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Mary Reilly
Mary Reilly | Valerie Martin
3 posts | 9 read | 5 to read
From the acclaimed author of the bestselling Italian Fever comes a fresh twist on the classic Jekyll and Hyde story, a novel told from the perspective of Mary Reilly, Dr. Jekyll's dutiful and intelligent housemaid. Faithfully weaving in details from Robert Louis Stevenson's classic, Martin introduces an original and captivating character: Mary is a survivor–scarred but still strong–familiar with evil, yet brimming with devotion and love. As a bond grows between Mary and her tortured employer, she is sent on errands to unsavory districts of London and entrusted with secrets she would rather not know. Unable to confront her hideous suspicions about Dr. Jekyll, Mary ultimately proves the lengths to which she'll go to protect him. Through her astute reflections, we hear the rest of the classic Jekyll and Hyde story, and this familiar tale is made more terrifying than we remember it, more complex than we imagined possible.
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review
TheBrockUEnglishMajor
Mary Reilly | Valerie Martin
Mehso-so

While I enjoyed the suspense and the playful intertextuality of this novel to the original Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, I find Mary's character to be incredibly flat and self deprecating at times. What should have been a subversive shift from the original narrative which is told by an upper class male (Mr. Utterson) to a servant class maid, is limited by Mary's lack of agency and arc.

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parasolofdoom
Mary Reilly | Valerie Martin
Mehso-so

Great narrative voice but not an interesting enough take on the Jekyll & Hyde story to really recommend.

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beckygracelea
Mary Reilly | Valerie Martin
post image

Another of my adaptation articles for the spooky season, this time looking at Stephen Frears' Mary Reilly. http://www.greatadaptations.net/blog/2016/10/19/2ztneqaiv0un6e9lt3hpockp7o6i8j

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