The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

Written by Robert Louis Stevenson

Narrated by John Sessions

Scientist Dr Jekyll discovers a way of changing his personality and becoming the violent and aggressive Mr Hyde. At the start, moving from one to the other is easy. But not for long. Both a psychological investigation and a thrilling story, the double nature of the hero has made him an iconic figure in literature. The tempestuous nature of the tale makes it an ideal title for the Young Adult Classics series.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Naxos Audiobooks
• Release date: Jun 1, 2009
• ISBN: 9789629548568

Robert Louis Stevenson

Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) was a Scottish poet, novelist, and travel writer. Born the son of a lighthouse engineer, Stevenson suffered from a lifelong lung ailment that forced him to travel constantly in search of warmer climates. Rather than follow his father’s footsteps, Stevenson pursued a love of literature and adventure that would inspire such works as Treasure Island (1883), Kidnapped (1886), Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886), and Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes (1879).

Reviews for The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

[ffortuna_6 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Small but incredibly effective. Like, I know Jekyll and Hyde are the same person. Everyone knows that. I still felt actually horrified at the reveal of that fact, because Stevenson did such a good job drawing the main characters and the people surrounding them. Like The Picture of Dorian Gray, (Wilde was an admirer of the book), it explores inner and outer natures by dividing them, showing what people might do if it would never be found out and never physically affect them, and it's all the more compelling because their flaws start out so small and relatable. Jekyll didn't suffer from a deep dark secret at first, he just didn't want anyone to know about his small flaws. Excellent for the Halloween season, and especially good read in company with Dorian Gray, because both are so complete, so layered, and so subtle where it counts.

[bettesbooks · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I was expecting more. Why? Because everyone knows the tale, I just assumed the writing would be better.

[sometimeunderwater · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Bet this was a blitz before everyone and their kid knew the secret twist. A fine gothic novella, proceeding on railroad towards the ending you already knew was coming.

[smiler69 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I remember reading this for the first time when I was a schoolgirl in 1982 and being tremendously impressed with the story about a Dr. Jekyll who invents a special potion which transforms him into his horrible alter-ego Mr. Hyde and goes so far as changing him physically into a shorter man, uglier and with a bad and violent character. I remember being under the spell of the gothic horror elements of the story, but somehow, reading it again this month didn't have the same charm at all. Not quite sure why. For one thing, the first half of the story is told by someone else, and we don't quite get to know what has happened to Jekyll nor Hyde, and I supposed I was impatient getting to the goods, so to speak. I'll try revisiting it in another 30 years and perhaps meet with better success next time!

[starla_aurora · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

interesting... not what I remember from 15 yrs ago. that's what happens with memory and Hollywood influence.

[stahl2ricco · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

“... that man is not truly one, but truly two.”The idea that we all have a dark side? Well, certainly the main character of this story does! Dr. Henry Jekyll meets/creates/releases Edward Hyde, “The evil side of my nature,...”, and is not the same for it! It's a quick read, well except for the last chapter that draaaaags on, and an important story in the history of "horror" literature, so I'm glad I read it! Not scary by today's standards, but still a freaky idea and one that has been repeated often! I wonder which of my two halves would be the dominant one? Or do I have more than two? Hmm...

[emhromp2 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I liked this book. It is a classic that deserves to be read and it took me about an hour to read it. Now I wonder why it took me so long to start reading it in the first place. Because it is a classic, I already knew what the end was going to be like, I already knew that Jekyll and Hyde were the same person, but that didn't mean I wasn't a bit shocked at the moral of this story. I like the way the story is built up and I like the main character, Mr Utterson as well. It is a story that lingers in your mind after you've finished it.

[andreablythe · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I'm not sure the original Hyde lives up to the figure of threat and evil that pop culture has made him over the years. But this novel is short and fairly suspenseful — or it would be, if I didn't already know the answer to the mystery of Mr. Hyde and why Dr. Jekyll is protecting him. The story is quick and it's a classic worth visiting.

