Rating: 
Summary: Stylish; Excellent Heroine; Disappointing Finale
Review: "Mary Reilly" is a very smooth and stylish read. It goes down easily. Martin creates a sustained mood of low level suspense.
I cared enough about this book to have been disappointed by the ending, though.
I'd still recommend the book, for its powerful and appealing heroine, and its stylish evocation of Victorian-Gothic Romance -- three contrasting historical periods, but one fun literary genre.
Warning! This review will hint at the book's ending, but will not spell it out. If you are familiar with Robert Louis Stevenson's "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hide," on which "Mary Reilly" is based, you won't learn anything new.
"Mary Reilly" has one of the most riveting openings I've ever read, if not the most. It's a description of an episode of child abuse.
For the first time in my life, I was hooked from the very first line of a novel, and could not put the book down. I had to know what happened to that child -- even though, of course, since the child is the Mary Reilly of the title, I knew that she would survive.
Martin doesn't plunge to the depths of child abuse, but she writes of the surface with such power that I had the feeling that I was in the hands of a master.
Martin deeply impressed me with the terror and vulnerability of the abused child, as well as that child's resilience and drive to survive, and the twisted sadism of the abuser. All in a very few brief words and pages.
But that's just the opening pages.
The bulk of the book is made up of Reilly's crush on her "Master," Dr. Henry Jekyll. Reilly's history of having been an abused child is mentioned as part of the reason why Mary has this crush; like her master, Mary has a horrible, hidden wound that drives her apart from the rest of society.
It's the classic Gothic set-up, enshrined in literature at least since "Jane Eyre." Mary Reilly is a bright, principled, and spunky girl consigned by fate to a lowly life, that of serving her "Master."
Her Master, of course, is intense, mysterious and unconventionly attractive.
Like his spunky young servant, he does not fit into society's pre-ordained classifications.
And he pays an inordinate amount of attention to his servant.
He doesn't make clumsy or lewd passes at her; rather, he watches her, converses with her, confides in her, conspires with her in a way that breaks social expectations, and expresses frank admiration of her intelligence and spirit.
As is traditional in Gothic romance literature, Mary and Master's flirtation consists mostly of muted and aborted conversations. They have to be aborted -- for this upper class doctor and his serving girl to converse is against the rules.
Again, if you've read "Jane Eyre" or the thousand other Gothic romances modeled on it, you've read all this before.
If you enjoyed it in "Jane Eyre," you'll enjoy it here. This reader certainly did.
I did yearn for, and did not encounter, something more, though. This book is more of a novella than a novel; Mary has little to no life outside of her truncated encounters with her Master, and the novel has little to no other plot. This singleness of narrative strand makes the book a quick and easy read, but also something of a lighter read than I wanted it to be.
There is one extra feature here that Martin could have done more with, but she did not. The taboo intimacies between Jekyll and Mary reek of the power abuse of an older, established man of a young and vulnerable woman.
Dr. Jekyll is obviously arousing expectations in Mary that he will never satisfy. He uses her, on her day off, to do some truly vile tasks for him.
How does Martin feel about this? How does the novel want the reader to feel?
Most importantly -- Martin did such a fine job of depicting a believably perceptive, articulate, courageous, spunky, integral creature in Reilly that I never really believed the scenes in which Reilly lets Master walk all over her. I wanted Reilly to at least acknowledge that she knew that she was being used by someone who would probably only hurt her.
Too, Mary was as fetching to me as she was to Dr. Jekyll, and, so, I wanted to spend more time with her, and observe her inhabiting a richer world.
At a certain part in the novel it began to drag, for me; I felt that I'd gotten the point of all these hushed, rushed conversations between Mary, usually on her knees, with her skirts tied up, scrubbing something, and her Master, standing Masterfully over her, observing her carefully, complimenting her, finding some excuse to touch her hand, etc.
And I wanted to something else to happen.
When something else did happen, I was disappointed by that something else. Without revealing the ending, I can say that Mary behaved in a way that went against her every act so far, and that, I felt, betrayed both the spirit of the book, and of the genre.
Part of the point of "Jane Eyre," a book that this book bases itself on as much as on "Dr. Jekyll," is that Jane had so much self-respect that she was not, ultimately, willing to destroy herself to have the man she loved.
Again, I'd still recommend this book. I liked 99% of it so much that I've already "rescued" it by inventing an alternative ending to it, one in which the final Mary we see is more like the Mary of the rest of the book.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting idea with disappointing results.
Review: Certain aspects of this book are really impressive. The first-person narrator, Mary Reilly, tells the story in an understated, controlled tone that lends believability to the fantastic events. Perhaps even more important, as a character she is fascinating: a woman with an intensely disturbing past and a humble present, she is damaged yet likable, and full of odd but understandable tendencies, like her desire to record her negative feelings for her abusive father in a journal, so she won't forget one day in old age. And it's an intriguing process she undergoes as she simultaneously comes to terms with her hard feelings and begins to ignore the Victorian constraints of the era and express her affection (in subtle ways, of course) for her "master." No alter-ego for Mary; she's ultimately able to face her darkness and apparently is better off for it.However, in my opinion, this book can't decide whether it wants to be a thriller about a mad scientist or a story about a woman's psychosexual odyssey and, ultimately, it fails at both. Mary's character grows but her story tapers off in a skimpy conclusion. As for Dr. Jeckyll, you never really find out what he was up to in that laboratory. After having read, in my paperback copy, dozens of excerpts from gushing newspaper reviews, I was disappointed.
Rating: 
Summary: Oy vey!
Review: I had to read this book for school and boy what a drag it was! This book is so focused on symbolism that it made me want to puke! If your like good literature stick to the classics.
Rating: 
Summary: Mary Hartman! Mary Hart...uh, oh - Mary Reilly! Mary Reilly!
Review: I have been trying to learn about the system of using servants in 19th & 20th c. England, and somewhere I read that this book gave a good picture of what it was like. Alas, I should have just gotten it from the library. The idea behind this story is a good one, but unfortunately what we got amounts to a dressed-up soap opera, sloppily written, pointless and uninvolving. I found myself counting the pages to the end, and I learned absolutely nothing new or useful about how servants worked. It's rare that I buy a book I decide not to keep, but this is one.
Rating:
Summary: Mary Hartman! Mary Hart...uh, oh - Mary Reilly! Mary Reilly!
Review: I have been trying to learn about the system of using servants in 19th & 20th c. England, and somewhere I read that this book gave a good picture of what it was like. Alas, I should have just gotten it from the library. The idea behind this story is a good one, but unfortunately what we got amounts to a dressed-up soap opera, sloppily written, pointless and uninvolving. I found myself counting the pages to the end, and I learned absolutely nothing new or useful about how servants worked. It's rare that I buy a book I decide not to keep, but this is one.
Rating: 
Summary: Quietly Creepy Thriller Delivers
Review: I read this so long after it first came out that it was hard to get the image of Julia Roberts and John Malkovich from the film out of my head (two actors I loathe). But it is a great tribute to Valerie Martin's crisp writing that you soon forget it was ever a film, much less who starred in it, and are caught up in the quietly creepy spell she weaves as a housemaid in Victorian London slowly discovers the truth about her Master, Mr. Jekyll, and his strange, brutish assistant, Mr. Hyde. Martin wisely allows the story to unfold slowly, and she brilliantly ups the ante with the threat of impending violence and its ultimate tragic ending. Her portrait of Mary Reilly, an abused housemaid who finds solace and kinship in her strange master, is poignant, richly detailed, and gorgeously written. Forget the film, read this remarkable book and treat yourself to first-rate story telling and writing.
Rating:
Summary: Mary Reilly's diaries: are they true?
Review: I wonder this now that I have finished this book. Was this book formed from actual diaries of a poor housemaid secretly in love with her employer, or is this just a creative approach at writing? Don't be misled by the movie - the book is actually fascinating! Some scenes in the movie made absolutely no sense to me, so I had to check out the book. They are almost completely different. There are objects that make them bear resemblance with each other, but you will be very surprised at the difference. The movie was very exaggerated. Be prepared for some very boring chapters as well. For example: when Mary plants the herb garden. It goes on for pages and pages it seems! And her somewhat paranoid mind that actually makes you pause, feeling a little paranoid as well, and wonder "Was Dr. Jekyll's boot really there? Is it a senseless trick of Hyde's?" Umm...what does it matter??? Who on earth would move a shoe...just to be moving it??? Be patient, it gets better. Once it gets going, you can't put it down. You'll wish for more after you've finished. It ends so suddenly that it feels incomplete. A hard to find book, but worth the search. If you wouldn't mind a used copy, try http://www.half.com where I purchased mine. They always have it in stock.
Rating:
Summary: Mary Reilly's diaries: are they true?
Review: I wonder this now that I have finished this book. Was this book formed from actual diaries of a poor housemaid secretly in love with her employer, or is this just a creative approach at writing? Don't be misled by the movie - the book is actually fascinating! Some scenes in the movie made absolutely no sense to me, so I had to check out the book. They are almost completely different. There are objects that make them bear resemblance with each other, but you will be very surprised at the difference. The movie was very exaggerated. Be prepared for some very boring chapters as well. For example: when Mary plants the herb garden. It goes on for pages and pages it seems! And her somewhat paranoid mind that actually makes you pause, feeling a little paranoid as well, and wonder "Was Dr. Jekyll's boot really there? Is it a senseless trick of Hyde's?" Umm...what does it matter??? Who on earth would move a shoe...just to be moving it??? Be patient, it gets better. Once it gets going, you can't put it down. You'll wish for more after you've finished. It ends so suddenly that it feels incomplete. A hard to find book, but worth the search. If you wouldn't mind a used copy, try http://www.half.com where I purchased mine. They always have it in stock.
Rating:
Summary: A rare and spellbinding novel that moves you 'till the end.
