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alba_marie's review
3.0
It was okay. This story was once again read for my COVID19 book club, and therefore not one that I would normally have picked up.
But because it was about Jekyll and Hyde, and Jekyll and Hyde also came up in another book I was reading ( Night Music by John Connolly, stunning and highly recommended!), it seemed like a sign so I decided to actually read the original Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.
The story's execution was....okay. The changes to the Jekyll and Hyde story as well as the Titanic incident were interesting. My favourite bit was incorporating Jack the Ripper, even if it was just a single line. All the Japanese stuff...I'll say stuff so to not present any spoilers... I found bizarre.
What I didn't think Tidhar got right was Jekyll. What little we see of Hyde was spot on but Jekyll was off. In the original, to the end, Jekyll was fighting against Hyde. He of course had moments of weakness, dark moments where he let Hyde out, which he then looked back on with disapproving shame. But all in all, we could see he was pretty consistently a good guy, just a bit misguided and naive at the beginning. Even in the throes of the Hyde takeover, he was trying hard to protect others. But this Jekyll, he was just nasty, grumpy, and whiney. Ok yesbut I still feel that the author's depiction of the famous character was a bit off marks.
I wasn't a huge fan of his writing style either, and the story was, in my opinion, too short to really get to know any of the characters (I don't mind short stories but I like them to translate to at least 25-30 pages, if not longer). The concept was good though - as this was published in 2013, and he seems to have published some longer works since - I do wonder if this was just a case of an author coming into his own, experimenting with what works, etc. I'm mildly interested in how he might have grown as an author but not sure if I'm interested enough to read a longer work... 2.5 stars rounded up to 3 stars here.
But because it was about Jekyll and Hyde, and Jekyll and Hyde also came up in another book I was reading ( Night Music by John Connolly, stunning and highly recommended!), it seemed like a sign so I decided to actually read the original Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.
The story's execution was....okay. The changes to the Jekyll and Hyde story as well as the Titanic incident were interesting. My favourite bit was incorporating Jack the Ripper, even if it was just a single line. All the Japanese stuff...I'll say stuff so to not present any spoilers... I found bizarre.
What I didn't think Tidhar got right was Jekyll. What little we see of Hyde was spot on but Jekyll was off. In the original, to the end, Jekyll was fighting against Hyde. He of course had moments of weakness, dark moments where he let Hyde out, which he then looked back on with disapproving shame. But all in all, we could see he was pretty consistently a good guy, just a bit misguided and naive at the beginning. Even in the throes of the Hyde takeover, he was trying hard to protect others. But this Jekyll, he was just nasty, grumpy, and whiney. Ok yes
Spoiler
at the end he threw away the bottle in a grand gesture to help the injured child, thus choosing Jekyll over HydeI wasn't a huge fan of his writing style either, and the story was, in my opinion, too short to really get to know any of the characters (I don't mind short stories but I like them to translate to at least 25-30 pages, if not longer). The concept was good though - as this was published in 2013, and he seems to have published some longer works since - I do wonder if this was just a case of an author coming into his own, experimenting with what works, etc. I'm mildly interested in how he might have grown as an author but not sure if I'm interested enough to read a longer work... 2.5 stars rounded up to 3 stars here.
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