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book0logy's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Violence, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Murder, Death, Addiction, Body horror, Child abuse, Alcoholism, Fatphobia, Suicide, Grief, and Toxic friendship
sinnybuns's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Murder, Body horror, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, Alcoholism, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Eating disorder, and Body shaming
gen_wolfhailstorm's review
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
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
October's pick for Amy McCaw's YA Book Club 2023.
Would you sell your soul for beauty, youth and fame... for a chance to make your hard-to-please mother finally see you and say she's proud? Would you care for the cost of such a deal, for the consequences or would you take the opportunity by any means, yelling a reckless 'damn to the risks'?
This is exactly what Penny Paxton does, in this richly gothic, YA retelling of The Picture of Dorian Gray, set against the back drop of an elite drama school.
The details of this tale honored the original classic so beautifully, paying homage to the themes of beauty and esteem, classism and power, whilst entirely dripping its on unique seduction of temptation and desire to excell in this highly acclaimed acting school that all the greats studied at.
Penny is pushed reluctantly into this world via her high profile, famous mother, but beneath the attraction of riches and fame, something darker and rotten lingers beneath the halls of the Dorian Drama School.
I loved this book so much so that due to my gumption to savour every morsel of its decedant writing, I completely ran over Amy McCaw's YA Book Club time, but I will definitely watch the recorded live discussion soon.
The story telling was rich and alluring, the characters intriguing and multifaceted and the pressures of the school were just all too real.
There were very nuanced parts of this that truly reminded me of Coraline, and those chapters were incredibly fascinating because that's truly when the uniqueness of the plot shined even more, detaching itself from the classic and becoming more of itself. I loved this exploration of the power of the paintings because that is something I was constantly curious about when reading The Picture of Dorian Gray. The fleshing out of the history of the school in relation to the success of the students connected with the portraits was such a rich display of creativity and storytelling, which leads me to want to consume everything this author writes.
The conversations also explored sexuality, disordered eating, depression and addiction, to name but a few and they were all handled to raw and real. These themes weren't tip tooed around, but the way they were woven into these characters lives was so well done and felt genuine.
Without a shadow of a doubt, this wholeheartedly deserves all the stars. I loved this book.
Would you sell your soul for beauty, youth and fame... for a chance to make your hard-to-please mother finally see you and say she's proud? Would you care for the cost of such a deal, for the consequences or would you take the opportunity by any means, yelling a reckless 'damn to the risks'?
This is exactly what Penny Paxton does, in this richly gothic, YA retelling of The Picture of Dorian Gray, set against the back drop of an elite drama school.
The details of this tale honored the original classic so beautifully, paying homage to the themes of beauty and esteem, classism and power, whilst entirely dripping its on unique seduction of temptation and desire to excell in this highly acclaimed acting school that all the greats studied at.
Penny is pushed reluctantly into this world via her high profile, famous mother, but beneath the attraction of riches and fame, something darker and rotten lingers beneath the halls of the Dorian Drama School.
I loved this book so much so that due to my gumption to savour every morsel of its decedant writing, I completely ran over Amy McCaw's YA Book Club time, but I will definitely watch the recorded live discussion soon.
The story telling was rich and alluring, the characters intriguing and multifaceted and the pressures of the school were just all too real.
There were very nuanced parts of this that truly reminded me of Coraline, and those chapters were incredibly fascinating because that's truly when the uniqueness of the plot shined even more, detaching itself from the classic and becoming more of itself. I loved this exploration of the power of the paintings because that is something I was constantly curious about when reading The Picture of Dorian Gray. The fleshing out of the history of the school in relation to the success of the students connected with the portraits was such a rich display of creativity and storytelling, which leads me to want to consume everything this author writes.
The conversations also explored sexuality, disordered eating, depression and addiction, to name but a few and they were all handled to raw and real. These themes weren't tip tooed around, but the way they were woven into these characters lives was so well done and felt genuine.
