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Welcome to the The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Buddy Read Discussion thread! This thread officially opens on October 10th and anyone can join at any time. Please keep in mind that spoilers are allowed in this thread but only up to the group's current reading place. Do not spoil the book if you've read further than the group. Any extra days can be used to catch up!

Each day we will be reading by chapters or page numbers. Page numbers are an approximation based on the hardcover or paperback that is the default on ŷ������. The suggested Buddy Read discussion schedule is as follows:

Oct 10: 50%
Oct 11: 50%


PARTICIPANTS
~ Mina
~ May
~ Althea
~ Raquel
~ Michelle
~ Cat

I'd love to participate in this buddy read, too :)

Cat wrote: "I'd love to participate in this buddy read, too :)"

Welcome! :)

Don't you hate when the prologue (in my case made by the translator) spoils you the ending of the story?

Because I do. UGH.

just started this and i feel like i'm going to finish it in a day

I'm confused which part was the spoiler? HAHA I'm also listening to it and repeated actually trying to find the spoiler XD

It was a comment of the translator so fortunately you won't have it xD

Bopeep wrote: "It was a comment of the translator so fortunately you won't have it xD"

Oh! Well that's very sucky of them, goodness.

I finished this today by the way HAHA how's it going for you guys?

I still haven't started it 🙈 Hopefully I'll at least start it by tonight

It's fine it's a fast read anyway :>

*fingers crossed* it is short, but also it's old, and I usually have problems getting into the writing.

Bopeep wrote: "Don't you hate when the prologue (in my case made by the translator) spoils you the ending of the story?

Because I do. UGH."

Aw that's too bad the translator spoiled the book for you!

I plan on starting this later in the day!

Finished this one. Super quick read.

Didn't find the writing style to be that hard to follow and it is not overly wordy as some of the old books can be.

Michelle wrote: "Finished this one. Super quick read.

Didn't find the writing style to be that hard to follow and it is not overly wordy as some of the old books can be."

same thoughts. And it's discussions on the duality of man was though-provoking

Althea | themoonwholistens �� wrote: "Michelle wrote: "Finished this one. Super quick read.

Didn't find the writing style to be that hard to follow and it is not overly wordy as some of the old books can be."

same thoughts. And it's..."

Agreed. good vs bad. not always black and white. Also nature vs nurture

I just started it, and since I don't know much about the story I have to say I'm little surprised that it's narrated by some random guy (maybe he's not that random, but I thought it'll be a first person story).

Finished it, but I'll probably reread the ending a bit tomorrow because I started drifting of at some parts.

It is short and does go by fast even though it has a bit to much description. When I saw the enormous paragraphs I got scared. I didn't really like it 😅 I thought I would but noup, however, I enjoyed the last chapter (but again, I'll have to reread it tomorrow).

I think one of the my problems with it was that I went in with the attitude that I'm reading any other book that I don't have to think much about it, and if I was going in with a more analytical attitude I think I would've enjoyed it more..

I must say, as a person whose English is not the native language, I’m having a hard time to understand what’s going on at some points 😂 it’s written in a more complicated way than I’m used to.

However, I was wondering, the choice of starting it today (World Mental Health Day) was on purpose?
Because it is perfect timing 👏

That was what I was afraid of, the writing being more than my usual 😂 however, as classics go this was okay.

Finished it too~

Yeah, I'm reading it in Spanish because once I tried to read it in English and it was deadly to me.

I like short stories like this. It's a pity that its general culture hat Mr Hyde and Dr Jekyll (view spoiler)[are the same person (hide spoiler)], and I'm sure I had enjoyed it more if I didn't know that little detail haha. The spoiler the translator did was (view spoiler)[that Hyde commited suicide... (hide spoiler)]

As Althea said, it's really thought-provoking. I'm still reading the letter Jekyll wrote to Utterson, but I'm always thinking about similarities on series or so, when one seems to have a normal life but they aren't what they seem.

I thought it was a first person story too, but I think it's nicely written as Utterson too! So nobody thinks that Jekyll and Hyde are the same person.

By the way, I will read the rest of the short stories this book has (Thrawn Janet, The Body Snatcher, Markheim and Olalla) , if anyone wants to comment them too~

😂😂😂 oh my god.. I really did fall asleep while listening to the last chapter because the translation spoiler is news to me. Yeah, definitely need to relisten to it.

ohmygosh I also didn't realize that (view spoiler)[Hyde committed suicide (hide spoiler)]... I guess I should relisten to the last part too HAHA

Like what Bopeep said I also wished that I could forget that Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (view spoiler)[are the same person (hide spoiler)]. I guess that's the downside of reading a classic 😹

@Cat I didn't even realize that I decided to start the thread on the same day as World Mental Health Day but it's a welcome coincidence <33

Well, the spoiler is a bit intuitive I think? (view spoiler)[Like when Utterson and the servant enter the rooms where Jekyll is, they find Hyde with something on his hands? And on the letter Jekyll says that he stops existing on that moment hoping that Hyde wouls be sometime brave enough to end with his life. (hide spoiler)] Or at least that's what I understood? maybe the translator tricked me and I'm now tricking you all too hahaha I'm sorrt in that case hahah

I just finished it and I agree with you guys. I went in expecting it to be in first person. It was nice having Utterson serve as the narrator, but I would've enjoyed the story more if I didn't already know about (view spoiler)[ Jekyl and Hyde being the same person (hide spoiler)].

