Reviews with content warning for Drug use - The Picture of Dorian Gray

Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

182 reviews

seanml's review against another edition

dark reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

I don't know if I completely bought the idea of Dorian's trajectory during the novel. However, I did enjoy much of it, and the ghost story-like ending especially. The novel's best product is Wilde's many many philosophical quotes and musings that pepper the pages - most of them said by the character Lord Henry, as much as I dislike him. 8/10.

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exceptionallyrainytuesdaynight's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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tomesxox's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This was a bit of a trip. It took me some time to push thru the beginning but once it got going I couldn’t set it down. I always find classics to be a mixed bag but I’m happy to have finally finished this one. A solid read overall even with my initial struggle.

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thestrangebeingyouare's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.0

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hildayay's review against another edition

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challenging dark informative mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.75

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inoshiiro's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark informative mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.75

The Picture of Dorian Gray has always been on my TBR, and has been collecting dust since I purchased the Penguin Classics version sometime around 2020. This year, for an English course concerning literature in the fin de siècle, I was given the excuse to finally read the novel when it appeared in the course readings.
I think my reading was likely a bit coloured by the literary/societal concepts we were learning about alongside the texts. The mentions of degeneration, aesthetes, and cultural biases were jumping out at me when I read the text, highly influencing the way I approached its themes. I feel like if I read this novel earlier in my life, I would likely have had a very different viewpoint on it.
I think the themes of homosociality and queer sexualities are prominent, but I felt more drawn to the way the characters and its story embodied the prevailing ideas about degeneration, social-Darwinism, and the role of the arts.
As a femme reader as well, the attitudes towards women were of course, unappealing. I wasn't put off the story or anything--and I very well know that the attitudes are definitely a product of their time--but that didn't stop me from feeling baffled at

Lord Henry's remarks about female intelligence, and sympathetic to the the OTT cruelty towards Sybil Vane

.
Despite this, I did enjoy the book. The storyline was something I vaguely already knew about due to the plots prevalence in pop culture, and the fact that the book was recommended to me by an ex-highschool friend. However, the way the novel unfolded, as well as the more intimate details were unknown to me until I was actually sitting there and reading. I finished the thing in two sittings, well before we had to discuss it in class.
My rating of 3.75 stars can be concluded like this: The book was entertaining and I found myself looking forward to the plots progression. That being said, it is still a book about men and their morals, which isn't exactly my cup of tea. And the fact that I had to write a 2500 word comparative essay about it for class probably didn't boost my enjoyment either.

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