank God for the 'Little Ice Age' that brought this book into being.  Frankenstein (Penguin Classics) $8.00 Although I've never seen any of the Frankenstein movies, I was pretty sure that just growing up in the United States I had a pretty firm cultural grasp on the Frankenstein story. It turns out I was completely wrong; this story was very surprising to me! Victor Frankenstein, a scientist, always wanted to make a mark on the world. When he was given the opportunity to do some research and experiments on his own, he applied some information he'd read in some books and reanimated a corpse. Or, possibly, a collection of corpses sewn together. Frankenstein is never completely forthcoming on how his monster came to be. Once the reanimation is successful, though, Frankenstein finds himself confronted with a huge, ugly, fully alive monster. While Frankenstein has a nervous breakdown and is ill for months, the monster is set loose on the world. By the time Frankenstein recovers and tracks down his monster, the monster has developed a startling self-awareness. He hates himself and his creator, and demands that Frankenstein somehow make things right. Frankenstein isn't sure that he can or should give into the monster's demands, though. This book was much less a scary horror story, and more a story of psychology. We are invited to think about the reasons why Frankenstein would feel compelled to create this monster in the first place, and then to think about what should be done with a creature who is self-aware and so unhappy about his place in the world. What should Frankenstein's obligation be to this monster that he created? |
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