Kidnapped

By far, this has been the best book I've read this summer (and yes, I know there have only been three...) and also one of the best I've read in a long time. I have to send out a HUGE thank you to Sarah, who finally convinced me to read this book (honestly, the best way to get me to read anything is to put a copy in my hands, and tell me to read). I'll admit that at first, I had my doubts. True, she had told me wonderful things about this book, and I always hold Sarah's recommendations in high regard, but as I started reading, I wasn't totally convinced. But, all of a sudden, I just found myself grabbed by the shirtfront as it were, and dragged right into the action. This is an AMAZING book!

Kidnapped is the story of David Balfour. After the death of his father, he is sent to his uncle Ebenezer with a mysterious letter. His uncle, a strange, secretive man, tells him that he owes him a small amount for an inheritance, and after attempting to have him killed off, gets him kidnapped and sent off to the Carolinas to be sold into slavery. On the ship, he meets Alan Breck, a hot-headed young man from the Scottish Highlands. Together, the two of them get into all sorts of trouble, and set off on an adventure to earn David's inheritance back from his corrupt uncle, and to save Alan from the gallows.

I cannot say how much I loved this book! Stevenson is a master with words, and I can guarantee that I'm going to be reading more of his books in the future. Of course, I already read The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde last summer, and I'll be reading it again this summer for my LXG Reading Challenge. But, I also hope to be able to read Treasure Island sometime in the future. I'm not sure what else Stevenson wrote....does anyone else know? If not, I can always Google it, haha.

When I learned that much of the dialogue was phonetically written in a Scottish dialect, I was afraid I wouldn't be able to understand it. However, I was delighted to find that it was not at all hard to decipher once you started reading for a bit. In fact, it was pretty easy to understand. And even better, I found that my limited knowledge of Middle English actually helped me greatly in understanding some of the more unusual terms that weren't mentioned in the book's meager gloss.... ken and bairn are terms that one doesn't hear every day, and it might have been confusing if I didn't know them from somewhere else, first. (Just for the record, they mean "know" and "child" respectively).

Overall, a wonderful book! Please read!

The End of Jekyll and Hyde

I just finished The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde today, and I am thrilled with it! It was a wonderful book, a fulfilling experience, and a pleasure to read. In fact, I highly recommend it.

I know what a lot of you are thinking (because I know everything-- just kidding!) I already know how this story goes! I've seen the movie; I've heard the plot. I know what's going to happen! Well, yes and no. It's true that the story of Jekyll and his evil counterpart Hyde has become ingrained in our minds from so many sources, but even so, the story the book tells is very different from the movies:

First of all, there are almost no women. Dr. Jekyll does not love a pretty young woman of a good family, while Hyde frequents a prostitute. Jekyll is fifty and single. The only women Hyde encounters are a young girl whom he tramples on, and a grown woman whom he slaps.

Second, it is not the pure and simple Good Jekyll verses Evil Hyde. Jekyll is not the good half. He is the collaboration of the two halves. Hyde is always in Jekyll who calls himself a hypocrite. However, Jekyll is absent in Hyde, who has no good in him whatsoever.

Third, Jekyll and Hyde do not communicate to each other. In the musical Jekyll and Hyde (specifically in the song Confrontation), the two parts interact with each other. However, Jekyll refers to himself as Hyde several times in the last chapter of the book, saying that as Hyde, he felt powerful, young, and devious. But, the two parts do not actually talk, since both are aspects of Dr. Jekyll himself.

Finally, while Jekyll is becoming more and more of Hyde (who is a part of him), Hyde starts to become Jekyll, for as we find out, there are scenes when Hyde struggles to find the antidote to bring himself back to Jekyll, cries "like a woman or a lost soul," and eventually kills himself, crying out before he does, "Utterson...for God's sake, have mercy!" (Robert Louis Stevenson -- The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde).

I was mesmerized by this little tome. It was a fascinating read that left me feeling fulfilled, like one who has just eaten a wonderful dinner. And yes, I did devour this book. (figuratively of course; paper does not appeal to my taste buds ;3)

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Today was my Tuesday library run, and while there, I found a copy of Robert Louis Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. I even managed to snag an edition that is sure to be a total treat for a devoted bookworm/history buff such as myself; it's just bursting with annotations and notes about the book itself and the history of the time period, importance of names, etc. I've only read the introduction so far (twenty glorious pages) and I've learned so much about Stevenson, his life, his family, the creation of this book, and predecessors that might have inspired it's creation. This is the stuff that I love! The history, the little tidbits and facts...this is what makes a book so exciting! I'm going to have to check out this series for more annotated versions of the classics; they enrich the reading experience.

Speaking of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, there are a few videos I wanted to post along with this. The first two are from the musical Jekyll and Hyde (an amazing production) and the last one is from one of my favorite TV shows when I was little: Arthur. (Yes, I know I'm too old for that show, and I don't watch it anymore, but the song is very catchy and picking up the book reminded me of it).