I admit that at some points in the story, I had difficulty following along. Reading the chapter summaries on sparknotes ended up helping me. (view spoiler)[ From my understanding, I'm pretty sure Jekyl committed suicide (hide spoiler)]

It was a thought provoking story in general! I liked the themes presented in this book.

I listened to the last chapter again, and now that I finished it without falling a sleep I have some things to say.

(view spoiler)[ I like how the Jekyll vs. Hyde age difference is a thing, like Hyde is the way he is because when Jekyll was a whole Jekyll he was more good than bad, which reminds me of that story about two wolves. Everyone has two wolves in them, one good and one bad, and the one you feed gets stronger and wins.

But then again, even though Jekyll's "bad" side is not a part of him, does that make him good? I think not, because he shares his memory with Hyde and he knew about all the atrocities Hyde had done and yet he didn't feel bad. He enjoyed the fact that he could get away with it.

Also, nice play on words for Hyde. Hyde=Hide/hidden referring to Jekyll's hidden persona. (hide spoiler)]

I just read the main ideas on sparknotes too and damn (view spoiler)[ the house and laboratory presenting Jekyll and Hyde. Wonderful. (hide spoiler)]

mina wrote: "I listened to the last chapter again, and now that I finished it without falling a sleep I have some things to say.

I like how the Jekyll vs. Hyde age difference is a thing, like Hyde is the way ..."

I liked the wordplay too!

I just snagged a free copy of this from iBooks - can I still be part of the Buddy read or am I too late? I see technically the dates were yesterday and today but the book isn't too long. I'm ready to start reading!

Yeah, join us. And we can discus it when you finish :D

�����Ի�������˫S���Բ�������ڳ��ٴǰ��������� wrote: "I just snagged a free copy of this from iBooks - can I still be part of the Buddy read or am I too late? I see technically the dates were yesterday and today but the book isn't too long. I'm ready ..."

yeah no problem! you're welcome to join :)

Ooh I like that "whichever wolf you feed" analogy, and the outcome of the story is basically incorporating that.

Loved the play on words as well and it was more obvious when (view spoiler)[he made that "I'll be Mr. Seek" joke (hide spoiler)]

The themes were also really great and were my favorite part. Was it the characters for you guys that made you rate it lower?

Honestly, I don't know why, but I think that the main reason was that I knew the thing about Jekyll and Hyde, I would've loved to be shocked by that fact. I just didn't have that feeling when you read an amazing book and then rate it 4 or 5 stars. Or maybe I wasn't paying much attention to the book to begin with, because I really enjoyed the last chapter and would rate it a 4*.

I guess for me, I rated it 3 stars since I had higher expectations for this book and was a little disappointed by it. I preferred the last quarter of the book.

Also, the way the story was written didn't really work for me. Plus, the fact that it wasn't a surprise for me affected my reading experience.

It was a good classic overall and I can see why a lot of people like it!

I liked the overall concept, lesson, and symbolism of the book--that cannot be denied. But what lost me was the skipping around amongst the characters. We were following the lawyer, Utterson, and then in the climax of the book the letter from Dr. Jekyll is written to his fellow doctor and then we go through his servant. So overall, this blurring of lines toward the end made things feel inconsistent for me. I don't know why the whole book wasn't just written through Jekyll/Hyde. Or the Doctor friend. Or the lawyer couldn't do the big reveal at Jekyll's house.

Like most of you had said, because this was a classic I already knew going in what the twist was going to be. That surprisingly didn't ruin my enjoyment of this book though. I think that's because there were other parts that ended up surprising me, like how it was told from the perspective of his friend Utterson.

I'm actually glad the story wasn't told from the perspective of Jekyll because then the big twist couldn't have happened. I wish it would've stayed in Utterson's perspective though, or at least have one more chapter at the end where we get his reaction to learning that his friend (view spoiler)[is Mr. Hyde and is therefore dead (hide spoiler)].

What I enjoyed: That the writing was easier to follow than other classics, Utterson (he was such a good friend), and the themes (if you enjoyed the themes of this book but haven't read Dorian Gray yet I recommend checking it out!)

What I didn't enjoy: I wish the book had been just a bit longer. I like that it's straightforward, but having a little more evilness from Hyde would've made this book much more scary for me. As it is it doesn't really feel like horror. Did anyone else feel the same way?

I'm glad I finally got around to reading this because for the last six years I've been reading a webcomic called The Search for Henry Jekyll. It's a different take on the story of Jekyll and Hyde that I love, and it's still not over. While I was reading it was fun coming across the differences between the webcomic and the original story (in the webcomic Utterson used to be a servant to Hyde but then left him to become a police inspector).

@Raquel I liked it too that the writing was not the usual kind for classics. Interesting, I tried reading once Dorian Gray but I just couldn't, maybe I'll try it again but now in English.

And, yes, I agree it doesn't feel like horror.

mina wrote: "@Raquel I liked it too that the writing was not the usual kind for classics. Interesting, I tried reading once Dorian Gray but I just couldn't, maybe I'll try it again but now in English.

And, yes..."

I will admit Dorian Gray is a bit harder to get into because the writing is more difficult and the story can drag a big, but I felt like the resolution and lesson of the story more than made up for it.

I've read a lot of horror histories from that time (The golden era of horror, we could say?) and none of them seemed like horror stories to me... But they were at that time.

it's interesting to see through literature how the world changed.