Review: The Casebook of Victor Frankenstein

Sometimes judging a book by its cover can not only be fun, but deadly accurate.

While trolling around Barnes and Noble grabbing everything in sight, I happened upon this retelling of the classic Mary Shelley novel by Peter Aykroyd. Having read the original telling some years ago I can say that I was never exactly enthralled by the familiar and frankly over-repeated story. What actually attracted me to the book was the dust jacket, which though simple, nonetheless caught my attention. So i took a chance and bought the book.

The book is a first person narrative, with Victor telling us his story beginning with a summary of his childhood in Geneva, moving to his experiences at Oxford and beyond. It is at Oxford where our protagonist first meets Percey Bysshe Shelley, a name that will play a major role in our book. The two of them, of a liberal mind, begin discourse on the subject of life, its origins and the possible means by which life has and is begun. This is a notion that will obviously stick with Victor and allow our story to be told, and as a result of these debates and meanderings between friends he begins the study of human anatomy.

All the while we are being introduced as well to Victor's fascination with the "electrical fluid." It is important to bear in mind the story is taking place in the 1800's, so electricity is obviously still quite a mystery and wonder to the general populous. Having seen a demonstration of the power of electricty performed by a very famous and very fictional scientist, Victor becomes obsessed with the notion that it is electricity that powers the human body.

In total secrecy, hidden even from his best friend Bysshe, Frankenstein begins his own experiments in electricty, performing them upon himself. By and by he moves on to experimentation on cadavers, which are explained in graphic detail. As a side note, the picture painted by the author reguarding these experiments is as creepy reading as I've ever experienced.

It is sometime, and many cadavers later that the scientist successfully reanimates an expired human form. He has found success much to his own horror. It is accuarate to assert that the moment the "creature" opened its eyes and fixed them upon the horrified doctor, he wished he never began his study.

The remainder of the book is his struggle to free himself from the guilt and horror of what he had done in raising the dead.

Having just read it, with it still fresh in my mind, I definitely recommend it for anyone who likes this sort of thing. I will not go so far as to say this is a great book by any means, but it is with out a doubt an interesting and gripping read. Written in period perfect prose, the book's only true flaw is the final few chapters. It becomes rather obvious in my opinion how the retelling is going to end, making the ending no less entertaining, but obvious stil

In summary: read it. Worth the time.