In the 1880s in Glasgow, Scotland, medical student Archibald McCandless finds himself enchanted with the intriguing creature known as Bella Baxter. Supposedly the product of the fiendish scientist Godwin Baxter, Bella was resurrected for the sole purpose of fulfilling the whims of her benefactor. As his desire turns to obsession, Archibald's motives to free Bella are revealed to be as selfish as Godwin's, who claims her body and soul.
But Bella has her own passions to pursue. Passions that take her to aristocratic casinos, low-life Alexandria, and a Parisian bordello, reaching an interrupted climax in a Scottish church. Exploring her station as a woman in the shadow of the patriarchy, Bella knows it is up to her to free herself—and to decide what meaning, if any, true love has in her life.
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"Witty and delightfully written" (New York Times Book Review), Poor Things echoes Mary Shelley's Frankenstein in this novel of a young woman freeing herself from the confines of the suffocating Victorian society she was created to serve.
Staff Choice: Bruna
With multiple unreliable narrators and a “book-within-a-book” kind of simulacrum format, Alasdair tells us about the fictional (or would it be non-fictional?) story of Bella Baxter, a mutant/Frankenstein woman created by Dr. Godwin Baxter. The book follows Bella’s creation and her interaction with society and the men around her. She will question her position in the world, she will question religion, education, politics, economy, love… She will discover how powerful and dreadful it is being a woman.
Weird, witty, sarcastic, this book is a refreshing post-modern classic.
Tip: There is a very good movie adaption of this book!
Staff Choice: Bruna
With multiple unreliable narrators and a “book-within-a-book” kind of simulacrum format, Alasdair tells us about the fictional (or would it be non-fictional?) story of Bella Baxter, a mutant/Frankenstein woman created by Dr. Godwin Baxter. The book follows Bella’s creation and her interaction with society and the men around her. She will question her position in the world, she will question religion, education, politics, economy, love… She will discover how powerful and dreadful it is being a woman.
Weird, witty, sarcastic, this book is a refreshing post-modern classic.
Tip: There is a very good movie adaption of this book!