Frankissstein cover art

Frankissstein

A Love Story

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Frankissstein

By: Jeanette Winterson
Narrated by: John Sackville, Perdita Weeks, Harrison Knights
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About this listen

** LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2019 **

Brought to you by Penguin.

From 'one of the most gifted writers working today' (New York Times) comes an audacious new novel about the bodies we live in and the bodies we desire

In Brexit Britain, a young transgender doctor called Ry is falling in love – against their better judgement – with Victor Stein, a celebrated professor leading the public debate around AI.

Meanwhile, Ron Lord, just divorced and living with Mum again, is set to make his fortune launching a new generation of sex dolls for lonely men everywhere.

Across the Atlantic, in Phoenix, Arizona, a cryogenics facility houses dozens of bodies of men and women who are medically and legally dead… but waiting to return to life.

But the scene is set in 1816, when nineteen-year-old Mary Shelley writes a story about creating a non-biological life-form. ‘Beware, for I am fearless and therefore powerful.'

What will happen when homo sapiens is no longer the smartest being on the planet? Jeanette Winterson shows us how much closer we are to that future than we realise. Funny and furious, bold and clear-sighted, Frankissstein is a love story about life itself.

©2019 Jeanette Winterson (P)2019 Random House Audiobooks Fiction Genetic Engineering Genre Fiction Historical Historical Fiction Horror Literary Fiction Romance Science Fiction Technothrillers Thriller & Suspense Scary Technology Thriller Suspense

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Critic reviews

A riotous reimagining with an energy and passion all of its own that reanimates Frankenstein as a cautionary tale for a contemporary moment dominated by debates about Brexit, gender, artificial intelligence and medical experimentation… While the story has a gripping momentum of its own, it also fizzes with ideas. (Daisy Hay)
Here, hard science and dreamy Romanticism exist in both tension and harmony… Frankissstein abounds with invention… this is a work of both pleasure and profundity, robustly and skilfully structured, and suffused with all Winterson’s usual preoccupations – gender, language, sexuality, the limits of individual liberty and the life of ideas. (Sam Byers)
A modern take on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, it’s a fascinating and engrossing look at AI, science, gender fluidity and, ultimately, what it really means to be human. (Nicola Sturgeon)
All stars
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An amazing, intelligent, enthralling piece of fiction which was like a love letter to Mary Shelley interwoven between the pages of a very entertaining and interesting piece of fiction. Some of the narration from the actor voicing Ry could use some work. (his accents and the fact that he doesn't know what a cypress tree is) but otherwise brilliant!

Outstanding

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there is love and sensuality stemming out of the science-driven exploration. the story runs through time so smooth. the language so beautiful...

throughtful

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Loved it, winterson's skill in bringing classic and modern together, including characters... Want to listen all over again

Inspired writing

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Some funny moments but the American and Welsh accents were too annoying to enjoy the story (which was also average). Observations about gender too obvious. There's no real plot and a lot of the 2019 passages feel bloated and like they need an edit.

Narration too awkward

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I have a terrible confession to make, as an elderly gay person. I have never previously read a book by Jeanette Winterson. On the basis of this excellent blend of comic writing and very pointed period romance, I have been missing out. A really important question about how technology can liberate or conquer us is examined in such a way that it feels like fun (I laughed so much) but there's a finely tuned purpose driving it all.
Now I must investigate her back catalogue.

Fun, to a purpose

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The writing at the end of the book was particularly good. I liked the Mary Shelley story much better than the rest but the rest was very thought provoking and changed my views on a few things. I hope Jeanette Winterson will write more about children being the property of fathers (as it was then and, some would say, is still).

Very well written

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I enjoyed this book. Im a fan of Shelley's novel and loved listening to the characters behind some of the UK's best literature. It's genuinely funny as well as subversive and clever. Ron the Sex Bot salesman is as hilarious as his ideas are repugnant. And yet he's infinitely likeable. I was delighted every time his lilting Welsh voice came through my speakers.

Ron, the sex bot salesman, steals the show!

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I just finished it it was amazing .
I want to read it again
It is very contemporary

Need to read it again

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Fun and fascinating, with lots of links that bring ideas and themes to surprise and stimulate.
Just keep going with it.

Keep reading, becomes fascinating

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interesting concept, for those who love the original novel or have an interest in the Romantics or the future of AI.
It's very (too?) cerebral, perhaps to the detriment of plot/pace at times. A little spoiled by a very dodgy accent for the American characters!

Gothic Futurism?

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