Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Vladimir Nabokov, Robert Louis Stevenson, Dan Chaon

30 reviews

martyrbat's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Violence

Minor: Child death, Drug use, and Toxic friendship

insideunder's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

A perfectly accurate adaption of the original novella. A good read to introduce the source material to younger readers who may be put off by the 'antiquated' language of the original. A fast read, and I enjoyed the art of Daniel Ferren. A bit simple and perhaps too fast for a tense mystery, but still fun.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, and Murder

Minor: Medical content, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

laurajordensharris's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Murder, and Alcohol

essiie's review against another edition

dark sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Drug use

Minor: Classism

thequeercaseofmarius's review against another edition

dark informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

“…I thus drew steadily nearer to that truth, by whose partial discovery I have been doomed to such a dreadful shipwreck: that man is not truly one, but truly two.”

The legacy that Dr Jekyll and his alter ego, Mr Hyde, have left on the Western world is a strange one. Almost 140 years later, most people can still recognise these characters when they appear onscreen, perhaps even know of the original story they are from, and yet surprisingly few people can say that they’ve actually taken the time to read the novella. I’m here to tell you that it is absolutely worth your time to do so. 

While The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde unfortunately hasn’t aged as well as some of its contemporaries, its historical value is nonetheless fascinating as it presents a unique and complex insight into the 19th century psyche. However, I did find without the historical context it’s incredibly easy to miss a lot of the story. The Penguin edition with notes by Robert Mighall phenomenally helps with this, and I couldn’t recommend this version more. 

You can tell that Robert Louis Stevenson was an incredibly intelligent man, well-read on the current sciences of his time with equally impressive creativity to boot. I thoroughly enjoyed his writing style, I found it to be very vivid, moody, and even frightening at times. His use of suspense and terror as well is nothing short of remarkable, and I came to notice this more when reading the short stories I was previously unfamiliar with; The Body Snatcher and Olalla. They were great reads, I would say just as much as Jekyll and Hyde was. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Mental illness, Blood, Murder, and Alcohol

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Incest, Physical abuse, Suicide, Cannibalism, and Classism

Minor: Racism, Sexism, and Death of parent

I do believe it would be wrong to read these works without a level of cynicism. Partly what makes this collection so interesting, but also so backwards, was just how pseudoscientific Victorian era science really was. When reading Stevenson’s work, you start to realise how we have actually held onto many of these pseudoscientific beliefs in our collective unconscious, and noticing this has given me the incentive to finally dismantle it. However, if you find that rampant ableism is too much for your sensibilities, I would give this book a miss.

riverofhorton's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

 This was a very interesting and in places somewhat unexpected read. I knew the basic premise

that Jekyll and Hyde share the same body with Jekyll being the 'good' side and Hyde being the 'bad' side

, but I hadn't anticipated the subtext of repressed homosexuality contained within the Hyde character. I also hadn't expected one of the characters to be accepting of this,

but questioning of the perceived choice of partner

. I also went into this expecting some discussion of substance use based on other media, but I wasn't expecting

the suicide towards the end, I did find this to have been well done within the context of the story however.

Overall, I enjoyed this story and will likely re-read it in the future 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

orchidlilly's review against another edition

mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Well narrated, I liked the prose. points docked for being a generally ablest mess. I can condemn the past, and you know what? I think I will.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Death, Mental illness, and Suicide

Minor: Addiction, Body horror, Drug use, Gun violence, Medical content, Murder, Alcohol, and Classism

kananineko's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, and Violence

Minor: Body horror, Cursing, Suicide, and Blood

anemonima's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I spoiled myself reading the description of the book on the internet. It would have been so much better reading it knowing nothing about it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use and Murder

lovelynovellas's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Drug abuse, Drug use, Self harm, and Suicide attempt