Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

20 reviews

riverofhorton's review

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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 

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orchidlilly's review against another edition

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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.

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paintinyourwing's review against another edition

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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! 

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burdiebird's review against another edition

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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


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ellaticonstellation's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

This was written a long time ago. I can tell because I almost had a nosebleed. The English way of writing was old, but I truly enjoyed it. DID in the good old days. I of course found the murders by  Edward Hyde problematic, but I guess, he was made like that in contrast with Dr. Henry Jekyll. I liked that they were distinct in appearance, morality, and tone of voice. The audiobook companion made the story a hundred times better. Great narrator✨

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meganpbennett's review

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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

3.0

True story: when watching The Avengers (2012) for the first time, after meeting Dr Banner, my mom said, "I take it that was Hulk?" to which I replied, "that was Dr. Jekyll." Turns out I owe poor Bruce an apology. While there are similarities between the two men, reading the book for the first time showed that, as in a lot of classic Victorian horror texts, the adaptations have taken on a life of their own, the monsters from the stories becoming those from the movies, not the books.

As discussed in the introduction to the Signet Classics edition (by no more than Vladimir Nabovok himself), the story is a mediocre detective story, going through the motions of a Victorian mystery. It is, however, a splendid look at how good and evil exist within each person, and how attempting to alter the balance within oneself is not a good idea. 

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greenrequiem's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0


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soph1768's review

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challenging dark mysterious 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? It's complicated

3.25


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floatinthevoid's review against another edition

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dark mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

Wow.. Towards the end of the story... It was trippy. I wish I hadn't spoiled myself before picking this up, it kinda reduce the experience of reading. But nonetheless, i'm still impressed by how a particular theme in this book was explored. Had this been longer than 100 pages, i think i'd rate it higher. Finally I can understan all the jekyll and hyde references that are all over media. 

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calamityin's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0


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