Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Review

This review is going to focus on Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson. I have heard this story before adapted in many different ways, I specifically remember it being adapted for Looney Tunes and Scooby Doo at some point and I thought the story was so compelling. So for school this semester, it was on my reading list, and I couldn’t put it down.

So for those who don’t know, Jekyll and Hyde is about this doctor who discovers he can transform with the help of a chemical potion he has made into an alter ego. He describes them as good versus evil and slowly the persona of Mr. Hyde takes over the doctor entirely. 

I like this book because I have a lot of questions about it. Most Victorian novels don't involve some type of supernatural or make believe aspect to it. They are usually very realistic and about regular life. Yet this has something truly unbelievable to it. People don’t just transform entirely with the help of a potion. So I wonder what Stevenson was thinking or being influenced by when he wrote this novel. Was this a nod to a mental health issue that he witnessed first hand, but didn’t have the facilities in Victorian England to understand or was it purely for entertainment? I don’t know, but I would love to find out.

It’s also a very short book, so it was easy to tackle. In the edition I have, it’s only some fifty pages. It makes for a very quick read and sometimes I think that is good in the sense of not wanting to put it down. The end is attainable in a day so you just really want to get there. At least that’s how I felt. Though I personally think the story would have been really cool if it was longer and had more mystery to it. I would have liked for the crimes of Hyde to be more drawn out and detailed, but this is what we have and I still enjoyed it anyways. 

Overall, I like this book, I think that it is interesting and curious and kind of eerie. It gives you that bit of discomfort without being outright scared. It makes finishing it and being left with that bit of unease so much more powerful because not everything is dealt with in so much detail. There’s still more to know, I think. 

I would suggest reading this book, it’s a classic so you can find if wherever you get your books, and even free online some places!

Read and Enjoy!