Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde (Signet Classics)

For such a famous story, I somehow never realized how short it is! I saw the musical version first, thus I had a totally different idea of it in my head and couldn’t help but compare the two the whole time I was reading. Entire characters were cut out. The tone was quite dark throughout without those moments of humor the musical had. The events were presented in a completely different way as well!

All comparisons aside, I really enjoyed this story. The descriptions of Hyde are perfectly unnerving, and I like the insight you get into Jekyll’s thoughts and his panic as he realizes what will inevitably happen… It’s really the epitome of gothic literature — doubling, mystery, distress — what more could you want?

I only didn’t give it 5 stars because I don’t know if I would necessarily reread it, but if I had gone into it without knowing the plot, it very well could’ve been 5 stars.

Having been exposed to the story since watching Arthur on PBS as a kid, this wasn't quite what I expected. The story is told from the perspective of a sort of friend of Jekyll who is just kind of worried about his friend and wondering why he associates with this really awful Hyde guy, until he finally gets the answer. I listened to this on audiobook, and I think that was the right move to get through the more antiquated language style.

I picked this up for bookclub. I was expecting it to be scary, just from what I had heard about it over the years. Nothing popped out at me. It was an interesting psychological book. I don't know that I would really call it a thriller even.

I knew a lot about it before I picked it up, so I wonder if that was part of my disappointment.

The book was very well written and I did enjoy it. I think the fact that it had been written so many years ago gave it time to have all its spoilers leaked to the general public.

It did stand the test of time, though. There wasn't anything that was glaringly outdated or out of place in the book. It was definitely worth reading.