ActiveRecord and the scenic gem for database views is a very powerful combination. For the vast majority of queries, you don't need to write optimized SQL by hand.
When you do, you can push that work to a version controlled database view, and wrap it in a ActiveRecord class interface and still get all of the ORM niceties.
The difference here is between two different philosophies:
1) I want the thing to just work, it doesn't matter about underlying complexity, give me the magic and the version controlled database view and the ORM niceties.
2) I don't trust magic as it has bitten me in the arse before, let me make and be able to fix things myself as I'm working at a (slightly) lower level.
I'm not saying either is correct but in Phoenix/Elixir magic stuff tends to be kept to a minimum. One man's "for the vast majority of queries" is another persons "will work fine until you need to do something complex".
It's all trade offs and I choose mine carefully as I'm sure you do.
I think Ovechkin is a great example of this as well. He has the burst for when he needs it, but a lot of the time he is nonchalantly positioning himself perfectly.
Your expectations of Frankenstein are largely due to Hollywood's interpretation. Frankentstein is referred to as the work which gave birth to Science Fiction. Not bad for a story that was more-or-less fleshed out over a weekend.
I think you're pretty spot on and fair to the book though. If you're reading Frankenstein and you're expecting a thrilling horror novel then you may be disappointed. If you're interested in the ethical questions raised by the creature being created, abandoned, and left to deal with it's strife over having no companion... then I think it's a pretty great read.
I just discovered Vimperator a few weeks ago, and I am really enjoying it thus far. I love the fact that it can be customized with a dot file, and I have implemented some really useful leader keys that I have come to really rely on.
When you do, you can push that work to a version controlled database view, and wrap it in a ActiveRecord class interface and still get all of the ORM niceties.