And my latest recommendation is...
Frankenstein
By: Mary Shelley
Scary! OK, I tried reading this book when I was in
high school and I quit about 50 pages in bored to tears. I think I was expecting
something else. This book isn't full of horrifying descriptions and grisly
visuals. It's about this great scary what if. What if someone could make a human
from death. A real, living, breathing, thinking human out of dead parts. Does
this creation have a soul? Is it the sum of the people it is made from, or a new
being entirely? And what are the emotions of its creator who has just played
god? Mary Shelley has a definite answer. He turns tail and runs, aghast at what
he has accomplished.
This book has a list a mile long of modern topics it relates to.
Cloning
Are we not doing something similar in creating life the way we
see fit? Victor Frankenstien tried to create the perfect human. He came close.
Nature versus nurture
Can you expect an individual who has grown up
without goodness and love to exhibit goodness and love? What about the millions
of people around the world today brought up without a guiding force?
Frankenstein leaves his creation to fend and find a way for itself immediately
at its birth, with disasterous results. But who's really to blame?
Judging by appearances
When you see a man by the street with a cardboard
sign claiming he's a Vietman vet needing money for food, do you hand him any?
He's probably lying. Look at the way he's dressed. Look at his face and its
vacant stare. Last time I gave to a beggar he chased me down the street, cursing
- it just isn't safe to give. Frankenstein, when he begins, helps strangers out
from the shadows, until one too many times people see his face and strike before
they can see past it. After being hurt too many times, people have learned to
fear the unknown, and Frankenstein is taught to fear people. The psychology of
the novel is intense, and I found myself crying and challenged. How long can you
resist life before you, too, cannot trust?
Read this book - it is excellent. But know what you're getting before you
start. When you're done drop me a
line and let me know what you think.
Frankenstein links