The metaphors are good and I appreciate what fuel this has given to other creators. Then they took it, made it (more) internally consistent, and so much better. One friend pointed out the resonances with Blade Runner, and that enhanced my appreciation of both works. I appreciate all the glory that the gore has received during the visual evolution of Frankenstein adaptations. I was sorely disappointed that the creation of the monster and his bride were entirely off-screen. I appreciate that this story inspired Herbert West: Reanimator, and the world is better for it. I will never revisit this story, but I can keep unpacking fun from The Reanimator. 
 "A smart man knows that the monster is not Frankenstein. A wise man knows that Frankenstein is the monster." While this line is incredibly clever, I wish I could embrace it more. Doctor Frankenstein is not a monster. He's a whiny narcissist who orchestrated his own misery. 
 "I now hasten to the more moving part of my story." 
 The frame stories are a mess, each with their own inconsistencies and problem. Four story frames deep and the language is still so floridly purple. I would have liked it better if we saw the captain locked in his stateroom at the end of the story due to mutiny for refusing to turn around because he was crazy. Then all the frame garbage would at least makes sense due to an unreliable narrator. Alas, we must take it at face value that the creature exists, or that this is a story written by a 19-year-old. Immersion in the tale was difficult at best. 
 There are so many stretches of plausibility that I couldn't accept the world that was presented to me. Who drops a copy of Paradise Lost in the woods? Why does he have to visit a scientist in remote Scotland to figure out how to animate the corpses of women? If the animated creatures can't sexually reproduce, how different is the revivication process? It's an interesting glimpse of the worldview related to the differences between women and men, but not terribly enlightening from an author who's purported to be so progressive for her time. If he needs corpses to assemble the Bride, why does he travel to a remote island with a population in the single digits? Why, with no discernible nautical skills, does Victor get into a boat in the open sea by himself in a storm? How does the monster know where he's going, arrive what feels like moments before, and kill his friend? Is he a force of nature? And if he is, then it undermines the believability of the creature as a creature as we are encouraged. 
 "But I forget that I am moralizing in the most interesting part of my tale, and your looks remind me to proceed." 
 I used to think it funny when Lovecraft's protagonists fainted. Yet I have to admit he comes by the technique honestly, and tones it down into a far more believable realm. Victor faints constantly. When important men in his life die, he faints and becomes comatose for MONTHS. Gotta love that good old fashioned brain fever. I found it interesting that when his new bride was murdered he fainted for a few minutes and then was ready to go for a round of fisticuffs with the creature. 
 I'm glad I read it, but I'm glad I'll never have to read it again