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3.66 AVERAGE
3.66 AVERAGE
dark
fast-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
1st read:
"All human beings, as we meet them, are commingled out of good and evil: and Edward Hyde, alone in the ranks of mankind, was pure evil."
Oprecht één van de meest toegankelijke klassiekers die ik ooit gelezen heb vanwege de vlotte schrijfstijl. Het verhaal zelf is zo interessant en perfect voor those spooky october vibes ;)
2nd read:
Nog steeds een banger, jammer dat ik dit helemaal kapot moet analyzeren voor een essay ://
"All human beings, as we meet them, are commingled out of good and evil: and Edward Hyde, alone in the ranks of mankind, was pure evil."
Oprecht één van de meest toegankelijke klassiekers die ik ooit gelezen heb vanwege de vlotte schrijfstijl. Het verhaal zelf is zo interessant en perfect voor those spooky october vibes ;)
2nd read:
Nog steeds een banger, jammer dat ik dit helemaal kapot moet analyzeren voor een essay ://
THE STRANGE CASE OF DR JEKYLL AND MR HYDE (4/5)
On a lonely London street one night there were two people - a young man, and a little girl running towards him (or rather, in his direction). They crossed paths, and the young man proceeded to trample her and then leave as if nothing unusual happened. This young man was the "damnable Edward Hyde", looking upon whose face was enough to prompt feelings of revulsion and disgust. Mr Hyde also had a key to an ominous building in the street which he visits from time to time. When the girl's parents and some other folk (including one Mr Enfield, who recounted this incident later to our protagonist Mr Utterson) demanded that Hyde compensate them, he entered said building and gave a cheque with the desired amount to them. What was strange was that cheque bore the signature of the respectable Dr Henry Jekyll, who also happened to be an old friend of Mr Utterson. Why in the world was Dr Jekyll looking after this horrid young man? Mr Utterson could not help but carry an investigation himself to find out.
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is quite different from the stories that I usually read. It is quite short (under a hundred pages), and the chapters felt quite... disjointed from each other, as if they were a collection of interconnected short stories and scenes rather than a singular narrative split in parts, if you understand what I'm trying to say. Moreover, I imagine that this is one of those stories that becomes far better on a re-read due to added context. I just finished it, and am not in the mood for a re-read just yet. Maybe I will look at it more fondly upon my re-read. Make no mistake, though -- the story was good, just not as good as I expected it to be, and quite different from the stories that I usually read.
The characters were quite wooden, existing solely to make the plot happen and having little depth otherwise (except, perhaps, for Dr Jekyll). This is a rather short story, of course, and we must account for that, but still, I found the characters boring. The events in the plot were what kept the story interesting, not the characters (which, as I remarked earlier, is not how it goes in the usual stories that I read). Here I usually state my favourite characters, but I didn't really like any of them. If I had to pick one, it's Dr Jekyll (of course), but I don't feel very strongly about him at all.
The dialogue was good in a passive, non-outstanding sort of way, and so was the prose. The same can be said for the tone and the atmosphere.
I don't really have much else to say. Worth reading? Undoubtedly. But I did not enjoy it as much as I expected.
THE BODY SNATCHER (2/5)
I won't even bother with a plot summary here. It's quite short, based on the real-life case of Burke and Hare, read it yourself.
I... did not like it. The opening scene at the inn was genuinely strong and set up a good mystery, but the story then tells you what said mystery was in a way that felt like an info dump to me. Being written in Victorian prose did not help, and I lost concentration halfway through. The twist, therefore, came out of nowhere for me. Oh, and the characters felt quite wooden to me as well. Maybe you'll like it better than I did, but I cannot say that I enjoyed The Body Snatcher.
OLALLA (5/5)
A wounded officer is sent off to an old country house in Spain to recover his strength. The house's inhabitants, however, are quite strange -- Felipe, who is unkindly described as dim-witted by our protagonist, his mother who seems quite content to lay still the entire day and be lost in her own world, and the mysterious Olalla, sister of Felipe who seldom shows herself and, in contrast to her brother, is described as intelligent. Our protagonist falls in love with her the moment he first sees her. But this strange family is much worse than it seems...
Alright, I might be crucified for saying this, but I liked Olalla more than any other tale in this collection, even more than Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. For one, it was immensely gripping from start to end, and the prose especially hooked me in. There was a well-built sense of mystery that was gradually revealed, and the moments of horror were genuinely well-written and, well, horrific! The characters, while not outstanding, were undoubtedly likeable -- or, at the very least, they appealed to me and pleased me.
Overall, an excellent tale, and no doubt my favourite Stevenson story.
A CHAPTER ON DREAMS -- ABRIDGED (Unrated)
Provides some insight into Stevenson's writing process, the role of dreams and the unconscious in said writing process, some insight into how Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde was conceived etc etc. Informative, but I don't see any basis to give this a rating.
