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The Lady And Her Monsters: A Tale Of Dissections, Real-Life Dr. Frankensteins, And The Creation Of Mary Shelley's Masterpiece (2013)

by Roseanne Montillo(Favorite Author)

3.49 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

0062025813 (ISBN13: 9780062025814)

languge

English

genre

Horror

publisher

William Morrow

review 1: For a Shelley scholar, the material in this book will not be new or exciting. However, Montillo has brought together the known material in a way that is accessible to non-academics. As an academic, I wish she had better cited her sources in-text. I also wish she had not engaged in so much speculation. Too many times, she writes statements like "Mary must have contemplated" without providing evidence that she did so. I also feel she neglected Mary as a scholar in her own right. Mary Shelley read nearly a book a day at times. Instead of treating Mary as an intellectual in her own right, Montillo has her as an attendant of lectures. Her active pursuit of knowledge becomes a much more passive endeavor in Montillo's hands. that said, Mary is a much more real presence in this b... moreook than in the other treatments I've read of her.
review 2: The AND in the subtitle is really the key to this book. There are, in essence, two stories being told. The first of development of medical science with regard to dissections and electricity and the second a biographical retelling of how Mary Shelley's novel came into being. While the first definitely impacts the second, there is no real connection in between the two except in broad strokes that boil down to zeitgeist. I enjoyed each part (although the Shelley story has been done and redone), but am uncertain why they needed to be presented together. less

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