Reviews tagging 'Racial slurs'

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

63 reviews

hyliansee's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny and Sexism

Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicide, Antisemitism, Murder, and Toxic friendship

caracaracara's review against another edition

dark reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide and Murder

Moderate: Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, and Antisemitism

ambdocksey22's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Antisemitism, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Dysphoria

seawarrior's review against another edition

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. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Death, Misogyny, Suicide, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Drug use, Gun violence, Infidelity, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Antisemitism, and Grief

alldebstinations's review against another edition

dark 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicide, Antisemitism, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Death, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicide, Antisemitism, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

michayla13's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective slow-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Antisemitism, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, and Death of parent

Minor: Racial slurs

maddy_s's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Homophobia, and Murder

Moderate: Death, Misogyny, Suicide, Blood, and Grief

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Drug use, Gun violence, Infidelity, Racial slurs, Fire/Fire injury, and Outing

starrystarryeyed's review against another edition

challenging 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Antisemitism, and Murder

Moderate: Drug use and Suicide

ardentlyelle's review against another edition

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

3.75

My first “classic” read in a while and definitely my last for a while. I was familiar with the story even though this was my first read, and it was still enjoyable, once you got over the race/sex/antisemit-isms

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Antisemitism, Religious bigotry, and Gaslighting

Minor: Drug use

thea_rem's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective 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

The writing style is excellent and watching Dorian be corrupted slowly but surely is disturbing but fascinating to read about. 
But what really threw me off a lot is how Wilde writes women. They are to be beautiful but dumb. An intelligent Woman is a rarity and can only be tolerated for a short amount of time. Woman live of emotions and exaggerate them, while men are creatures of the mind. If the books wasn’t so short I wouldn’t have finished it and if I hadn’t lend it from the library I would’ve thrown it against a wall.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Antisemitism, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Colonisation