On a lonely London street one night there were two people - a young man, and a little girl running towards him (or rather, in his direction). They crossed paths, and the young man proceeded to trample her and then leave as if nothing unusual happened. This young man was the "damnable Edward Hyde", looking upon whose face was enough to prompt feelings of revulsion and disgust. Mr Hyde also had a key to an ominous building in the street which he visits from time to time. When the girl's parents and some other folk (including one Mr Enfield, who recounted this incident later to our protagonist Mr Utterson) demanded that Hyde compensate them, he entered said building and gave a cheque with the desired amount to them. What was strange was that cheque bore the signature of the respectable Dr Henry Jekyll, who also happened to be an old friend of Mr Utterson. Why in the world was Dr Jekyll looking after this horrid young man? Mr Utterson could not help but carry an investigation himself to find out.
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is quite different from the stories that I usually read. It is quite short (under a hundred pages), and the chapters felt quite... disjointed from each other, as if they were a collection of interconnected short stories and scenes rather than a singular narrative split in parts, if you understand what I'm trying to say. Moreover, I imagine that this is one of those stories that becomes far better on a re-read due to added context. I just finished it, and am not in the mood for a re-read just yet. Maybe I will look at it more fondly upon my re-read. Make no mistake, though -- the story was good, just not as good as I expected it to be, and quite different from the stories that I usually read.
The characters were quite wooden, existing solely to make the plot happen and having little depth otherwise (except, perhaps, for Dr Jekyll). This is a rather short story, of course, and we must account for that, but still, I found the characters boring. The events in the plot were what kept the story interesting, not the characters (which, as I remarked earlier, is not how it goes in the usual stories that I read). Here I usually state my favourite characters, but I didn't really like any of them. If I had to pick one, it's Dr Jekyll (of course), but I don't feel very strongly about him at all.
The dialogue was good in a passive, non-outstanding sort of way, and so was the prose. The same can be said for the tone and the atmosphere.
I don't really have much else to say. Worth reading? Undoubtedly. But I did not enjoy it as much as I expected.
THE BODY SNATCHER (2/5)
I won't even bother with a plot summary here. It's quite short, based on the real-life case of Burke and Hare, read it yourself.
I... did not like it. The opening scene at the inn was genuinely strong and set up a good mystery, but the story then tells you what said mystery was in a way that felt like an info dump to me. Being written in Victorian prose did not help, and I lost concentration halfway through. The twist, therefore, came out of nowhere for me. Oh, and the characters felt quite wooden to me as well. Maybe you'll like it better than I did, but I cannot say that I enjoyed The Body Snatcher.
OLALLA (5/5)
A wounded officer is sent off to an old country house in Spain to recover his strength. The house's inhabitants, however, are quite strange -- Felipe, who is unkindly described as dim-witted by our protagonist, his mother who seems quite content to lay still the entire day and be lost in her own world, and the mysterious Olalla, sister of Felipe who seldom shows herself and, in contrast to her brother, is described as intelligent. Our protagonist falls in love with her the moment he first sees her. But this strange family is much worse than it seems...
Alright, I might be crucified for saying this, but I liked Olalla more than any other tale in this collection, even more than Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. For one, it was immensely gripping from start to end, and the prose especially hooked me in. There was a well-built sense of mystery that was gradually revealed, and the moments of horror were genuinely well-written and, well, horrific! The characters, while not outstanding, were undoubtedly likeable -- or, at the very least, they appealed to me and pleased me.
Overall, an excellent tale, and no doubt my favourite Stevenson story.
A CHAPTER ON DREAMS -- ABRIDGED (Unrated)
Provides some insight into Stevenson's writing process, the role of dreams and the unconscious in said writing process, some insight into how Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde was conceived etc etc. Informative, but I don't see any basis to give this a rating.
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
mysterious
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
“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.”
This was a cute read. Cute in the way that it was short and digestible. I wouldn’t mind reading this in school because I honestly wanted to discuss the ending with someone. I do wish there was more action and mystery, because he only killed one person (WHICH IS BAD OF COURSE) but there wasn’t much oompf. But I guess in that aspect it made the book more of a lighter read so I don’t mind. The last chapter was wonderful. Truly gave a new light to the whole situation and described duality in such an interesting way that I almost believe that Hyde is a whole different person. Would read again.
This was a cute read. Cute in the way that it was short and digestible. I wouldn’t mind reading this in school because I honestly wanted to discuss the ending with someone. I do wish there was more action and mystery, because he only killed one person (WHICH IS BAD OF COURSE) but there wasn’t much oompf. But I guess in that aspect it made the book more of a lighter read so I don’t mind. The last chapter was wonderful. Truly gave a new light to the whole situation and described duality in such an interesting way that I almost believe that Hyde is a whole different person. Would read again.
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Excellent dark twisted tale told in a poetic way - Victorian but in a way that's exquisite rather than dull. Reading it so shortly after Fight Club made me wonder at how much it influenced Palahniuk. It felt until the twist (which we all know) like Henry had a close friend/lodger (or boyfriend) who everyone knew was bad and tried to warn him about but he ignored all the red flags because of course, it was him . I'd have been more scared if Edward was taller than Henry, though. I like to imagine him as a big bulking giant squashing everyone in his way.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death
dark
mysterious
fast-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