Scan barcode
Reviews tagging 'Addiction'
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
19 reviews
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.james_burridge's review
dark
reflective
sad
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
3.5
Had to read for English GCSE
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic friendship, Addiction, and Suicide
pam_simpson06's review
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder
Moderate: Addiction and Suicide
riverofhorton's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
This was a very interesting and in places somewhat unexpected read. I knew the basic premise that Jekyll and Hyde share the same body with Jekyll being the 'good' side and Hyde being the 'bad' side , but I hadn't anticipated the subtext of repressed homosexuality contained within the Hyde character. I also hadn't expected one of the characters to be accepting of this, but questioning of the perceived choice of partner . I also went into this expecting some discussion of substance use based on other media, but I wasn't expecting the suicide towards the end, I did find this to have been well done within the context of the story however.
Overall, I enjoyed this story and will likely re-read it in the future
Overall, I enjoyed this story and will likely re-read it in the future
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Mental illness, Child abuse, Suicide, Blood, Addiction, Chronic illness, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Physical abuse, Self harm, Terminal illness, and Violence
orchidlilly's review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Well narrated, I liked the prose. points docked for being a generally ablest mess. I can condemn the past, and you know what? I think I will.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Ableism, Mental illness, Death, and Suicide
Minor: Addiction, Alcohol, Body horror, Gun violence, Murder, Medical content, Classism, and Drug use
kananineko's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
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? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Death, and Drug use
Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, and Violence
Minor: Suicide, Body horror, Blood, and Cursing
ijustreallyliketrees's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
slow-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
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Death, and Murder
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and Suicide
Minor: Body horror
paintinyourwing's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I'm not sure where to start here... This was not what I expected at all! I can't exactly explain how this is a 5 star read for me because that youl spoil the entire book - even if pretty much everyone knows what the story is about.
What really sold me on this was exactly that: I thought I knew the story, and in a way I did but it goes so much deeper. The POV it's written in + the way the book and chapters are structured just keep you guessing until the very end.
The writing is amazing and easy to understand and follow; considering when it was written, and there is a bit of wordplay and even some humour in there (though I'm not sure if that was intended).
What I loved the most is that it doesn't leave any loose threads, the last chapter answers every question - even those I didn't think to ask.
The ending had my mind blown, in all honesty... I listened to the audiobook and had to repeat the last few minutes 3 times and I just absolutely loved it! Speaking of the audiobook; the version I listened to was read by David Barnes - and WOW that was a great choice! His pronunciation, accent and overall tone of voice was just perfect for this story. His tempo was a little slow but that rather added a layer of calm tension in my opinion.
It's a short (audio-)book at about 3h, and would be at 2,5h at 1,5x speed without sounding odd, according to other comments I've seen. Aka it wouldn't be a big waste of time even if you didn't love it so I'd still highly recommend it!
If I did go into the story more I'd probably still sit here tomorrow so I'll leave it at this: there's many more layers to the story than I thought and the more I listened, and the more I'm thinking about it now, the more I figure out and it's still mind boggling to me!
What really sold me on this was exactly that: I thought I knew the story, and in a way I did but it goes so much deeper. The POV it's written in + the way the book and chapters are structured just keep you guessing until the very end.
The writing is amazing and easy to understand and follow; considering when it was written, and there is a bit of wordplay and even some humour in there (though I'm not sure if that was intended).
What I loved the most is that it doesn't leave any loose threads, the last chapter answers every question - even those I didn't think to ask.
The ending had my mind blown, in all honesty... I listened to the audiobook and had to repeat the last few minutes 3 times and I just absolutely loved it! Speaking of the audiobook; the version I listened to was read by David Barnes - and WOW that was a great choice! His pronunciation, accent and overall tone of voice was just perfect for this story. His tempo was a little slow but that rather added a layer of calm tension in my opinion.
It's a short (audio-)book at about 3h, and would be at 2,5h at 1,5x speed without sounding odd, according to other comments I've seen. Aka it wouldn't be a big waste of time even if you didn't love it so I'd still highly recommend it!
If I did go into the story more I'd probably still sit here tomorrow so I'll leave it at this: there's many more layers to the story than I thought and the more I listened, and the more I'm thinking about it now, the more I figure out and it's still mind boggling to me!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Mental illness, and Addiction
Moderate: Drug use and Murder
Minor: Suicidal thoughts
burdiebird's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Death, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicide, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Addiction, and Mental illness
knightreads's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
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
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use and Drug abuse
Moderate: Suicide, Addiction, and Murder