Rereading Frankenstein has given me chilly feelings. I studied it during my first year at university and had middling feelings then. I understand its significance within science fiction. I appreciate its commentary on the ethics of scientific discovery; the subtitle Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus is apt. I remember writing an essay dissecting the feminist theory subtext (Frankenstein as bizarre patriarchal birth myth, fear of creating mate for monster representing fear of female autonomy, also why does Victor keep putting off marrying Elizabeth). But while I acknowledge the novel as a classic, I have never connected with it. It has never been a book that I have loved. I want to celebrate this as a seminal work in literature, an early classic by a female writer. But it leaves me feeling chilly.

The most obvious difficulty is that I have never gotten along well with books where there are no characters that I like. And I really don't like any of them. Victor Frankenstein is the clear villain but although I want to pity the Creature, he is still ghastly. Elizabeth is a drip and even the outlier characters providing the shell narration fail to connect. This all feels deliberate. We are supposed to feel alienated by Victor. While the Halloween industry look on the 'Monster' as the villain, Shelley does not. He is never even called a monster here. Victor is the one who has done wrong and then abdicated all responsibility.

I had similar feelings of revulsion when I read Bram Stoker's Dracula. It was all the stuff about blood - whether putting it into Lucy or sucking it out of Mina - I just did not take to it. Horror has never been a genre that I enjoy. Years ago, I was looking for a house share and had a lovely chat on the phone with a woman renting a room but when I got to the house, she had a DVD collection that spanned the entire wall of her living room and every single film in there was a horror film. She cheerily explained that movie nights were a house institution. I smiled back and politely declined the room.

I have huge respect for Mary Shelley even if I do think that she had some serious personal problems for which she probably should have sought the contemporary equivalent of therapy. I feel sympathy for her that she was so stuck amongst a bunch of idiot men that summer that she just flat out invented a new genre of literature. But try as I might all these years, I don't like Frankenstein. Even in this lovely edition with its haunting illustrations, I still have that same feeling of distaste. It gives me goosebumps and not of the fun R L Stine variety. This is a vision of the unnatural and I do not want to look at it.

'Frankenstein: with illustrations by Nino Carbe' by Mary Wollstonecraft includes an introduction by the artist's daughter for those unfamiliar, and a series of black and white and color illustrations. The black and white drawings are for a 1932 illustrated edition. The color paintings were completed by the artist in the 1980s.

Victor Frankenstein would seem to have it all: good looks, intelligence and a family and friends that love him. That is not enough for this insatiably curious man, so he creates a creature, then abandons it irresponsibly. The consequences that follow are devastating to Victor.

The black and white illustrations are pen and ink drawings that almost feel like woodcuts. There are also illuminated letters at the beginning of the chapters. The paintings divide the sections of the book with my favorite one on the page before the cover page. In this painting, the creature has bedraggled hair covering one eye. The eye we can see has a very visible tear. This is a creature to be pitied (at least at first). Carbe's drawings show us a deformed person with a misaligned jaw and a bit of a hunch. The unwashed hair hangs down. The illustrations are dramatic and striking. Most are on the grotesque side, and they complement this famous book very well.

I was unfamiliar with Nino Carbe, so I was surprised to learn that in his long career, he worked for Disney off and on. He had an influence on the movie Fantasia. I'd certainly like to learn more about this artist and his various work.

I received a copy of this ebook from Dover Publications and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this ebook.