Frankenstein's Monster

August 16, 2010
The eponymous monster of gothic horror rises once again in this well-wrought sequel to Mary Shelley’s classic tale, the adult debut of children’s author O’Keefe (One Hungry Monster with Lynn Munsinger). Narrated by the articulate and sensitive monster, the novel picks up immediately after the end of Shelley’s original, with explorer Robert Walton deciding to avenge the death of his “friend” Victor by relentlessly pursuing Frankenstein’s creation to its death. In retaliation, the monster treks to England to destroy Walton’s family only to befriend and fall in love with Walton’s capricious niece, Lily Winterbourne. Run-ins with misunderstanding humans and the monomaniacal Walton as the couple attempt to flee to the desolate Orkney Islands give the monster ample opportunities to reflect on the inherent cruelty of humans, the nature of compassion, and mysteries of life and death. O’Keefe credibly extrapolates the moods and thoughts of the monster from how Shelley first imagined them in one of the better recent treatments of the Frankenstein theme.

October 15, 2010
Literary spin-offs and sequels are all the rage now, and childrens author OKeefe jumps on the bandwagon with her first adult novel. Beginning where Mary Shelley left off, she imaginatively resurrects the monster from the ambiguous conclusion of Frankenstein, contemplating his own suicide after the death of his creator, Victor Frankenstein. Vowing to take up Victors crusade to hunt down the creature and destroy it at all costs, Captain Robert Walton pursues the monster across Europe at a fast-paced clip. Infusing the monster with an introspective nature and Walton with an obsessive call to duty, the author does an admirable job of picking up the philosophical threadsambition, responsibility, and humanityShelley wove into the original. Never forgetting that Frankenstein is first and foremost regarded as a gothic horror classic, she interweaves the requisite elements of romance, suspense, terror, and revenge into the page-turning narrative.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)