Reviews tagging 'Classism'

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

116 reviews

riverofhorton's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective fast-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

4.75

So to start, this book was not what modern media had lead me to believe it would be, but that is definitely not a bad thing. In the modern media, the characters are straight or at the straight end of bi/pan, whereas here they're straight, gay, or at the gay end of bi/pan. Had I not gone into this knowing Wilde was gay, I would have been wondering after a couple pages.

One of the male characters is madly in love with Dorian and at throughout his character arc,

I found myself crying tears of both joy and heartbreak at various points.

One of the few things I didn't find enjoyable about this book, was Chapter 11. I understand the intention behind that particular chapter completely, but for me it seemed to drag on too much and added relatively little to the story that couldn't have been contained in a couple of paragraphs.

Here is a bullet pointed review I posted elsewhere online:

• Dear God, the gay. I don't even want to count how many gay bits I tabbed.
• Basil is an absolute sweetheart and deserved way better.
• Dorian could have been an amazing person, if he hadn't been corrupted.
• Harry can suck a d*ck. To paraphrase the Frankenstein Vs. monster thing: Knowledge is knowing Harry isn't the villain, wisdom is knowing Harry is the villain.
• Alan reminded me of Dr Jekyll in a lot of ways, which I liked but I don't know if this was intentional or just my brain.
• Chapter 11 dragged so much, and only really added
  "Dorian spent 18 years collecting hobbies, some of which will be briefly mentioned later."
  Probably going to skip it next read.
• And yes, I will be re-reading it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Classism, Toxic friendship, Physical abuse, Violence, Abandonment, Alcohol, Suicide, Infidelity, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Blood

thestrangebeingyouare's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Addiction, Mental illness, Murder, Death, Gore, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence

Moderate: Classism, Blood, Grief, Alcohol, Body horror, Drug use, Gaslighting, Misogyny, and Antisemitism

the story is strange and beautiful, but the main characters are all extremely flawed. there are also some aspects of misogyny and antisemitism that are unrelated to the plot, so i do warn you to be aware of the authors prejudices so you can critically read the story.

zia_c's review against another edition

funny mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.0

I loved everything about this but I don't know where the lgbtq section was in the whole story. Maybe it was in thr one I skimmed through. 

Don't care about others opinion of Henry (Harry) but he's my favourite character. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Misogyny, Blood, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Sexism, and Transphobia

remuslibrary's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

one of the best. books. ever. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Murder, Classism, Misogyny, Sexism, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Suicide and Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Infidelity, Blood, and Drug abuse

alyssapusateri's review against another edition

dark informative mysterious reflective 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Blood, Body horror, Death, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Addiction, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicide, Drug use, Classism, Drug abuse, Misogyny, and Sexism

Minor: Infidelity and Antisemitism

neali's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Misogyny, and Sexism

Moderate: Classism

Minor: Racial slurs

theliteraryteapot's review against another edition

dark 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

2.25

Alright, I didn't like it. The constant misogyny is insufferable and the philosophical aspect gets quickly annoying. And the story isn't that much interesting to me. I like the gothic elements though.
On the other hand, I loved the prose (I read a 1958 French translation).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, Antisemitism, Blood, Classism, and Misogyny

Moderate: Suicide

Minor: Drug use

fe_aye's review against another edition

lighthearted mysterious slow-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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Bullying, Classism, Misogyny, Death, Suicide, and Animal death

carla20's review against another edition

dark reflective 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Classism, Suicide, Blood, Death, and Drug use

hocuscrocus's review against another edition

dark reflective slow-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

It's a slow start, but once it picks up it hooks ya! The prose, while gorgeous, did make for a bit of a slog at times. Overall, I'm glad I read it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Classism, and Drug use

Moderate: Antisemitism, Suicide, Toxic friendship, and Racism