diff --git a/src/interpreted/interpreter.py b/src/interpreted/interpreter.py
index 54ab80b..d7518f9 100644
--- a/src/interpreted/interpreter.py
+++ b/src/interpreted/interpreter.py
@@ -267,40 +267,7 @@ def __repr__(self) -> str:
         return f"Value({self.value!r})"
 
     def as_string(self) -> None:
-        if not isinstance(self.value, str):
-            return str(self.value)
-
-        transformed_chars = []
-        index = 0
-        while index < len(self.value):
-            char = self.value[index]
-            if char != "\\":
-                transformed_chars.append(char)
-                index += 1
-            else:
-                next_char = self.value[index + 1]
-                if next_char == "x":
-                    chars = self.value[index + 2 : index + 4]
-                    index += 4
-                elif next_char == "u":
-                    chars = self.value[index + 2 : index + 6]
-                    index += 6
-                elif next_char == "U":
-                    chars = self.value[index + 2 : index + 10]
-                    index += 10
-                else:
-                    transformed_chars.extend(["\\", next_char])
-                    index += 2
-
-                try:
-                    unicode_char = chr(int(chars, 16))
-                    transformed_chars.append(unicode_char)
-                except ValueError as exc:
-                    raise InterpreterError(
-                        f"Invalid unicode escape: \\{next_char}{chars}"
-                    ) from exc
-
-        return "".join(transformed_chars)
+        return str(self.value)
 
     def repr(self) -> None:
         return repr(self.value)
@@ -665,11 +632,13 @@ def visit_Subscript(self, node: Subscript) -> Object:
             and isinstance(key, Value)
         ):
             return Value(obj.value[key.value])
-        if (isinstance(obj, Value)
+        if (
+            isinstance(obj, Value)
             and isinstance(obj.value, bytes)
-            and isinstance(key, Value)):
+            and isinstance(key, Value)
+        ):
             return Value(obj.value[key.value])
-    
+
         raise InterpreterError(f"{type(obj).__name__} object has no key {key.repr()}")
 
     def visit_Attribute(self, node: Attribute) -> Object:
diff --git a/src/interpreted/parser.py b/src/interpreted/parser.py
index db9693e..c867175 100644
--- a/src/interpreted/parser.py
+++ b/src/interpreted/parser.py
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 from __future__ import annotations
 
+import ast
 import sys
 from keyword import iskeyword
 
@@ -529,8 +530,8 @@ def parse_literal(self) -> Expression:
 
         if self.match_type(TokenType.STRING):
             token = self.current()
-            unquoted_string = unquote(token.string)
-            assert isinstance(unquoted_string, str)
+            unquoted_string = ast.literal_eval(token.string)
+            assert isinstance(unquoted_string, (str, bytes))
             return Constant(unquoted_string)
 
         if self.match_op("("):
diff --git a/tests/interpreted_test.py b/tests/interpreted_test.py
index df80faa..559337e 100644
--- a/tests/interpreted_test.py
+++ b/tests/interpreted_test.py
@@ -16,6 +16,21 @@
         (r"print('foo \U00002603 bar')", "foo ☃ bar\n"),
         (r"print('foo \U0001F643 bar')", "foo 🙃 bar\n"),
         (r"print('foo \x41 \U0001F643 bar')", "foo A 🙃 bar\n"),
+        (
+            """\
+            a = b'abc'
+            print(a)
+            print(a[0])
+            print(a * 2)
+            print(a + b'd')
+            """,
+            """\
+            b'abc'
+            97
+            b'abcabc'
+            b'abcd'
+            """,
+        ),
         (
             """\
             def foo(x):
@@ -75,7 +90,7 @@ def test_interpret(source, output) -> None:
         )
 
     assert process.stderr == b""
-    assert process.stdout.decode() == output
+    assert process.stdout.decode() == dedent(output)
 
 
 def test_file_not_found() -> None: