Reviews tagging 'Racial slurs'

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

55 reviews

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

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

crying_again's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism

Moderate: Blood, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, Sexism, and Racial slurs

Minor: Misogyny and Murder

adhdru'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

2.5

I felt the book dragged longer than necessary I think it successfully made its point about probably midway through. 

Some of Henry’s comments were darkly amusing and entertaining at first, but it got old pretty quickly. And Dorian’s only (mildly) remarkable feature was his long-lasting beauty for he remained as shallow and flat from beginning to end. 

On top of that there’s some really misogynistic and racists bits that were really hard to read. I understand that we can’t possibly hold the books to the same standards of today, but I have read other books from the time (and even before) that fare way better. 

In summary, the only positive thing about it was all the queer subtext (which gets this review that extra .5)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

Moderate: Drug use

Minor: Misogyny, Racial slurs, and Racism

curatoriallyyours's review against another edition

dark 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

3.5

It somewhat picked up the pace in the end but not much happens until half way through the book. Prior to that it's all just unlikeable characters bantering and being ever so clever or ever so dramatic. It was OK. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, and Suicide

Moderate: Addiction, Body shaming, Drug abuse, Sexism, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Addiction, Antisemitism, Death of parent, Drug use, Blood, Grief, Infidelity, Medical content, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Stalking, and Violence