NOW BIG OSCAR AWARD MOVIE STARRING EMMA STONE, RAMY YOUSSEF, MARK RUFFALO AND WILLEM DAFOE, DIRECTED BY YORGOS LANTHIMOS.
“Smartly written and entertaining” (New York Times Book Review), Alasdair Gray's Poor Things mirrors Mary Shelley's Frankenstein in this novel about a young woman escaping the confines of a stuffy Victorian society. Asphyxiation that she was created.
Winner of the Whitbread Prize and Guardian Fiction Prize
In 1880s Glasgow, Scotland, medical student Archibald McCandless finds himself fascinated by a fascinating creature called Bella Baxter. Believed to be the creation of evil scientist Godwin Baxter, Bella was resurrected for the sole purpose of carrying out her benefactor's whims. As his desire turns into obsession, Archibald's motivation to free Bella proves to be as selfish as that of Godwin, who usurps both her body and soul.But Bella has her own passions to pursue. His passions take him to aristocratic casinos, to low life in Alexandria and to a brothel in Paris, reaching their interrupted climax in a Scottish church. As she explores her situation as a woman in the shadow of the patriarchy, Bella learns that it is up to her to break free and decide what true love means in her life, if there is one.
"Gray has the look of a later William Blake, with a capacity for extravagant myth-making, a strong social conscience, a liberating view of sexuality, and flashes of righteous indignation tempered by scathing wit and sneaky self-deprecation. » —Los Angeles Times Book Review
“This inspired folly effectively skewers class snobbery, British imperialism, prudery and the principles of accepted wisdom.»—Publishers Weekly
