A Method Actor's Guide to Jekyll and Hyde

by Kevin MacNeil

After a bike crash in a foggy Edinburgh, troubled young actor Robert Lewis wakes to find that life has changed for the darker. And the weirder. He's still a deceitful egoist but now life seems to be deceiving and manipulating him. Everything that can go wrong is going wrong. He's losing control of his love life, his starring role in a new adaptation of Jekyll and Hyde, and, quite possibly, his mind. "A Method Actor's Guide to Jekyll and Hyde" is a dark, maniacal thriller that explores many kinds of duality - individual, social and cultural, and is a heartfelt tale about the search for belonging and the nature of love and desire. It is also bloody funny.

Genres: Fiction, Scotland, Contemporary

206 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2010

About the author

Kevin MacNeil is a Scottish novelist, poet, and playwright. He is a lecturer in creative writing at the University of Stirling. His books include Robert Louis Stevenson: An Anthology Selected by Jorge Luis Borges and Adolfo Bioy Casares, The Diary of Archie the Alpaca and The Brilliant & Forever. He lives in Edinburgh.

Reviews

[MJ Nicholls · Rating 4 out of 5]

MacNeil’s novel is a witty, waspish intertextual romperino, working in winks subtle and unsubtle to R.L. Stevenson, and veers from mere modern gothic pastiche into something warm and touching. Following a bike accident, actor Robert Lewis finds himself in a war of attrition with the luvvie wankers in an Edinburgh Jekyll & Hide production and becomes caninistically fixated on an actress who tends to view him with loathing. The first part of the novel serves up ruminations on cycling and acting, and sidles up to the likes of Will Self in its caustic skewering of pretensions and unpleasant character depictions. The second part takes a more lyrical, sentimental turn, a Jekyll to the first part’s Hyde, and although necessary for the two faces of the novel, might offput fans of the fiendish longer section. I was not one of those buffoons. This fine novel cleverly executes a loving homage to Stevenson in with style and smarts, so shaddap.

[Meghan · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars - a lot of fun to read in conjunction with J/H (and my mom knows the author!)

[Liz · Rating 1 out of 5]

My husband read this book before I did, some time ago. He warned me that he didn't like it very much. Nevertheless, I persisted. I started it and wanted to finish it, in spite of the fact that I thought the prose was as full of itself as the main character. I didn't find any of the characters particularly sympathetic, not just because they were unlikeable, but also because most of them were not really fleshed out. If the whole thing is intended to be "meta" in the imagination of a person with narcissistic traits, I suppose that's more understandable but still rather clumsily executed. The pacing felt weird and the repetitive choice of certain words felt more like an editing mistake than foreshadowing of the reveal in part 2, which is about 75-80% into the text. I don't know why I chose to spend so much time with this book, other than that I like to finish things. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone whose taste or even critical eye is similar to mine.

[Kyle Reid · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book, don't get me wrong, however the ending is just a spin on the age-old "it was just a dream" cop-out.

This was a real shame as it appeared to be building towards something grand, something, well, something a hell of a lot better than "the protagonist is in a coma".

It's generally well written and an enjoyable read overall, but the disappointing end left me feeling a bit put out.

[Hayley · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am just so angry at this book for wasting my time. The first part is marred by a protagonist so up his own arse that he could probably count as a genuine ouroboros, and then the second part manages to make it even worse with a twist that is usually confined to the worst and most patronising of children's fiction. Don't bother with this at all.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mostly twaddle. I could try to be supportive because it's Scottish but that would be patronising.

[Emily Wrayburn · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5*

Just because your book is postmodern or something, doesn't excuse a "and he woke up and it was all a dream" ending. :\

[Craig Dickson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a bit of a weird one. I read it super fast, started it yesterday and I was pulled into it very quickly. The main character was a narcissistic arsehole but it was very entertaining and I was into it even as it became faintly ridiculous.

The plot follows an actor in an upcoming theatre version of Jekyll and Hyde, and it's set in Edinburgh (which is why I checked it out - I'm a sucker for that stuff). Various hi-jinks ensue.

I won't go into details but around the 80% mark it changes completely, in a way that I felt was very bait-and-switch-y and which kind of invalidated the whole story for me. I'm torn about it because it wasn't simply a cheap bait-and-switch, I can see there being some merit to it, but I personally didn't enjoy it. Maybe it had been signposted before but I didn't see it coming and I didn't feel it added anything to the story, so feel a little cheated. But hey, them's the breaks.

So, not terrible but it left me kind of confused and conflicted and I'm generally non-plussed by the experience of reading it.

[Cameron Goodwin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Strong 3/light 4
An intriguing character study with some fun allusions to the RLS namesake. As others have said, the ending takes the wind out of its sails somewhat, but does not come completely out of nowhere given the bizarre, dreamlike nature some later parts convey. A fun (but flawed) read.

[Mr. O'Connell]

Example Review Here :)

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmm. Bits of it I did love - the stuff about Edinburgh and actorly goings-on - but other bits just left me perplexed. The clever stuff took place too late in the day for me to really 'get it'. Maybe I needed to have read 'Jekyll and Hyde' first, or maybe there was just too much introspection happening in my own head to be bothered with someone else's self-obsession.

[Ame · Rating 2 out of 5]

An interesting read. At first I was intrigued, then I was a bit bored, then I was interested, then I was confused, then I was kinda, sorta less confused....
Never felt this way with a book before.

[Alice · Rating 3 out of 5]

The twist made it - I was ready to put it down halfway through but am glad I didnt!

[Rachel Alexander · Rating 3 out of 5]

The ending rescued it somewhat for me.

[Anni · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm giving this four stars because I love MacNeil's writing -his lyrical prose style and witty observations, even though he seems to lose interest in his own plots halfway through.