What You Said: How Does ‘Frankenstein’ Fit Into Your Modern Life?

Mary Shelley’s novel turns 200 this year, but its lessons are far from old.

This segment is part of our winter Book Club conversation about Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel Frankenstein. Want to participate? Sign up for our newsletter or call our special voicemail at 567-243-2456.


Last week, the SciFri Book Club received a call for help. The caller’s name was Tony. His 10th-grade class was reading Frankenstein, and he needed some homework help.

To be honest, we ignored his messages because we thought he was pranking us. But then we walked into the SciFri office last week, and found over 50 voicemails. Tony’s entire class—and his teacher—had called in, leaving us their thoughts on Mary Shelley’s 200-year-old novel.

Those insightful responses got us thinking about how Frankenstein relates to the modern world, and young peoples’ modern lives. Check out some of the responses below from young people.

text of tony's response

Related Segment

‘Please Call Me Back. It’s About “Frankenstein.”’

text card of daisy's answer

Related Educational Resource

Ethics, STEM, And The Modern Dr. Frankenstein

text of julian's answer


Meet the Writer

About Johanna Mayer

Johanna Mayer is a podcast producer and hosted Science Diction from Science Friday. When she’s not working, she’s probably baking a fruit pie. Cherry’s her specialty, but she whips up a mean rhubarb streusel as well.

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