Without a shadow of a doubt, this wholeheartedly deserves all the stars. I loved this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Classism, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Eating disorder, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Slavery, and Toxic friendship
amyejones's review
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
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
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Eating disorder, Murder, and Body horror
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Addiction
Minor: Abandonment
sara131199's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
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
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror
Moderate: Violence
sovner736's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Eating disorder, Injury/Injury detail, Death, and Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Body horror and Drug abuse
0ivy0's review
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Every Exquisite Thing explores mummy issues, self-hate, masking, sapphic love, the beauty industry and contains light body horror - I enjoyed *almost* every second.
My biggest issue was that this book was advertised to me as a retelling of The Picture of Dorian Gray, but it is not. The characters, plot and themes are completely different (although I thoroughly enjoyed the exploration of the newer themes). I'd say it's more of a sequel or an exploration of if the happenings in Dorian Gray were possible in the modern day.
Our lead, Penny, is starting at the Elite Dorian Drama school with the plan to follow her mum's lead for an acting career. What worries Penny is that she may not really belong there, and only got in because of her surname. Her famous mother is overly anxious and has been unable to show her love and Penny's coping mechanism is starvation (check trigger warnings: this can definitely be triggering, however I thought that it was handled well, being graphic enough to make an impact without being unnecessary).
The characterisation was done well with memories resurfacing at suitable times, telling us a lot about Penny's character despite not always being out of the ordinary. The novel did well at portraying what it's like to be both self aware as well as mentally ill. I enjoyed seeing the friendships and having a chatacter who is queer without negativity surrounding it.
Although the characters are compelling, I wasn't so compelled by the plot as it became a murder mystery. Thankfully the climax gave the book more depth and meant that the plot wasn't solely revolved around the mystery. I wish they'd explored the consequences of living for a long period of time, but maybe because TPODG did that they didn't want to? To me this is the most interesting part of the story - what would it really be like to live for longer than your peers and longer than any person should.
Although I enjoyed the climax, and found it cathartic, a particular reveal doesn't make sense with the original novel, with complete character assassination.
Overall I enjoyed this read, the characters were compelling and the writing was easy to read. The book contained good metaphors for self destruction with picking apart of coping mechanisms and I loved that we had a character with type one diabetes. However it is definitely not a retelling of The Picture of Dorian Gray and ignores the themes and characterisations of the original novel.
My biggest issue was that this book was advertised to me as a retelling of The Picture of Dorian Gray, but it is not. The characters, plot and themes are completely different (although I thoroughly enjoyed the exploration of the newer themes). I'd say it's more of a sequel or an exploration of if the happenings in Dorian Gray were possible in the modern day.
Our lead, Penny, is starting at the Elite Dorian Drama school with the plan to follow her mum's lead for an acting career. What worries Penny is that she may not really belong there, and only got in because of her surname. Her famous mother is overly anxious and has been unable to show her love and Penny's coping mechanism is starvation (check trigger warnings: this can definitely be triggering, however I thought that it was handled well, being graphic enough to make an impact without being unnecessary).
The characterisation was done well with memories resurfacing at suitable times, telling us a lot about Penny's character despite not always being out of the ordinary. The novel did well at portraying what it's like to be both self aware as well as mentally ill. I enjoyed seeing the friendships and having a chatacter who is queer without negativity surrounding it.
Although the characters are compelling, I wasn't so compelled by the plot as it became a murder mystery. Thankfully the climax gave the book more depth and meant that the plot wasn't solely revolved around the mystery. I wish they'd explored the consequences of living for a long period of time, but maybe because TPODG did that they didn't want to? To me this is the most interesting part of the story - what would it really be like to live for longer than your peers and longer than any person should.
Although I enjoyed the climax, and found it cathartic, a particular reveal doesn't make sense with the original novel, with complete character assassination.
Overall I enjoyed this read, the characters were compelling and the writing was easy to read. The book contained good metaphors for self destruction with picking apart of coping mechanisms and I loved that we had a character with type one diabetes. However it is definitely not a retelling of The Picture of Dorian Gray and ignores the themes and characterisations of the original novel.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body horror and Eating disorder
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