Mary Reilly

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Summary: Who is Edward Hyde? That's what Mary wants to know......
Review: Learn how Mary Reilly lives & what she does in this wonderful book. By this if you are lucky to find a copy!

Rating:
Summary: Good plot, good story, but a bit confusing
Review: Mary Reilly is a well-written story about a girl who leaves her brutal father and goes to work for Dr. Jekyll. Mary's master is trusting her with more secrets through out the book, and Mary finds herself falling for this man, or at least fantasying about him a lot. Parts of this book I found confusing. Supposedly she is writing in a diary everyday about her master, but I can only remember her doing that at the beginning of the story. The first chapter of the book really draws you into it but after that you don't get anymore excitement until Dr. Jekyll's assistant, Edward Hyde comes. After that Mary's master becomes more and more insane. Before that it was kind of repetitious, Mary goes on about how "Master's still sick", or "I had to run an errand for Master today". After you get through a couple of boring parts you find yourself reading a book you can't put down. I liked this book though I think the author, Valerie Martin, could have made it a bit more interesting, but she does have a very good writing style and gives you a good picture of what is going on.

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Summary: delicous Victorian spine-tingler
Review: This book is fantastic! Complex, meaty characters (especially the wounded-and fascinating-Mary), meticulously researched period details, plenty of atmosphere, AND a suspensful plot. Not your typical thriller, definately. Martin digs deep beneath the surface of the classic Victorian supernatural tale and comes up with a deep, penetrating look at nineteenth-century neurosis. The simplicity and directness of the language only serve to make the story more moving and disturbing-displaying the author's impressive restraint and flair for creating dead-on characters. The ending seemed a little underdeveloped, perhaps a bit disappointing after several chapters of tense buildup, but overall this is a minor complaint. This is one book that truly deserves the oft-abused term, "page-turner", and delivers much more. Read it already!

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Summary: An Interesting Book if You Have Nothing Else
Review: This book is not horrible, but it is very slow moving. I loved the rich description of Mary's everyday activities; they brought an historical reality to the work which is often missing in period pieces. But her accented speaking and (purposely) poorly written entries (to give Mary's writing historical authenticity) become tiresome. The plot is heavily based around events from the original Jeckyll and Hyde tale; it is very much a piece of fan fiction, so to speak, and in some respects Mary is - literally - a "Mary Sue", or a character inserted into a created world as a placeholder for the author. Also, I was annoyed that Mary's story ended with that of her master, and that no clues were left as to how her future proceeded. Read it if you have time.

Rating:
Summary: An Interesting Book if You Have Nothing Else
Review: This book is not horrible, but it is very slow moving. I loved the rich description of Mary's everyday activities; they brought an historical reality to the work which is often missing in period pieces. But her accented speaking and (purposely) poorly written entries (to give Mary's writing historical authenticity) become tiresome. The plot is heavily based around events from the original Jeckyll and Hyde tale; it is very much a piece of fan fiction, so to speak, and in some respects Mary is - literally - a "Mary Sue", or a character inserted into a created world as a placeholder for the author. Also, I was annoyed that Mary's story ended with that of her master, and that no clues were left as to how her future proceeded. Read it if you have time.

Rating:
Summary: A Brilliant, Enduring Novel of Stunning Imagination
Review: Valerie Martin may be one of the two or three most accomplished writers of fiction of our time. She may also be the most misunderstood. It's rare that I take exception to other reviews here, but the most recent ones posted about Mary Reilly are so sadly misinformed, they need addressing. To begin with, to the reader who wasn't sure, the book is a NOVEL, not a history. It is a fictional take on another NOVEL, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson. To the reader who was confused by the movie: the movie was so egregiously awful I tell everyone never to see it. It helps to have read Stevenson's novel, but not necessary at all. Mary Reilly was out of print for some years, a publishing sin, and it's right and proper it's been returned to the public. The novel is, simply put, perfectly constructed. Read it once for the powerful story of a doomed domestic and her equally doomed employer, then read it again for the poetic spareness and emotional wallop of the language. The opening chapter, a letter Mary writes to Dr. Jekyll about her subjection to one of the most catastrophic cases of child abuse you could imagine, sets up the framework for the novel. Mary's father nearly ruined her because she broke a cup. Much later, Mr. Hyde nearly rapes her--as he's breaking a cup. The duality of the images throughout the book mirrors the duality of Dr. Jekyll's spirit, as well as dualities in life and philosophy multiplying in the Jekyll household. The gardening episodes which so bored one reader are a subtle symbol of the creation theme: so much work to create, so little time to destroy. They also mark the difference between Mary and Jekyll. She creates good, he creates evil, although unwittingly.

The plot follows two lines: the unuttered romantic love between Mary and Dr. Jekyll, and the comparison of Hyde, not to Jekyll, but to Mary's father. It's a brilliant device, and works itself out in ever more elegant ways. Mary, the rare Victorian domestic who is literate, seeks in Dr. Jekyll the emotional response of a father and a lover. Dr. Jekyll, in turn, seeks from Mary the emotional and intellectual response of a lover/wife and a best friend. You want it to work for them. Oh, you do so desperately want it to. But you know the ending for Dr. Jekyll, and it remains for Valerie Martin's incredible imagination to weave in Mary's hopeless end according to Stevenson's original plot. I taught this book in the classroom for years, and of the hundreds of students who read it, NOT ONE ever disliked it.

Approach Mary Reilly as an unfolding map of literary treasure and you will find more gold than most works of fiction can even hint it. Five stars aren't enough for a horror novel which is a romantic novel which is a suspense novel which is an historical novel. Mary Reilly is unlike anything else you will ever read. I thank Valerie Martin every time I pick up this book for giving us so great a literary gift.

Rating:
Summary: Simply literary pefection.
Review: Valerie Martins "Mary Reilly" is a beautiful piece of American literature. It portrays the cheractor in a fashion that seems more real than any I've ever encountered. I apriciate that such a story was told, and in such a fashion that the book became impossible to put down.I would like to thank Ms./Mrs. Martin for such a beautifully told piece of literature.