[scottcholstad · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A classic later surpassed by many but at the time, very original and quite good.

[alexthehunn · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I first read this tale as a child (I was a precocious and voracious reader). I was in my stage of being fascinated by horror movies so I couldn't wait to read this. I was simultaneously delighted and disappointed. The disappointement stemmed from the lack of lurid action. I wanted a monster. But I was enthralled by the notion that psychological monsters might be even worse. I was only in 5th grade - I had never thought of that. And of course, there was the masterful writing. While I didn't read just junk, I also hadn't been exposed to much great writing and this was among the best I'd read up to that point. It was well constructed and masterfully handled. I couldn't have expressed it such at the time, but I knew I was reading something good.

[margaretfield · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

might be the best crafted short story I've ever read

[aliceanna-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This story had to be ground-breaking in its day, but it seems a bit dated now. I enjoyed it though. It had the feel of a Sherlock Holmes mystery.

[kristelh_15 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A quick read of good and evil; Jekyll and Hyde. A classic use of the double.

[rsplenda477 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A great example of the theme of the duality of man, which all of us carry in our hearts. Stevenson exploits these fears in a well-structured, yet somewhat difficult, novel.

[dinadansfriend · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A classic, and quite interesting in spite of its function as a cliché-mill. The story, once laid out, has been reused with varying skill again and again. The real novel has a great deal more depths than is usually supposed by readers bent on a quick thrill. This edition is an attractive book and is a pleasure to handle, as well as wide-margined and easy to read.

[shaunesay · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is the first time I've ever read the original Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. I'll admit I had no idea it was written by the same author as Treasure Island, which I also have not read yet. I would not have put those two ideas to the same author, so it's been enlightening all around! It's also amazing to me what a short story this really was, only 94 pages, to have inspired so many adaptations and interpretations, movies, etc.

It was an interesting dark fantasy tale with an important lesson about giving in to our baser natures. The more we indulge them, the more it becomes who we are until we're no longer able to hide or control those tendencies.

[lisamaria_c · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This story of a doctor who splits off his dark side with a potion might have been much more impressive in its psychology of duality when published in 1886. The novella kept me reading from start to finish, without really moving me--the story is kept at one remove until it's last few chapters by being seen through the perspective of Utterson, Dr Jekyll's friend and lawyer, a rather bland figure. The last two chapters are letters from a friend and colleague of Jekyll, then finally Jekyll himself, but it feels like an abrupt end because we never get Utterson's reaction to the revelations in those letters. A novel that did actually impress was a modern retelling, Mary Reilly by Valerie Martin, telling the story from the perspective of Jekyll's maid, who is unnamed and only briefly mentioned in the original.

[lindaliu-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Very interesting. I thought I had read this before but perhaps the memory is from the various takes on this in film or other stories. A very short novel, which I could have finished in a day if I had not been looking at booking holidays instead. It is ultimately about the duality of personality and I think about evil that lurks in us all. Dr Jekyll stumbled on a way of separating his identities from his normal benevelent self from his undernourished evil self in the evil form of Mr Hyde. The mystery of the events from his lawyer friend's point of view drew me in quite quickly. The confession at the end by Dr Jekyll was intriguing in the way he explained what was happening, and it seems like the good doctor was not entirely separate from that evil self throughout his life. So ultimately a struggle of good against evil and the perils of what happens if you indulge that evil.

[stipe168 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

very entertaining story about the dark side of man. actually kind of freaky.. nicely done.

[jdubba_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Jekyll and Hyde is a cultural landmark for English speaking peoples, yet while the basic premise of the story must be known to all, I heretofore had never sat down and read the work in its original. It is interesting to see how our preconceptions can mingle with reality. Rather than a book of violent rampages from a large and monstrous Mr. Hyde, it is a very subtle work of slowly built suspense and chilling horror, far from the typical Hollywood caricature given to Mr. Hyde. And though not a hugely profound work, the portrayal of the fight between a man's passions and his reason was richer than the black and white, good versus evil I had assumed it would be. Since this work is very short in nature, more of a novella than a true novel, I would recommend anyone who knows the story to pick it up and give it a read, it might just change your perspective the next time your presented with the poorly drawn caricatures.

