Reviews

This was a good book, not great but just good. It is a classic so of course the writing isn’t modern. I did find myself reading with an accent. A couple of the chapters felt in needed to the plot or storyline. Almost as if they were there to fill a void that didn’t exist or something was missing that required those points to be made. Besides that & looking past the flaws, the depth & plot was great. Definitely made the book worth reading.

scdominick's review against another edition

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dark reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

ylloh25's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Holly, what's your favourite book?

THIS, ARE YOU MAD!?!?!?!?

yourfavvgirl's review against another edition

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dark fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

angxlicsoul's review against another edition

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5.0

4.75⭐️
“

mqtias's review against another edition

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3.0

3.5, good but the pacing is awful

stefhyena's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

It's really well written except for Wilde's inability not to go into supposedly witty sermons of what I assume is supposed to be humour. A lot of casual sexism and racism...you can attribute it to unlikeable characters rather than Wilde's worldview I guess but I just get the feeling I wouldn't like him as a person.

The preface seemed like nothing but a clever word salad. That said the poor bloke did get arrested over this book I think. I am glad I read it because when Halberstram discusses it I like to know what is being talked about. The materialistic, shallow rich white gay stereotypes in the opening scenes probably if anything created that cultural trend.

Wilde's use of understatement is brilliant. I wish more authors would learn from that (I need to learn from that) and if the lesson here is supposed to be about hypocrisy that's quite relatable I think too. Dorian is very much created as the monster that he becomes, he does not actively choose to be it and at various turning points would have been redeemed if not for chance.

I don't like everything about it but there's mastery here.

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