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bootrat's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
While I can understand why this book has become a classic, as it was the first of its kind and an interesting take on good vs evil (which was explored a lot in the Victorian era), I found the novella itself fairly underwhelming. I expected there to be more to the story than "Jekyll is good and Hyde is evil", but there just wasn't. I also didn't find the writing compelling or enjoyable at all. I listened to the audiobook, but I think if I'd been reading the physical book I would have been even more bored.
I think going into the book with the societal knowledge that Jekyll and Hyde are the same person, and that they're two sides of the same coin, makes reading the book largely pointless. I'm sure if I'd read this at the time it was written, or if I'd never heard of Jekyll and Hyde before, I would have enjoyed the story more and been more drawn into it, but as it is it gets 2 stars.
This version also included the short stories 'The Body Snatcher' and 'Olalla'. These were both also fairly meh.
A note also to say that I largely only read this so I could know the source material before reading 'My Dear Henry' by Kalynn Bayron, which is a queer remix of the classic, but I don't think it was necessary at all! You can enjoy the gay version without bothering with this.
I think going into the book with the societal knowledge that Jekyll and Hyde are the same person, and that they're two sides of the same coin, makes reading the book largely pointless. I'm sure if I'd read this at the time it was written, or if I'd never heard of Jekyll and Hyde before, I would have enjoyed the story more and been more drawn into it, but as it is it gets 2 stars.
This version also included the short stories 'The Body Snatcher' and 'Olalla'. These were both also fairly meh.
A note also to say that I largely only read this so I could know the source material before reading 'My Dear Henry' by Kalynn Bayron, which is a queer remix of the classic, but I don't think it was necessary at all! You can enjoy the gay version without bothering with this.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Murder, and Body horror
timmytunter's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Moderate: Murder, Death, and Violence
carolinebl's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
I really enjoyed this audiobook. I had previously watched a silent film adaptation, and - like the rest of the world - I was familiar with the story. How remarkable a novel it must have been when it first came out and one was able to read it with fresh eyes! I find it very interesting the explanatory constructs that novelists of this time felt the need to employ; often one will read the plot through letters, as a retelling etc. If Stevenson was a contemporary author the perspective of the novel would have been very different, but I still enjoyed the build up - though some sections could have been shortened/lengthened accordingly. Jekyll’s dilemma still feels very apt over a century later.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicide
Minor: Murder, Violence, and Death
draven_deathcrush's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Not bad but nothing special.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Body horror, and Murder
Moderate: Violence and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Ableism
thequeercaseofmarius's review against another edition
dark
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
“…I thus drew steadily nearer to that truth, by whose partial discovery I have been doomed to such a dreadful shipwreck: that man is not truly one, but truly two.”
The legacy that Dr Jekyll and his alter ego, Mr Hyde, have left on the Western world is a strange one. Almost 140 years later, most people can still recognise these characters when they appear onscreen, perhaps even know of the original story they are from, and yet surprisingly few people can say that they’ve actually taken the time to read the novella. I’m here to tell you that it is absolutely worth your time to do so.
While The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde unfortunately hasn’t aged as well as some of its contemporaries, its historical value is nonetheless fascinating as it presents a unique and complex insight into the 19th century psyche. However, I did find without the historical context it’s incredibly easy to miss a lot of the story. The Penguin edition with notes by Robert Mighall phenomenally helps with this, and I couldn’t recommend this version more.
You can tell that Robert Louis Stevenson was an incredibly intelligent man, well-read on the current sciences of his time with equally impressive creativity to boot. I thoroughly enjoyed his writing style, I found it to be very vivid, moody, and even frightening at times. His use of suspense and terror as well is nothing short of remarkable, and I came to notice this more when reading the short stories I was previously unfamiliar with; The Body Snatcher and Olalla. They were great reads, I would say just as much as Jekyll and Hyde was.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Body horror, Murder, Ableism, Addiction, Blood, Mental illness, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Gore
Moderate: Suicide, Incest, Child abuse, Cannibalism, Classism, Alcoholism, and Physical abuse
Minor: Death of parent, Sexism, and Racism
I do believe it would be wrong to read these works without a level of cynicism. Partly what makes this collection so interesting, but also so backwards, was just how pseudoscientific Victorian era science really was. When reading Stevenson’s work, you start to realise how we have actually held onto many of these pseudoscientific beliefs in our collective unconscious, and noticing this has given me the incentive to finally dismantle it. However, if you find that rampant ableism is too much for your sensibilities, I would give this book a miss.multimindz's review against another edition
dark
slow-paced
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
I have DID.
This is the book everyone thinks of when I mention my disorder or they discover it - and then fire/evict/threaten me?
I usually would say "People can be stupid" but this is far beyond the pale. It's sh*tty writing that confused me from start to finish. DID can change your demeanor (doesn't make you trample others, you're thinking of what people without DID do ... and then hunt for an excuse dumb people will believe), even your accent and vocal timbre - but you still have the same body and face. The more concerning people in this story are the ones without the DID, given how coldhearted they are the nanosecond someone shows any sign of mental malady. No compassion, all hate and "should have been born a better person".
Everyone, you're all aware this is a fictional story written by a guy who read the first known case of Dissociative Identity Disorder in the West (some guy in France in the 1800s was discovered to have it) in the newspaper and went "I have a crappy idea, let me share it with the world!" - and not a How-To guide on how to treat people with disorders, especially DID, right?
If anyone in the work had a shred of compassion - or, better yet, took a minute to think outside their gravely myopic egos - it would have at least been minorly better written.
The book was dreck, long story very short.
This is the book everyone thinks of when I mention my disorder or they discover it - and then fire/evict/threaten me?
I usually would say "People can be stupid" but this is far beyond the pale. It's sh*tty writing that confused me from start to finish. DID can change your demeanor (doesn't make you trample others, you're thinking of what people without DID do ... and then hunt for an excuse dumb people will believe), even your accent and vocal timbre - but you still have the same body and face. The more concerning people in this story are the ones without the DID, given how coldhearted they are the nanosecond someone shows any sign of mental malady. No compassion, all hate and "should have been born a better person".
Everyone, you're all aware this is a fictional story written by a guy who read the first known case of Dissociative Identity Disorder in the West (some guy in France in the 1800s was discovered to have it) in the newspaper and went "I have a crappy idea, let me share it with the world!" - and not a How-To guide on how to treat people with disorders, especially DID, right?
If anyone in the work had a shred of compassion - or, better yet, took a minute to think outside their gravely myopic egos - it would have at least been minorly better written.
The book was dreck, long story very short.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Death, Mental illness, and Suicide
It's a crappy fiction book about Dissociative Identity Disorder, not a How-To guide on how to treat people with DID. Try reading books on trauma disorders (because DID is a severe trauma disorder) instead. The kind that depicts people with DID as humans. Because, though probably deeply surpising - we are. Billions of better books to read out there, pick one of those. Even a bottom shelf AI book is better than this bookdanajoy's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Murder and Death
lilygrace1113's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
art_books_chemistry's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
I've seen and heard about Jekyll and Hyde in various media over the years and was slightly shocked when I first heard a description of Hyde in this book. The Hulk is obviously a sort of rewrite of J&H but in such a way that it completely disregards the original point of Stevenson's story. Yes, it hits on the point of the duality of human nature but it misses the evolution of Jekyll's character and how it thus affects Hyde's. I enjoyed how the story was told through a sort of amateur mystery lens, it made it more enjoyable to follow than if it had been told completely introspectively from Jekyll's point of view.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Murder
saturnbabe's review against another edition
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder and Death
Moderate: Suicide and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Child abuse