The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Robert Louis Stevenson
“I learned to recognize the thorough and primitive duality of man; I saw that, of the two natures that contended in the field of my consciousness, even if I could rightly be said to be either, it was only because I was radically both.”
Review/Critique: "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" is a really weird book to review properly. Like most of it's contemporaries, it's a wildly popular and influential piece of literature that has solidified its place in pop culture indefinitely. Many people (myself included) know the general ideas explored in "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" through their frequent parody in other pieces of fiction - similar to how most people know the baseline story of Frankenstein and Dracula. Unlike its contemporaries though, "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" is at its core a mystery novel, and importantly one who's mystery occupies the entirety of its length. It's not a long book, only clocking in at 82 pages in its most standard edition, which means that unlike, say, Frankenstein, knowing the central idea of the book means knowing much of its content. To take the comparison further, you may know that Frankenstein is about a monster brought to life from garbage, but do you know anything else that happens in its total 280 pages? Most likely not since much what happens in it is lost in its later adaptations. Most people just know of the monster, and its creator Frankenstein (and most people don't even know that much). What I'm trying to get at is that knowing these qualities about Frankenstein doesn't hamper a read through hardly at all since there's a ton of fresh content and most of the book's impact doesn't come from the monster's creation. If you know the main idea in "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" though - because it is such a short novel, and a mystery novel at that, a lot of the charm and magic is lost.
I don't want to rob "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" of its quality though. It is absolutely a fantastically enjoyable short story that still has a lot of interesting content worth discussing, but it's hard to say it's captivating in the way it could have been had I been able to erase my memory and go in blind. It still has amazing moments, the last two chapters in particular being especially powerful, it just ends up being much more of a discussion piece than an experience, which is a shame. Lots of other stories of its kind have the freedom to be both since most of their contents are unknown to the reader, but "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" is a book who's known qualities are damaging to the experience. I still do think though it's fair to say that I wish the book had been a good deal longer, perhaps up to double the length. This isn't just because it would've given me more unknowns to explore either. While overall it works well as a shorter story, I do think it would have been more impactful had there been more time to develop the short number of characters and flesh out their persons more. As it stands many of them feel like vessels for exposition, and had they been more developed I think the overall climax of the novel would've hit harder. It also feels as though the ending to "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" is rather abrupt, but I'm unsure whether another chapter after the fact would have been an improvement or a detriment. Overall it's hard to say much negative about the book. It's really well written, really well paced, the story is engaging, and the themes are thought provoking and fun to discuss.
Recommendation: Even with the unfortunate nature of the read, I'd still recommend "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" to almost anyone who likes discussing books. It's an enjoyable read who's conclusion is still incredibly potent even with incoming knowledge. I will also add on that if you have no idea what the hell I'm talking about then you have what I consider a near obligation to take a few hours out of your day and read this book. You have the unique ability to be unspoiled on one of history's most classic mystery novels, and it's only 80 pages so you have pretty much no excuse. It's a fantastic read, albeit a bit shorter than I would have liked, that's still as potent and impactful today as it was when it was released.
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And that's my review of "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde"! Next on the list is "Majora's Mask" and oh boy am I excited to get into it. Look forward to seeing it pop up soon.
Until then!
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