Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde - Robert Louis Stevenson
When a brute of a man tramples an innocent girl, apparently out of spite, two bystanders catch the fellow and force him to pay reparations to the girl''s family. The brute''s name is Edward Hyde. A respected lawyer, Utterson, hears this story and begins to unravel the seemingly manic behavior of his best friend, Dr. Henry Jekyll, and his connection with Hyde. Several months earlier, Utterson had drawn up an inexplicable will for the doctor naming Hyde as his heir in the event that he disappears.
We're all aware of this story, of course, but I'd never read it before, so I figured it should go on my list. It's a really short read, but fairly compelling, even though you know basically how it's all going to go. Which is kind of an interesting thing about reading some of the classics, particularly one like this. Nowadays, as I said, we all know the story, and know that Mr. Hyde is Dr. Jekyll. But when the book was first published, that wasn't common knowledge. So I kind of wonder what it must have been like to be in the same position as the main characters from whose point of view most of the story is told, and not know that they're one and the same until what must have been a horrifying reveal for the sensibilities of the time.
Ultimately, I thought it was quite worth the rather brief time it took to read it (it being only about 100 pages long), and I look forward to reading the longer Treasure Island, although I have some suspicions that I won't appreciate it nearly as much as a young boy would.
Next up: The Gargoyle, by Andrew Davidson
We're all aware of this story, of course, but I'd never read it before, so I figured it should go on my list. It's a really short read, but fairly compelling, even though you know basically how it's all going to go. Which is kind of an interesting thing about reading some of the classics, particularly one like this. Nowadays, as I said, we all know the story, and know that Mr. Hyde is Dr. Jekyll. But when the book was first published, that wasn't common knowledge. So I kind of wonder what it must have been like to be in the same position as the main characters from whose point of view most of the story is told, and not know that they're one and the same until what must have been a horrifying reveal for the sensibilities of the time.
Ultimately, I thought it was quite worth the rather brief time it took to read it (it being only about 100 pages long), and I look forward to reading the longer Treasure Island, although I have some suspicions that I won't appreciate it nearly as much as a young boy would.
Next up: The Gargoyle, by Andrew Davidson