Review: Intense and gripping
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 05 20, 2013
"The Journals of Jacob and Hyde" by Randall Morris is an intense and gripping read. Spoken directly at the reader at times it does draw attention right away, particularly with the opening statement "I am schizophrenic," then taking it back and modifying the statement several times. This style intelligently plays with the reader and forces us to 'listen' carefully and follow the plot. I don't often like this kind of involvement of the reader and prefer to be lulled into a story but in this book the concept works very well.We all have heard of the monster story of Jekyll and Hyde. Jacob, narrator for most of the book, tells us how his family is involved and related to the monsterstory. The rage of the monsters is an analogy to schizophrenia. In the book there are one Jekyll and one Hyde gene circulating, both monster genes but one enables the person to more control of the rage than the other. Jacob is one of last people carrying the 'benign' gene. He is also a teenager in love and an orphan.The book is well written although in true "Brechtonian" style Morris keeps taking us out of the story by bringing in philosophical debate or unexpected and large jumps in the timeline towards the end that took me out of the flow and experience a little.This is a very intense, clever and demanding story yet hugely enjoyable and definitely worth a read.