Angelmonster

by Veronica Bennett

Book Overview

"Captures all the bliss and folly of Mary Shelley's disastrous surrender to love, and the sorrowful steps by which she became the author of FRANKENSTEIN." -- NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW In 1814, poet Percy Shelley enters the life of young Mary Godwin like an angel of deliverance. Seduced by his radical and romantic ideas, she flees with him to Europe, where they mingle with other free-spirited artists and poets. Frowned on by family and society, Mary...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0763634077
• ISBN13: 9780763634070
• Release Date: August 2007
• Publisher: Candlewick Press (MA)
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.3" x 7.8"
• Age Range: 14 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 9 and higher

Customer Reviews

Interesting take on Mary Shelley's life

My English class read Frankenstein last year, so I was interested in learning more about the author. This book certainly did not disappoint. I thought it was well-written and fascinating. It was also fast-paced. While the characters would occassionally be a bit over-dramatic, I figured most of this was due to their "romantic" natures. The author did a good job of making the characters, especially Mary, seem like people. It was easy to see Mary as a young girl falling "in love" with the poet Shelley. All in all, this was a good read. I'd recommend it to anyone interested in history and literature or who simply wants to read a good young adult novel.

Ambitious, Well Written Novel

which captures our attention & imagination right from the start! I couldn't put this book down and read it in 2 days. I truly enjoyed this work work of fiction... It is more of a historical romance using historical figures from the past (mainly Mary & Percy Shelley) and interweaving fictionalized events/interactions between them. I was amazed at how much of the novel paralleled Mary & Percy Shelly's real life events..... This book is written from Mary Shelley's perspective and one truly feels as if one were reading Mary Shelly's personal memoirs, diaries, or letters on the events going in her life and how she may have felt about all that was going on in her life. Definitely an interesting read for sure & highly recommend.

A complex and original story recommended for advanced teen readers

In 1814 poet Percy Shelley seduces young Mary, who flees with him to Europe against her family's wishes. With family and society against her actions, Mary becomes haunted by visions - and finds them evolving into her all-too-real world in ANGELMONSTER, a complex and original story recommended for advanced teen readers. Diane C. Donovan California Bookwatch

Angelmonster

This is a well done historical novel for young adults which focuses on the passionate but troubled real life of Mary Shelley. Bennett does not sugarcoat the suffering and social exile that resulted from Mary's love affair (and later, marriage) to Percy Shelley, the scandalous atheist, radical, and poet. We see, however, how Mary harnessed the many demons of her life to create a timeless masterpiece, the novel Frankenstein. Funny that in her lifetime she would be thought of as the wife of that scandalous poet, and now he is discussed as the husband of the brilliant author. This novel is perhaps best for middle to upper teens, as the subject matter is a bit mature and hard to understand for younger readers. At points, the writing is memorable in re-creating the wild passions and obsessions of Shelleys. portraying them as rebelling against the traditions and dogmas of their time but never quite managing to forge a workable moral code of their own. It is essentially about a beautiful but imperfect love affair, but is also a fascinating portrait of perhaps the first truly modern woman.