Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde (Signet Classics)
by Robert Louis Stevenson
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Book Reviews of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde (Signet Classics)
Book Review: Not Really About a Split-Personality
Summary: 5 Stars
Jekyll and Hyde is commonly evoked to describe someone with a split personality. Stevenson's novel is not really about a split personality, but rather a dual physical and spiritual nature struggling for control of one person. In this struggle, Dr. Jekyll doesn't just assume a different personality, he actually becomes Mr. Hyde.
Presbyterian Pastor Tim Keller has a good, brief analysis of parts of the Jekyll and Hyde story in his book The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism (Hardcover). Keller pinpoints a key point in the story, noting that it's in a moment of vainglory that Dr. Jekyll involuntary transforms into Mr. Hyde. This transformation occurs as Dr. Jekyll sits "on a bench in Regents Park, thinking about all the good he has been doing, and how much better man he was, despite Edward Hyde, than the great majority of people."
All this to say that Stevenson's novel goes far deeper than a psychoanalytic study of a split personality; it's about a profound spiritual struggle of the evil and good nature within a person.
Book Review: More of an Idea than a Story
Summary: 3 Stars
I've never read a novel or novella where there is so little of actual story as there is Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde; where there is so little done with such an amazing idea. The story consists mainly of a few rumors and incidents and annecdotes that are all tied together by the "full statement of the case" at the end, and that's it. For one thing I think this sparseness contributes to the eeriness of the story. The book reads more like a police report that a horror story, leaving Mr. Hyde to lurk almost unseen in the shadows of its pages. For another thing I think that this book has been popular through the years and passed through so many incarnations and popped up in so many different forms precisely because Stevenson did so little with Mr. Hyde. It was like he left a blueprint for other writers to come along and fully explore the ramifications of this book's intriquing premise.Book Review: A Real Jekyll and Hyde Tale
Summary: 4 Stars
I have known about the basics of the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde story for as long as I can remember. This book has built an image over the years of being a classic tale of horror and fills the mind with many images. Yet actually, when I made the effort to sit down and read the book, it has a different affect. The writing and sequence of events in the book is pretty fragmented in many places. The book reads much more like a short story than a classic novel. Thus while reading the book, and certainly after completing the book, you can't help but to think of all the things and events that could have been added to the book to make it that classic novel that you originally envisioned. This book is certainly worth reading if anything just for the sake of Stevenson's perspective on the duality of man in the 19th century. Yet, take the book for what it is and don't set your expectations too high.Book Review: mysterious
Summary: 4 Stars
I really enjoyed reading this book. At first it was very boring but after Stevenson introduced all the characters it began to be more interesting. This book has a lot of confusing events but you just have to stick with it until the end. Everything unravels at the end. I liked the mystery and the who done it kind of effect. I enjoy reading suspense type books such as this one. I beleive that some of the chracters in the book such as Utterson and Lanyon kind of suspect that they are the same person, but they just don't think that it could be possible. I think that they suspect it mainly because when Dr. Jekyll left his will and everything he has ever owned to Mr. Hyde it just didn't seem right. The way the crimes were commited were especially heinous during that period in time. I would recommend anyone who enjoys a suspenseful book to look into this one.Book Review: all about dr. jekyll and mr. hide
Summary: 1 Stars
In the commencement Mr. Utterson and his cousin Mr. Richard Enfield were walking throughout London. The men go by a mysterious cellar door, and then Mr. Enfield talked about a story that ensue here previously. Also later in the book Utterson work to help Dr. Jekyll from being brung into the ghastly tribulations of Mr. Hydes. One year later, Edward Hyde viciously murders Sir Danvers Carew by thrashing him to death with a cane.
I did not like this book because it was a high level booklover so I could not concentrate. I'd propose this book for high scholar for that reason, and if you're a person who reads allot. The genre was good because it was sci-fi and it seems sci-fi is a little more addicting. The author is a pretty well known writer his name is Robert Louis Stevenson.