Reviews with content warning for Gore - The Picture of Dorian Gray

Reviews tagging 'Gore'

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

42 reviews

drmblu's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.75

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woahnelly's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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

4.25

This used to be a 5* baby for me, but alas upon reading it the second time, I found a lot of it rather annoying. Well, more specifically, Lord Henry is an absolute knob and I find his paradoxical manner totally tosh - I know it's the point of his character though (to consistently utter sayings that sound meaningful, but in actual fact, are bloomin' balderdash). Wilde was a fan of aestheticism, and hence this character has reason for being in the novel, for the mere fact he has no reason at all (oh, would you look at that - I'm being a paradoxical piece of poop) - the novel doesn't intend to be moral, or immoral, or serve any purpose other than to exist as art, and certainly the poeticism and lyricism of the contents solidify it as such, but pfft it still grinds my gears! Anyways, I do recommend this and it is enjoyable - you've just got to put up with some complete trashtalk and middle-class poppycock. Wilde is undoubtedly a talented author, though (or "was", rather... RIP), and is quite probably one of my favourites - I think I've just grown more critical in my old age, but yeah, give it a go!
p.s. don't get me wrong, this book still slaps and touches on some very interesting and *mysterious* (ooo) topics of the Victorian era. Now that I think of it, I might've been a tad harsh
Oh....but if I remember rightly, there was some casual antisemitism in there so pfft suck it!
(Actually I've revised my review overall, boosting it from a 3.75 becauseeee I can't get it out of my mind - it's quite profound in its nothingness, but its being simply art).

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century's review against another edition

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dark medium-paced

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

4.0

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ambdocksey22'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? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

The only reason I am not giving this book 5 stars is because of the racially insensitive language throughout the book. I understand the time that it was written but I hated reading through every passage that contained a slur or some kind of racial hatred.

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fujo_cat's review against another edition

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dark reflective sad 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

4.25

Aaah, que livro bom!! Faz tempo que um clássico me satisfaz tanto, mas foi uma leitura extremamente interessante. Claro que houve certos capítulos mais aborrecidos e em certos momentos a leitura parecia mais difícil de avançar (leia-se: o ritmo era mais lento) mas, no geral, eu gostei muito c:
O final não me surpreendeu mas não deixou de ser satisfatório! 👀

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karen_1's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-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

4.0

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cadybooks's review against another edition

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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

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simixfe's review against another edition

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dark funny mysterious slow-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

3.75

Beauty is terror. Whatever we call beautiful we quiver before it.

The quote is not from "The picture of Dorian Gray" but from "The secret history" but it fits regardless.
Anyways, Oscar Wilde and his characters have an interesting perspective on art and life and I enjoyed seeing things from a different perspective. The writing was beautiful, the plot haunting.
I love that the book is categorised as LGBTQ+ and I think Wilde would be even more excited!

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