Mary Shelly's Frankenstein

What struck me most about Mary Shelly's Frankenstien was the believability she managed to achieve in the monster's personality. The progression of emotions the monster goes through as he's rejected by humanity again and again really brought him to life for me. When he's first brought to life, rather than being a typical angry monster-type character, he spends most of his time marveling at the wonders of nature. Even when he's run out by the first town that he meets he maintains a positive attitude. Rather than take the easy way out and make the monster react angrily, Shelly uses this as an opportunity to tell us about the monster's character - he's a true optimist. It's only when the monster is rejected by the people that he idolizes that his anger starts to get the better of him.
I found the monster's tale interesting not simply from a character perspective but story wise as well - after all it's only once the monster is introduced that the novel truly becomes horror story. I also found the monster's tale much easier to read and enjoy than any of the chapter's about Frankenstien. While I enjoyed Frankenstien's back-story I didn't find him to be as likeable of a character as the monster. Most of his time in the novel was spent either in complete bliss or complete despair. There was very little middle ground for him to transition between the two states and really develop a personality in the way that the monster did.
Also although I thought her story within a story method of storytelling was interesting, I didn’t think it made the novel much better than it would have been had she just narrated it traditionally. I enjoyed the novelty of having a fictional narrator initially but as I got more and more into the story, knowing that the story was literally being told by someone who did not exist somehow pulled be out of it a little. I am fairly certain other people would have different reactions to this style of writing, and I definitely don’t question its validity, it just didn’t do much for me personally.