Thursday, July 26, 2018

The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein by Kiersten White


Elizabeth Lavenza started out as a penniless orphan with little access to food and affection. Her guardian leaves her arms covered in bruises, leading Elizabeth to seek solace outdoors at night and hiding in the forest. One day, her guardian takes her to the Frankenstein home essentially to sell the young girl. Elizabeth meets Victor, a dour and odd boy. Elizabeth makes herself indispensible to him to ensure that she can stay in the household with its access to education, food, and clothing. Once they are older, Victor goes off to school and cuts contact with her. Her place in the household is tenuous as ever after the passing of Victor's mother and the Frankenstein's financial problems. When the patriarch goes on a trip, Elizabeth takes her best friend Justine to track down Victor and secure her future at any cost.

The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein is a retelling of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein from the perspective of Elizabeth. In the original novel, Elizabeth doesn't have much of a presence beyond being beautiful, dressing in white, and being threatened by the monster. The story is very different in this one. Elizabeth has manufactured a perfect facade to be exactly the woman Victor wants and never lets him see the real. She can never be smarter than him and constantly flatters him. The white dress was chosen to make her look as frail, harmless, and unassuming as possible. She made herself indispensable by smoothing over his mistakes, teaching him how to better navigate social niceties, telling him stories, and fawning over him in exchange for education, a roof over her head, food, and material goods. Unfortunately, the education provided doesn't translate to anything practical, so she has to keep her position in the Frankenstein household. The real Elizabeth is wild and doesn't care what others think. She's not afraid to travel with Justine and find Victor to both save him and herself. You might think her behavior is selfish and manipulative, but this is the situation she was given and she is determined to survive.

Victor, on the other hand, is both fragile and callous at once. He's prone to deep depressions, explosive rage, and social ineptitude. He is used to everyone doing anything he wants and having everything essentially handed to him. Elizabeth taught him how to be basically acceptable to society, but he shows his true self to her. His future was determined from birth. Despite his privilege, Victor is callous and seems to not understand basic human emotions. He doesn't have to learn as a noble and with so many people scrambling to clean up each of his messes. As Elizabeth travels through Ingolstadt trying to find him, it's apparent that his arrogance, detachment, and brilliance leave an impression on each person they meet on his trail. I love this portrayal of Victor because he's awful in the original novel: whiny, not willing to face the consequences of his actions, and all around horrible. There is also an explanation for the original novel and its inaccuracies because it's Victor's journal.

The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein is amazing. I love the more realistic re-imagining of these characters the plots. There are critiques of the male dominated society, the flawed justice system, and the abuse of the mental health field. Elizabeth eventually has to find out who she is without being an actor for Victor and it's a relatable experience. I wish the monster would have been in it more with a more established relationship to other characters. A lot of people complained about how scary and gory it was, but, as a diehard horror fan, I wasn't impressed with that aspect. However, the spin on the story and tweaks to events and characters are amazing. Highly recommended.

My rating: 4.5/5 fishmuffins

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