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A review by cattytrona
Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde and Other Strange Tales by Robert Louis Stevenson
4.0
Really impressed by what a coherent and interesting collection this is. I didn’t have high hopes given at how obviously this is just making the most of the Jekyll and Hyde name and Stevenson being copyright free to make a quick book/buck, but I really enjoyed the selection of stories. They fitted together really well, even Weir of Hermiston, which is the obvious outlier given it’s not in anyway supernatural, but still has that interest in criminality and justice. And maybe that’s due to Stevenson’s interest in those themes, and the strength of the collection is because the guy can write, but it works.
I picked this up because I wanted to reread the titular story, but I actually really enjoyed getting to read more of Stevenson’s short fiction. Jekyll and Hyde is good fun — it’s got a lot of similarities with Dracula, now I’m returning to it, with the different voices (Stevenson’s so good at this, at tone of narration/narrator) and the slowly unfolding mystery. The story absolutely suffers because of its cultural weight: it would be a joy to read this and not know what’s up with Jekyll and Hyde. But unfortunately, we live in the world.
The Bodysnatchers is an interesting little tale — and I enjoyed it and Weir of Hermiston all the more for being an Edinburgh resident. There’s something very modern about the way it inserts its characters into a real (true?) crime. Of course, Burke and Hare are more character than anything else, really, but still.
The Bottle Imp is actually a great fable, and my first time getting to read anything reflecting Stevenson’s time in Polynesia (well, except Treasure Island, but that’s still about British people). I feel like his travels is not a thing people tend to know about him, nor is it highlighted in the writings people talk about, so it was a nice surprise to find it here.
Markheim was probably my least favourite of the bunch, but felt like a very classic Victorian spooky story - very fireside appropriate for this time of year. Plus it thematically fitted in really nicely.
As mentioned, Weir of Hermiston is the outlier, and the fact it’s incomplete is pretty frustrating — especially given the book is essentially selling itself as a short story collection. It came as a bit of a shock, and I ended up putting in a bunch of Wikipedia time just to work out what was up with this random half-novel. Having said that, I really liked it. I’ve been kind of rotten at regularly reading anything much before 1930 this year, and it was a nice reminder of how much I actually rate nineteenth century novels, in all their density. And Stevenson is a pretty adept renderer of Scots, too. It’s still a little weird that it’s in here, taking up so much (the most) of the book, but I’ve read it now, and it’s done me no harm. Good collection; good writer.
I picked this up because I wanted to reread the titular story, but I actually really enjoyed getting to read more of Stevenson’s short fiction. Jekyll and Hyde is good fun — it’s got a lot of similarities with Dracula, now I’m returning to it, with the different voices (Stevenson’s so good at this, at tone of narration/narrator) and the slowly unfolding mystery. The story absolutely suffers because of its cultural weight: it would be a joy to read this and not know what’s up with Jekyll and Hyde. But unfortunately, we live in the world.
The Bodysnatchers is an interesting little tale — and I enjoyed it and Weir of Hermiston all the more for being an Edinburgh resident. There’s something very modern about the way it inserts its characters into a real (true?) crime. Of course, Burke and Hare are more character than anything else, really, but still.
The Bottle Imp is actually a great fable, and my first time getting to read anything reflecting Stevenson’s time in Polynesia (well, except Treasure Island, but that’s still about British people). I feel like his travels is not a thing people tend to know about him, nor is it highlighted in the writings people talk about, so it was a nice surprise to find it here.
Markheim was probably my least favourite of the bunch, but felt like a very classic Victorian spooky story - very fireside appropriate for this time of year. Plus it thematically fitted in really nicely.
As mentioned, Weir of Hermiston is the outlier, and the fact it’s incomplete is pretty frustrating — especially given the book is essentially selling itself as a short story collection. It came as a bit of a shock, and I ended up putting in a bunch of Wikipedia time just to work out what was up with this random half-novel. Having said that, I really liked it. I’ve been kind of rotten at regularly reading anything much before 1930 this year, and it was a nice reminder of how much I actually rate nineteenth century novels, in all their density. And Stevenson is a pretty adept renderer of Scots, too. It’s still a little weird that it’s in here, taking up so much (the most) of the book, but I’ve read it now, and it’s done me no harm. Good collection; good writer.