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conversations.value: a description for a book titled Pride and Prometheus about Mary, Frankenstein, Bennet with the genre: Literature & Fiction, Genre Fiction
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conversations.value: Set 13 years after the events of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, this literary mash-up of that classic and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is told from the point of view of Mary Bennet. The morose and sanctimonious Bennet sister is resigned to the idea of a spinsterhood filled with fossils, philosophy, chats with her sister Kitty, and taking care of her parentsuntil she meets the enigmatic and tortured Victor Frankenstein. She has finally found her intellectual match, and this infatuation lands her in the middle of his and his Creature's conflict. The chapters alternate among the perspectives of Mary, Victor, and the Creature, and the author ingeniously weaves together the plot lines of the two source materials. Tweaking the time lines and locations slightly, the celebrated author has created a new story with the wit and heart of the originals while painting Mary in a sympathetic light. She is still the naive daughter of privilege who enjoys sermonizing, but she also is willing to go against convention in pursuit of knowledge and love. the author explores the idea of humanity, faith, romanticism, and hints of feminism with lush language and deep characterization. Austen and Shelley enthusiasts will appreciate the references and details, but those unfamiliar with the original tales will find much to enjoy in this work of atmospheric speculative fiction. The sometimes languid pacing is balanced with elegant prose and rich settings. VERDICT Give to fans of literary retellings and revisionist historical fiction.Shelley M. Diaz, School Library Journal
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conversations.value: Reverse the sentences.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: Diaz, School Library Journal.Shelley M. VERDICT Give to fans of literary retellings and revisionist historical fiction. The sometimes languid pacing is balanced with elegant prose and rich settings. Austen and Shelley enthusiasts will appreciate the references and details, but those unfamiliar with the original tales will find much to enjoy in this work of atmospheric speculative fiction. the author explores the idea of humanity, faith, romanticism, and hints of feminism with lush language and deep characterization. She is still the naive daughter of privilege who enjoys sermonizing, but she also is willing to go against convention in pursuit of knowledge and love. Tweaking the time lines and locations slightly, the celebrated author has created a new story with the wit and heart of the originals while painting Mary in a sympathetic light. The chapters alternate among the perspectives of Mary, Victor, and the Creature, and the author ingeniously weaves together the plot lines of the two source materials. She has finally found her intellectual match, and this infatuation lands her in the middle of his and his Creature's conflict. The morose and sanctimonious Bennet sister is resigned to the idea of a spinsterhood filled with fossils, philosophy, chats with her sister Kitty, and taking care of her parentsuntil she meets the enigmatic and tortured Victor Frankenstein.Set 13 years after the events of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, this literary mash-up of that classic and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is told from the point of view of Mary Bennet
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: the first five paragraphs for this book
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conversations.value: Pride and Prometheus
  Captain Walton raised his teacup, held in the thumb and first two fingers—the only fingers that remained—of his right hand. "Frostbite," he said, and winked at Mary.
  Walton was happy to tell his story, as it seemed he must have more than once before. He explained how his poetic nature had been attracted to the notion of discovering a land of eternal light, and the source of the power that commands the compass needle, at the pole. But in the event, the ship he had hired and crew he had assembled found themselves frozen tight in the arctic wasteland long before Walton had reached his goal.
  Mary was intrigued. Captain Walton's manner was so affable, his voice so full of mystery. Mrs. Saville, though she must have heard all of this before, listened indulgently to her brother. "Please, go on," Mary said.
  Captain Walton proceeded to relate the story that Mary had heard years before from both Victor and his Creature. Dramatically, Walton lingered over the extraordinary circumstance of Victor's discovery of the secret of life and his creation of a monster. He watched Mary's eyes, prepared for skepticism, but she was too troubled to feign astonishment at something she knew to be fact. Walton's narrative closely resembled what Mary already knew, but she appeared nowhere in it, nor any woman who might have been Mary. And there was nothing in the tale of bringing Eve to life, or of her death. To hear Walton tell it, Victor had earned the eternal enmity of his monster by dismembering his female before he had brought her to life.
  Months after Mary had left Scotland with Darcy, Victor's father had arrived. Victor recovered his senses, and a grand jury determined that, despite his professions of guilt, he had been in the Orkneys when Henry Clerval was murdered. Victor and his father traveled back to Geneva, where Victor wed his cousin Elizabeth. That night, Elizabeth was strangled by the monster who had vowed to be with him on his wedding night.
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conversations.value: four more paragraphs
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conversations.value: She walked down to the harbor, a woman alone in the gathering dusk. Even in a town as placid as Lyme Regis, even for an aging spinster as established as Mary, this was behavior that she would have questioned when she was a girl. It was not so much the danger of the world that Mary had been aware of, as the importance of propriety. She knew now that much of propriety consisted of a veil of hypocrisy over self-interest. The machine of society was prepared to grind those without money or powerful friends exceedingly fine if they should disregard the shibboleths of the righteous. It remained true that to discard propriety was to put oneself at risk, whether or not one ended up strangled.
  The longer she thought of Walton's story, the angrier Mary became. Victor and Adam had followed a direct path from the place she had left them, precisely the same course they had been on before she had entered their lives. For a time it had seemed to her that they might turn to a different, happier fate—though who could know where any path leads in the end? Still, there was little doubt where following the impulses of hatred and revenge led. In the case of Frankenstein and his creation, they had led exactly where they ought—to desolation and the grave.
  Mary's intervention had been their last chance to avoid this. She had put herself between them expecting to keep them sane. It was a terribly foolish, dangerous thing for her to do. She'd had no idea with what or whom she was dealing. How idiotic she had been, so blinded by her own hopes.
  Yes, and still what she had told them to do was the right thing, the practical thing, the just thing. She had been a voice speaking from outside the drama that took place inside their heads. She had given them good counsel. And why should a woman have to do that, prevent men from killing each other? The true idiocy of their tragedy was that it did not have to happen. Victor and Adam had constructed it by their own choices, out of their inability to believe in the existence of anyone but themselves. William, Justine, Henry, Elizabeth, Victor's father. Eve. What about them? Hadn't they deserved better?
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conversations.value: the last two paragraphs
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conversations.value: For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact Simon & Schuster Special Sales at 1-866-506-1949 or business@simonandschuster.com.
  Identifiers: LCCN 2017023614 (print) | ISBN 9781481481496 (eBook) | ISBN 9781481481472 (hardcover : acid-free paper)