Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in Around the World in 80 Books

Jan 16, 2020 Astrid Lim rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: british, classic, gothic, horror

I have watched many movie adaptations inspired by this story, but I have to admit that I've never actually read the novella. I just realized that I have this translation version from Gramedia, and decided to read the story (been a while since I read some classics too).

It's quite enjoyable, the gothic vibe is pretty impressive, and the translation is good too. It's not as memorable as Phantom of the Opera, and it's a shorter story, but I can still feel the anguish, deep analysis of morality, and ...more

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Feb 08, 2016 Kay rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobooks, fiction, british_lit, gaslight-weird

File this one under "Books You Assume You Know All About But Don't, Really." It is glib of me to have assumed that I didn't really need to read this book, having seen movies, heard the plot summarized, visited places in Edinburgh associated with "Deacon" Brodie," whom the Hyde legend is supposedly based upon, and generally dipped into the tale countless times via the warm bath of popular culture.

I was wrong.

Happily, reading a fictional account of Robert Louis Stevenson's life and marriage to F File this one under "Books You Assume You Know All About But Don't, Really." It is glib of me to have assumed that I didn't really need to read this book, having seen movies, heard the plot summarized, visited places in Edinburgh associated with "Deacon" Brodie," whom the Hyde legend is supposedly based upon, and generally dipped into the tale countless times via the warm bath of popular culture.

I was wrong.

Happily, reading a fictional account of Robert Louis Stevenson's life and marriage to Fanny Osbourne fairly recently, Under the Wide and Starry Sky, served as a sharp and insistent needle, making me realize how little I really knew about Stevenson and his work. The account in that book of the genesis, writing, and rewriting of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was enough to bump this neglected masterpiece to the top of my reading pile. And I think it came along at the perfect time, as a chilling companion on a cold winter's day as I sat doodling in my coloring books -- yes, I've given way to that recent craze, but in my defense I must say coloring while listening to an audiobook are perfect companion activities and doing one activity seems to sharpen appreciation of other, working both ways.

As I listened to an excellent audiobook edition of this book read by Ian Holm, I found my selection of colored pencils growing darker, shades of pink and magenta giving over to blues, greens, and grays. As pointed out in Under the Wide and Starry Sky, Stevenson destroyed the first draft of the story, which was apparently more in line with some modern-day horror film versions, and then rewrote it more along lines suggested by his wife, Fanny. (Other sources claim that Fanny herself destroyed the first draft and that a very ill and completely broke Stevenson had to rewrite it.) The tale is in its final version more of an allegory, whose moral is that "man is not truly one, but truly two," as Stevenson wrote to a friend. Jekyll's sinister persona, Mr. Hyde, may in this post-Freudian age quite obviously be an alter ego, but keep in mind that during Stevenson's time this concept did not yet exist. It was a novel and perceptive insight.

Stevenson's decorous (to the modern ear) language and refusal to go into much detail as to Hyde's crimes and perversions leave it mostly to the modern reader's more sordid imagination, which makes the tale all the more effective. Employing the stock narrator, a respectable lawyer, a sterling Watson-esque character who stands by his friend Jekyll and learns his fell secret, the story kept me in suspense even though I knew what was going to happen. And that, I have to say, is one of the hallmarks of great literature.

I was also struck, once again, by how great a writer Stevenson was. His language and its precision, his ear for phrasing, the texture and pacing of the novel -- all are exquisite. After reading Horan's book, it was made clear how much painstaking effort and craftmanship went into Stevenson's writing -- something, I think, we sometimes airily tend to dismiss as "genius." That is an unjust and short-sighted assessment.

Let me enthuse a bit about the narrator, Ian Holm, whom I'd only encountered in films and never as a reader. Perfect choice! While I am, admittedly, incurably partial to British narrators (and above all, British actors who happen to narrate, such as Derek Jacobi), were I not such an anglophile I'd still say this was inspired casting. ...more

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Nov 07, 2020 superawesomekt rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: spooky

Richard Armitage is one of my favorite audiobook narrators and this was a great performance. I wish I could erase the cultural exposure that gives an automatic spoiler to books like this. It doesn't make a big difference to have a spoiler in books like Anna Karenina or Les Miserables, but it is everything in a book like this.

That being said, I'm still rating it full marks because it is such a powerful story: how shame and secrecy are destructive and the avenues we go down to cope with or suppres ...more

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May 05, 2025 Nadine in NY Jones rated it it was ok

Shelves: horror, literary-schmiterary, fantasy-and-sci-fi, audio, classic

A classic allegory of drug addiction, when the addict thinks of himself as helpless to stop.

I generally struggle with Victorian literature, I find the style very off-putting and it's difficult for me to become engaged in the story. This was no exception. At least it was short! A star for such an original story idea, and a star for shortness. Two stars!

This would have been gripping if the first part - the observations of Mr Hyde by others - served as only a short framing device, and the seco ...more

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Oct 18, 2017 Katie rated it really liked it

Shelves: male-author, book-club, science-fiction

I wasn't too excited to read this book for book club, but I ended up really liking it. Stevenson does a good job creating the setting and the story provides interesting ideas about the good and evil that resides in us all. ...more

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