Reviews with content warning for Adult/minor relationship - The Picture of Dorian Gray

I have a really hard time reading classics. The people who are represented in them are so wildly different from today's reality (from my reality, at least) that I have a really hard time trying to not be annoyed throughout the book. Everyone is so overly dramatic: the women keep fainting, people are always in each other's houses (I would hate living back then)... every little thing that happens is a story for days... So, in reality, to my eyes (and not wanting to get classic lovers angry) every single "classic book" look, and sounds, the same to me.

This book is a little bit different. Oscar Wilde combines the cliches of classic books with the horror and mystical aspect of a fantasy story, and I really enjoyed that. I already knew Dorian Gray's story: the guy that never ages and has a picture that keeps getting older, but I didn't know this much. I enjoyed discovering the madness behind Gray's actions, the things that he does, to himself and others, without taking any responsibility. On one hand I wish I knew what kind of "magic" is behind the painting; on the other hand this gives another coat of mystery to the book.

I have a couple of questions still:
* Why is every character so hateful? I have Dorian, I hate Henry, I hate that entire society.
* Don't people get curious with the fact the Dorian does not age? They know him for year... don't they wonder?

Anyway, overall this is a good book, very mysterious and entertaining.

P.S.: The edition that I read is one without the six "infamous" chapters. Apparently, someone, sometime ago, decided that the original book had six chapters that where "too gay", so some books don't have them. I discovered this because I've read this book in a group read, and some of the girls had more chapters than the others... So, this edition was published for the first time in 2009. Where those chapters still "too gay"?

Content Warnings

michaelion's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging 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

1.25

Yawn. Boring story with nonsensical characters and ridiculous plot. If you can even call it a plot. I've read enough philosophy to know I don't like this brand of uppity white people, so call me biased, but there's nothing there. There's no there there. It's empty and hollow and- Honestly makes sense why this would be considered classic literature. There's just no flavor. A pinchings of elements in the story were almost kinda cool, but overall it was a tough read even without the time period-language barrier. (I don't know what else to call it.)

And this book is not queer at all! Whoever tagged it as such lied!

Content Warnings

cadybooks's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark funny mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Content Warnings

soupsswagreads's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark mysterious reflective

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

3.75

Content Warnings

seawarrior's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

While some passages in this book were terribly dull to me, Wilde's dazzling language and audacious characters kept drawing my interest back in. I'm fortunate to have just read the works of a few of the philosophers referenced in this book for college, though I'm sure there were several references to other works of literature and ethics systems that went over my head. The edition of the book I had access to did not provide citations of other works Wilde referenced, but I imagine one that did would have only made my reading experience richer.

I'm sure that most of what I can say about this book in regards to its philosophy and history has already been said by someone more knowledgeable that me, so I won't go into my thoughts on those matters. As a horror story I think it still holds up well in the modern day. Dorian's descent into soullessness grows more chilling by the chapter, as his sins culminate and lead to his ultimate end. Wilde's wit and descriptive language made the scenery and characters come alive, and as the book went on I felt it less challenging to make sense of his dense paragraphs and philosophies. I would recommend this book to other readers. It remains a classic not only for Wilde's adept writing, but the controversy it caused at the time of publication.

Content Warnings

vyragraves's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging 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

3.5

Content Warnings

More...