Title: The Monster’s Wife
Author: Kate Horsley
Date of First Publication: 2014
Place of Publication: Barbican
Type: Novel
Characters: Victor Frankenstein
Themes: POSTHUMAN; WOMEN WRITING MONSTERS; QUEER FRANKENSTEIN; BYRONIC HERO; ANDROID; MAD SCIENTIST/MONSTER
Critical Summary: The Monster’s Wife is a tale about Oona Scollay and her friend May who live in Hoy, in the Orkneys in Scotland. They are working when suddenly a strange man shows up in town. The people there are curious. He usually stays in his lab doing experiments and keeps to himself. Oona and May start to work for him. As they are working for him Oona starts to notice that her friend May is becoming more secretive. They talk less and eventually May ends up missing. At the same time Oona starts to become closer to Victor Frankenstein and eventually starts working for him in his lab. She notices all of these weird things that are happening in her village. For instance, her chickens die, and a load of dead frogs end up on the shore one evening. Victor Frankenstein likes her because Oona is a great listener and shows compassion. Through one of their many talks, Victor Frankenstein reveals the existence of the monster that is following him. And Frankenstein eventually admits that the only reason he is here is due to the fact that he has to create a wife for this monster. Throughout the novel Oona sees the monster lurking around town. Eventually Frankenstein captures and kills her and makes her a part of his experiment to be the Monster’s Wife. After fighting and escaping, Oona finally realizes that she is made of parts from different women. She realizes that the doctor has killed and made the Monster’s Wife out of all these different women. She feels her chest and recognizes it is May’s heart. Eventually she escapes and lives the rest of her life as a monster.
This novel relies heavily on tone, and there is a big tonal shift within the narrative. The beginning of the novel is eerie. When May goes missing the book turns into a thriller/horror novel. The relationship between May and Oona is really strong; there are multiple moments where the reader might question Oona’s sexuality. One example of is when Oona wakes up as the monster she is able to make out May’s heartbeat, because previously in the novel they had listened to each other’s heartbeats as children. May and Oona were childhood friends, and May is revealed to have a fiancé and in multiple parts of the novel Oona is jealous of the time she spends with her husband. However, their relationship reminded me of friendships between other duos in the Victorian era. Like Esther and Ava in Bleak House by Charles Dickens. Another theme is the posthuman, especially when Oona wakes up as a monster. And the author, Kate Horsley, gives a fresh perspective into the world of Frankenstein by having the main character be a woman.
Administrative Notes: Nathan Schuch, CSUF; Dr. David Sandner (editing)