| The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson Genres: Classics, Science Fiction, Historical Fiction |
I was surprised to find that this story was actually relayed mostly by Dr. Jekyll's friend Mr. Utterson through his personal supposition and conjecture. It is not until the very end of the book that the reader hears Dr. Jekyll's own account of what is happening.
Everyone knows the basics of the story, but don't be too hasty to assume that all preconceptions of the story are true. There were still some surprises to the plot that I had been unaware of.
I could not help thinking of The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. Both books have a moral lesson buried in the plot. Both have the seeming black and white with no shades of gray idealism regarding morals. Dr. Jeckyll was the epitome of good. Mr. Hyde was evil incarnate. It is hard to understand why Jekyll couldn't just cheat at cards or similar instead of turning himself into a being straight from the bowels of hell to sow his wild oats.
This is a very short book, under 100 pages, and definitely worth the short time that it takes to read.
4 stars
As with most classics, this novel is within the public domain and available for download as a free ebook on both Amazon and Goodreads.
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