| Review | Frankstein by Guerra e Paz

I’m super excited to be teaming up with Guerra e Paz to talk to you about this amazing series they’re doing. It’s called These books are crazy (Os Livros estão Loucos) and it’s a great Portuguese initiative to promote classics to younger people.

Guerra e Paz is launching simplifications of big classics, that can sometimes be very scary, I for once have been saying I want to read Pride and Prejudice but because of language I never pick it up. So, if you’re like me or if you have other justifications on why you won’t read this story, take Guerra e Paz’s edition and give it a try.

Now, about the book:

As always I had the best of times sorting through those crazy pages, turning the book this way and that way while following the path of the words trying to get away. It makes reading even funnier.

The story is great. We all know the myth of Frankstein and have seen it’s story in one way or another (a good example being the Tv Show Once Upon a Time) but how many of us can say they know the true depts of it’s story? If you’re still reading you are probably like me, deceived by the stories of a colourful childhood that makes you believe you know this story. You do not.

You. Do. Not.

As always, Frankstein is being read by kids, this time it’s a group of friends getting ready for Halloween that stumble upon an ancient book and decide to give it a try. And I think I was more surprised than them by the story.

Frankstein is the story of a scientist, trying to do some good with his capacities– as a science woman myself I can relate – and ends creating a being which brings more consequences than he could ever have foreseen. That’s the problem with science, isn’t it? Why some people are scared of what it can bring? In the pursuit of things to help our life we might just end up creating a big bad monster.

>> spoilers ahead <<

Frankstein, the scientist, in his pursuit to help humanity, ends up creating a new being. And as every being he isn’t intrinsically bad or good, rather made a monster first by the choices of his creator and then by the choices of a world that cannot see past his exterior – horrendous because he is made of dead parts.

All the monster wants is a family and by trying to get one he is taught that for what he is, no one will ever love or understand him. And so the monster is taught how evil the world his and how evil you must be to survive in it.

For me, the most shocking aspect was how pure the monster was, how he just wanted to be accepted and not feel alone. Isn’t that what every human wants?

I just… I think everyone should read this book – do this edition if you’re afraid of the original book, because it as an important lesson to teach you. Not just that even monsters have feelings, but that every action, every decision we make influences those around us and if we choose to be evil, we might just be creating something far worse that ourselves.

Rating: 5 stars