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

It was great to witness Dorian's descent into madness. Boy, he went from innocent, pure and youthful to batshit evil and horrendous.

Now, did I enjoy reading it? Absolutely not - I cannot bear witnessing characters make foolish decisions, or worse, entice others to be foolish (I am looking at you,
Henry, you vile ENTP and misogynist
) - but that also was not the point of this novel at all. In fact,

Dorian

was meant to be a fool. We as readers, I dare say, were meant to witness the consequences, and/or lack thereof, of ignorance, abuse of power (or beauty, or "pretty privilege") and the absence of utterly needed reflection.

"There were moments when he looked on evil simply as a mode through which he could realize his conception of the beautiful."

Dorian became hideous, and was unwilling to

atone for his crimes and sins, even until his end

. Unfortunately, Dorian chose to turn a blind eye towards

his actions and his overall behaviour

. Instead, he attempted to

escape and indulge in pleasantries and addiction, even hyper-fixation

simply to forget, until he was forced to remember all of it again.

I find this classic to be very marvellous, written with great attention to detail and prose. Maybe a little long-winding and challenging for some. Still, Oscar Wilde, what an astounding piece of art you have written! With that being said, what better way is there than to close it off with a quote of his on art itself?

"We can forgice a man for making a useful thing as long as he does not admire it. The only excuse for making a useless thing is that one admires it intensely.

All art is quite useless."

Content Warnings

olive_lol's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective 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

3.5

Content Warnings

seanml'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? 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.

Content Warnings

tadah's review against another edition

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dark funny medium-paced

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

4.0

Content Warnings

saintmare's review against another edition

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dark mysterious 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

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simonekessell's review against another edition

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emotional reflective medium-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

3.75

Content Warnings

fooliette's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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

3.0

I get why the book is popular but for me it was a very heavy read. It was a lot of description and made it hard to get through for me. The book was written beautifully, but it was pretty forgetful to me.

When Dorian kills Basil, it left me shocked but that’s the only thing from the book that made me remember it and leave a lasting imprint on me.

Content Warnings

biobeetle's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective 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

3.5

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