Reviews tagging 'Violence'

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

162 reviews

linaanderberg's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction and Suicide

Minor: Animal death and Drug use

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

fujo_cat's review against another edition

dark reflective sad 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

4.25

Aaah, que livro bom!! Faz tempo que um clássico me satisfaz tanto, mas foi uma leitura extremamente interessante. Claro que houve certos capítulos mais aborrecidos e em certos momentos a leitura parecia mais difícil de avançar (leia-se: o ritmo era mais lento) mas, no geral, eu gostei muito c:
O final não me surpreendeu mas não deixou de ser satisfatório! 👀

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror

Moderate: Gore, Sexism, Suicide, Violence, and Murder

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug use, Infidelity, Blood, Stalking, and Injury/Injury detail

halliesanto's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Murder

Moderate: Misogyny, Suicide, Violence, Antisemitism, and Stalking

Minor: Drug use and Infidelity

its_van_vulpen's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Violence, Grief, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Suicide and Antisemitism

shivani_n's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

holy GOD this book was so good. i love oscar wilde's writing style, the line

"the world is changed because you are made of ivory and gold. the curves of your lips rewrite history" is going to LITERALLY HAUNT ME FOREVER. poor basil was so in love with dorian and was just trying to confess his love but then got stabbed to death..

 i love the conversations this book has about art and the purpose of art. why we create it, why we consume it, and how valuable our youth and being young really is. this book is a literal masterpiece!! i want to read more classics in 2022 and i'm glad i started with this one.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Suicide

boutimar000's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

 

I love that he isn't punished by anyone. I kept thinking oh his friends will find out oh he will be disgraced and his money will be taken blah blah and I was waiting for his "punishment" But he isn't. nothing knocks him off ever and that's much more true to life. We cant keep hoping and fooling ourselves saying that evil never prospers or that karma will get people and it isn't up to us to stops the rich and evil. The truth is that they are never punished and in fact things happen that are so random and lucky for the evil, such as the person trying to kill Dorian dying instead. He ruins his own life because in the end there is no one there who would care enough to check him on his actions, in fact he kills the only person to try.

 This book also made me look at my own habits and mental space. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship

Minor: Suicide and Violence

fomko's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense 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

5.0

Beautifully written. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, and Classism

via_'s review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.5

Eu li mais pelo valor de estudo das ideias do livro e não pelo entretenimento. Isso porque eu sabia que a história mais cedo ou mais tarde ia me cansar e a chance ia ser que eu morresse na praia com esse. De qualquer jeito, eu amo esse livro e acho ele muito interessante, vejo um tiquinho da vontade de qualquer pessoa de ser muito má e egoísta se concretizar nele e é o bastante pra fazer ela passar. O dorian nunca soube quem era e aceitou ser qualquer um pra ser importante, o Henry dizia muito e fazia pouco, um covarde completo e o Basil, que homem de vida triste. Três exemplos de otarios mas eu gosto deles até uma certa medida. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, and Toxic friendship

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