Audiobook Review | Poor Things #20booksofsummer24

Chose something a little out of my comfort zone with this one.

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Poor Things
Alasdair Gray

One of Alasdair Gray’s most brilliant creations, Poor Things is a postmodern revision of Frankenstein that replaces the traditional monster with Bella Baxter – a beautiful young erotomaniac brought back to life with the brain of an infant. Godwin Baxter’s scientific ambition to create the perfect companion is realized when he finds the drowned body of Bella, but his dream is thwarted by Dr. Archibald McCandless’s jealous love for Baxter’s creation.

The hilarious tale of love and scandal that ensues would be “the whole story” in the hands of a lesser author (which in fact it is, for this account is actually written by Dr. McCandless). For Gray, though, this is only half the story, after which Bella (a.k.a. Victoria McCandless) has her own say in the matter. Satirizing the classic Victorian novel, Poor Things is a hilarious political allegory and a thought-provoking duel between the desires of men and the independence of women, from one of Scotland’s most accomplished author.

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As some may already know I much prefer to read the book before I watch a movie or TV adaptation, and when I discovered, after seeing all the buzz about the film, that this book was written by a Scottish author, I knew I needed to read it.

I have never read an Alasdair Gray novel before but this one is very clever. It is a book within a book and I won’t lie until I realised more about what the subject matter was I could have almost believed that this story had been found and revised and that the author was just the editor.

There is something fascinating about how the author frames Bella in relation to the men that are in her life most specifically the man who ‘made’ her, God, and the man who falls in love with her, McCandless, painting her as impulsive and unruly but then completely turns that on its head. Instead showing how she is devoid of society’s expectations and is just living life for herself which the men cannot understand, then creates a further narrative that points to McCandless writing this story as he realises his insignificance to either cash in on or belittle his wife’s achievements. As I said, it is very clever.

The characters were remarkable, of course, Bella was the shining light of the story. Her joy for the world and the way she inadvertently pushed boundaries because she didn’t know what they were and her own sense of right and wrong was what made this story for me. I found the men of the story quite funny, thinking themselves superior and then being so infatuated with Bella that they each make themselves inferior to her.

I have to say there were parts during the McCandless narrative that I did maybe lose my concentration slightly, but for the most part, I was hooked. The narration was definitely a part of that, Russ Bain did a fantastic job of bringing God Baxter, McCandless, and even Bella to life, with a unique voice for every character in the story. Kathryn Drysdale was equally as amazing at portraying each of the characters during Bella’s part of the story but gave Bella her own sense of character, it made such a difference to hear it with her voice.

Poor Things is not a book that I would naturally gravitate toward, but I’m really glad I read it, it is both clever and a bit bizarre but entirely enjoyable.