Title: The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Author: Robert Louis Stevenson
Genres: Gothic Horror, Science Fiction, Mystery
Pages: 224
ISBN: 978-0451528957
Links: IndieBound, StoryGraph, Amazon, Goodreads
Content Warnings: addiction, suicide, body horror, murder
Other Books by this Author: Website
Blurb
In one of the most fascinating works of fiction of all time, Stevenson examines the inner conflict between good and evil.
Lawyer Gabriel Utterson hears of an ambiguous, solitary, violent man called Edward Hyde, who is said to have trampled over a young girl in the street, leaving her bruised and terrified. Utterson becomes concerned when a friend of his, Dr. Henry Jekyll, makes a will declaring that in the event of his death or disappearance, Hyde should inherit all his property. When Hyde is seen killing a respected political figure, Jekyll becomes increasingly reclusive, which leads Utterson to suspect that there is more than a casual connection between his friend and this brutal ‘apelike’ monster of a man…
Review
⭐⭐⭐ ⭐/2
At this point, I think everyone has heard of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde so it was only a matter of time before I picked up the original work. I was intrigued by the idea of a man creating an alternate, corrupt persona to contrast his kind nature. There are so many potential messages you can pull from a story like this so I was excited to see how it turned out.
At first, I felt pretty disappointed by Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. I know it’s gothic horror so I wasn’t expecting it to be too exciting, but I found the investigation of Mr. Hyde and his connection to Dr. Jekyll dry. There was little suspense, and while this is partly due to the fact that I already knew how the story would end, I didn’t find Mr. Hyde as repulsive as he was supposed to be. A lot of emphasis was put on Mr. Hyde’s appearance and ornery nature as indicators of his moral depravity, but little evidence was given.
Besides Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the characters were unmemorable, which isn’t exactly a critique. The story focused a lot on Mr. Hyde’s deviance from the norm, so it makes sense that the rest of the characters didn’t stand out, but that may have contributed to my boredom during the first part of the story. I wasn’t interested in the investigation of Mr. Hyde because it centered around the other characters and their reactions to Mr. Hyde. I think the first part of the story would have been more interesting if it had focused more on Mr. Hyde’s actions and less on their aversion to his appearance.
The second part of the book was told from the perspective of Dr. Jekyll, which I found much more interesting. I loved seeing Jekyll’s decline from an upstanding man exploring a different side of his identity to losing control over who he was. I think I liked this part of the story more because it gave me what I expected from Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: an analysis of the forces of “good” and “evil” in human nature.
Even though I found the first part of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde tedious, the second part made up for it. I’m glad I finally got around to reading it! I’d recommend this book to anyone interested in a mystery that also explores human nature.
Peyton
Isabel
Peyton