Review: In this book we take a look at the diary of Mary, a traumatized character who works in the mansion of Dr. Jekyll and his assistant, Mr. Hyde. Throughout the book Ms. Martin does an excellent job of telling Mary's story through her journal entries, starting at her troubled childhood to when she develops a keen relationship with her "master," Dr. Jekyll. Throughout the time in which this book takes place, Ms. Martin gives us a fresh look on the famous Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde traedy through the eyes of a young girl who is seeing that the person that she cares about most is being destroyed by his work. Although I agree that this book was extremely well written, I have to say that the ending lets the excitement exceed. Through several chapters of very extreme detail, the ending comes up as a dead halt with no where else to look. As soon as the ending had come up I felt as if I was driving and I came up to a dead end and did not know where else to go to look for all the questions that arose in my mind.
Rating:
Summary: Mary Reilly's Emotional Appeal
Review: K. Gordon
Dr. Laurie Leach
WRI1150H
8 December 2004
Mary Reilly's Emotional Appeal
Mary Reilly was written in 1990 by Valerie Martin to provide another perspective to The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, which was written by Robert Louis Stevenson in 1886. Overall, I thought the book was successful in answering some of the questions I had about what it was like to work as Dr. Jekyll's servant. Although reading The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde prior to reading Mary Reilly provided a more broad perspective on the several murders that took place, Mary Reilly was far more pleasurable to read as it appeals to more emotions.
The story began with Mary's journal entry about having been locked up in the closet and clawed by a massive rat picked off the street. It was horrifying and infuriating at the same time. I couldn't believe that a father could do such a thing to his daughter. Her hands became scarred and horrendous-looking. I can't even imagine what it was like for her growing up being the kid in school that no one wants to come by because of the appearance of her hands. It wasn't her fault that her dad took pleasure in torturing her. Her mother couldn't even help her out because she was too afraid. Luckily, Mary was able to leave her father and started working for Dr. Jekyll.
Mary Reilly was told through journal entries, which were easier to follow than the character perspective jumping seen in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Every day, she worked on her hands and knees serving Dr. Jekyll. Once every week, she'd have a half-day to herself. Back in primitive society, women didn't have that much freedom. This whole novel made me grateful that the ways of society have changed and for the better, if I should say. Although Dr. Jekyll wasn't a very demanding individual and really looked after his servants better than most other elite individuals, just the thought of not being able to do as you please was suffocating.
What made this novel appealing was the developing friendship or companionship between Mary and Dr. Jekyll. This was definitely taboo back in the days where servants were not allowed to have any special relationship with their masters. As I read about their conversations with each other, I couldn't help but hope that they'd defy the standards of having no real relation between master and servant. I hoped that they'd somehow end up together. Of course, romance novels were always interesting to read. Readers often get caught up in finding out what'll happen next and if the lovers will finally do what they desire. That's what happened in this novel. A little romance made Mary Reilly all the more irresistible to put down.
Mary Reilly differed from the other novel with this insinuating romance along with more suspenseful events. I thought reading Mary Reilly was far more horrifying than reading The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The moments when Mary would say that she felt something strange in the room, I would think that it was Mr. Hyde. Whenever I thought about Mr. Hyde lingering around in the room somewhere, I remember a movie character that scared the living daylights out of me as a child. It still does to this day. This character was a stubby but gory-looking leprechaun that went after some teenagers that stole his gold coins. Whenever Mary would be frightened to see Mr. Hyde, I would also get the chills thinking about the leprechaun. I didn't know when Mr. Hyde would come into view and that was what kept me on my toes.
Several of Mary's encounters with Mr. Hyde really made me cringe. There was this one part when he smears his bloody hands over her face. This gave me chicken skin and I had to take a moment to myself before reading on. I've never had that kind of reaction to reading a book before. There was also the time where Mr. Hyde sank his teeth into Mary's shoulder and held her in a presumably intimate way that made me overcome with this mixture or anger and sympathy for her. I thought "oh no! He's going to rape her! Fight back Mary!" Fortunately, Mr. Hyde stopped and I found myself extremely relieved. I thought "geeze, this book never fails to surprise me."
Another part of the novel that made me sorrowful was when Mary's mom had died. The poor mother couldn't read any of Mary's written letters to her. When she passed away, the landlord sold all her belongings and stored her body into some dingy hole in the basement. This woman definitely had a difficult life living in the shadow of her husband. Because Mary worked all the time and her half-day wasn't enough time for her to visit her mother, she probably had many regrets not being able to spend more time with her mother. If I was her, I would've regretted it so badly. Her mother's death encouraged me to live my life to the fullest, taking it with full stride so that when I die, I won't have anything to regret.
Mary Reilly was by far the most suspenseful novel I have ever read. The journal entry format of the novel created a more personal and intimate atmosphere. It made me feel as if I was Mary scrambling about the house cleaning this and that and talking to the doctor. This in turn, made it easier for me to take on Mary's emotions of fear and compassion for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde versus reading the story as if I was an onlooker. Because Mary Reilly was easier to follow with Mary's narration and because it had a more profound effect on my emotions than The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, I'd have to say Mary Reilly was more enjoyable and entertaining to read.
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