Treasure Island and The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

by Robert Louis Stevenson

Treasure Island is an adventure novel by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson, narrating a tale of "buccaneers and buried gold". First published as a book on 23 May 1883, it was originally serialized in the children's magazine Young Folks between 1881 and 1882 under the title Treasure Island or, the mutiny of the Hispaniola with Stevenson adopting the pseudonym Captain George North.
Traditionally considered a coming-of-age story, Treasure Island is a tale known for its atmosphere, characters and action, and also as a wry commentary on the ambiguity of morality — as seen in Long John Silver — unusual for children's literature every now and again. It is one of the most frequently dramatized of all novels. The influence of Treasure Island on popular perceptions of pirates is enormous, including treasure maps marked with an "X", schooners, the Black Spot, tropical islands, and one-legged seamen carrying parrots on their shoulders.

The work is commonly associated with the rare mental condition often spuriously called "split personality", referred to in psychiatry as dissociative identity disorder, where within the same body there exists more than one distinct personality.[4] In this case, there are two personalities within Dr Jekyll, one apparently good and the other evil; completely opposite levels of morality. The novella's impact is such that it has become a part of the language, with the very phrase "Jekyll and Hyde" coming to mean a person who is vastly different in moral character from one situation to the next.

Genres: Classics

313 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1886

About the author

Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet, and travel writer, and a leading representative of English literature. He was greatly admired by many authors, including Jorge Luis Borges, Ernest Hemingway, Rudyard Kipling and Vladimir Nabokov.

Most modernist writers dismissed him, however, because he was popular and did not write within their narrow definition of literature. It is only recently that critics have begun to look beyond Stevenson's popularity and allow him a place in the Western canon.

Reviews

[Gordan Karlic · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes books become too popular for their own good and here we have two books that would fall into that category.
Treasure Island is full of "cliches" (the thing is, this is original, but you heard it so many times in popular culture, it is has become cliche when you finally read it).
Still, a plot is good, a story isn't too long and there is a reason why "pirate" genre is so popular, it is a fun adventure.
About Dr. Jekyll and Mister Hyde...
No mystery.
You know they are one and the same person, so no surprise at all, but the story is classic and it is really short.
Really nothing else to say about it.
Overall deserving grade 4.

[Al Burke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Do you really need a review of either of these books? They've been around forever. However, I listened to the audio version, and it was fantastic, with a particular nod to Treasure Island with it's large and diverse cast of pirate-y characters.

[Mladen Krečak · Rating 3 out of 5]

4+2...

[Ana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dr. Jekyll i gospodin Hyde 3.5*

[Niyayesh Mmz · Rating 4 out of 5]

نمی‌دونم چی باید بگم. ولی خوشحالم خوندمش. حالا که همه چیز تموم شده واقعاً برام جالبه و به نظرم ارزش یکیارخوندن داشت داستان قشنگی داشت و دلم می‌خواست Hyde خودم رو ببینم.

[Gabriela Maráková · Rating 5 out of 5]

Podivný případ doktora Jekylla a pana Hyda - 5*
Ostrov pokladov - 3*

[Dong Luo · Rating 3 out of 5]

应该在小时候看的，现在看来已觉普通

[Nina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Podivný prípad doktora Jekylla a pána Hyda: 4.5⭐
Ostrov pokladov: 3.5⭐

[Carol · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really had a hard time rating this because I couldn't decide if I liked it or not(I guess I'm leaning towards not-my husband really likes it though I'm wondering if this theme resonates more with men than women). It deals with the evil and good that is in each one of us and how we feed one or the other side of ourselves by our actions and our thoughts. The writing style was very similar to Frankenstein which I didn't really like either. It is a very quick read, if you're curious you could get through it in just a few days.

[Jozo Mandić · Rating 3 out of 5]

It wasn't what I thought it would be. Cartoon is way too better.