[fig2_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This creepy novel explores the good and evil found in all of us, as well as the marriage of science and mysticism, A fabulous horror classic!

[magadri-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I love the story. However, since nearly 98% of the population is familiar with this story, it is kind of a drag to read this since you know how everything unfolds. I also didn't find the way in which the story was told very captivating. It is such a thin book, and I had a terrible time getting through it. I actually skipped parts in this book because they were so dreadfully boring.

[jeanned_14 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I last read this book for a university assignment and visited it again for a Library Thing reading challenge. On this reading, I did not enjoy the style and structure nearly as much as previously. But I come away considering the imprint this work has had on our society. I am struck by its origins in a dream and its historical position as a precursor to Sigmund Freud's conceptualization of unconscious, socially unacceptable urges as drives of the id. And I consider Stevenson's warning as, in this century, we embrace an ever-increasing pace of scientific and technological advancement:But the temptation of a discovery so singular and profound at last overcame the suggestions of alarm.I will maintain my previous rating of 8 out of 10 stars, not for reading pleasure or literary structure, but as acknowledgment of its continuing legacy and provocative portrait of man's duality.

[jimnightshade · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

two and a half stars--the plot was great, and it is such an original idea that is so often warped today, but the writing style overall had trouble captivating me.

[samantha100_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Elegantly told and suspenseful, this classic story certainly stands the test of time. I read the Keynotes Classics edition. I especially appreciated the introductory key written by Michelle M. White. She provides interesting information about the author and offers valuable suggestions about what to look for in the story. As a result, I believe I got much more from this reading than I did when I first read it. Highly recommended.

[ctpress_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Robert Louis Stevensons nightmarish fable about the good and the evil in man - a thriller about the very nature of man - who are we in our inner being? Do we have two natures and can they be separated as Dr. Jekyll thinks? And what are the terrible consequences of his devilish experiment?When I read this novel I’m really transported to the foggy streets of London and want to take a stroll with Utterson and Enfield in the late afternoon and chat with them about Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and all the strange appearances. I’m absolutely fascinated by this story - it’s now my fourth reading. And this time it was as an audiobook read superbly by Scott Brick.

[dylkit · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The influence of Hogg's "Justified Sinner" is quite clear on this story, only Stevenson takes the idea one step further and internalises the dark side within his character of Dr Hyde, ready to be unleashed with the aid of chemical substances, rather than have it as a separate external influence on the character as Hogg does. I thought I knew the story well, but it was definitely worth reading the original. It's a much shorter book than I expected. I'm sure I read a novel once that told the story from the point of view of Dr Jekyll's maid that was far longer than Stevenson's story. I liked the non-linear way the story is told.

[universehall · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book truly does earn the title of "classic". It has suspense, interesting characters, a fine storyline, and something that some books that are considered "classics" are lacking: a point. You could argue about whether the true demon of the story is man's nature, science, or the Promethian tendency of the eponimous doctor. However, the essence of the story is the classic "tradgedy" plotline: the hubris of the lead character leads to his downfall. I do emphasize the word "tragedy" in my review, as it's definitely not a happy-fun-time kind of book. But if you don't go into it expecting that, you will probably be perfectly satisified. In the end, I would say that the main flaw of this book is that it is infuriatingly short. You could almost complain that this book is nothing more than an extended short story. However, from another viewpoint this could be a virtue; what's better than a classic novel that can be read in less than two hours?

[laphenix · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Curious, but quite unexceptional in all but concept. Much of the first half is merely discussion and speculation, and the second, all told through a document, and thus, there seems only a mere instant of action.

[pennsylady · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A very good audio Oct reread ...."split personality"....."dissociative identity disorder" ...psychological thriller