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challenging
dark
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Reading this book is like looking at a Jackson Pollock. You can't tell if you enjoy it but it absolutely grasps you, and you find yourself not being able to look away. Oscar Wilde is a master of prose and dialogue, which makes reading it even a hundred years later an artistic journey that cradles you in words and descriptions and phrases.
And Dorian Gray is basically the most unlikeable protagonist you could imagine. Starting by being vain and naive to being vain and corrupt, blaming everyone but himself for the way he is acting (even if Lord Henry absolutely plays a role in his corruption.) The few pieces of this story that I did not like were the pacing, namely that we jumped ahead in time by decades to see just how far Dorian has fallen, and the way that each and every woman in the book (and the descriptions of women) led to a belief that all women were frivolous and shallow, which could certainly be a sign of the times (the casual anti-Semitism too gave the ick.)
Did these things detract from this literary masterpiece enough for anyone to skip? Absolutely not. I clung onto every moment I was immersed in this world, and will be looking back at Wilde's beautiful prose and his way of creating an unlikeable character so deep that you have to tip your hat to the master.
I also think it's worth pointing out that this book is public domain, and thus freely available through Project Gutenberg!
And Dorian Gray is basically the most unlikeable protagonist you could imagine. Starting by being vain and naive to being vain and corrupt, blaming everyone but himself for the way he is acting (even if Lord Henry absolutely plays a role in his corruption.) The few pieces of this story that I did not like were the pacing, namely that we jumped ahead in time by decades to see just how far Dorian has fallen, and the way that each and every woman in the book (and the descriptions of women) led to a belief that all women were frivolous and shallow, which could certainly be a sign of the times (the casual anti-Semitism too gave the ick.)
Did these things detract from this literary masterpiece enough for anyone to skip? Absolutely not. I clung onto every moment I was immersed in this world, and will be looking back at Wilde's beautiful prose and his way of creating an unlikeable character so deep that you have to tip your hat to the master.
I also think it's worth pointing out that this book is public domain, and thus freely available through Project Gutenberg!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use, Antisemitism, Murder
Moderate: Sexism
dark
funny
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use, Racism, Antisemitism
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
My enjoyment of this was probably somewhat hampered because I was reading it on a deadline for a bookclub, but I found it overall a bit too slow for my liking. That being said, there were certainly bursts of it that I really liked, particularly those that leaned more into the gothic horror themes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Murder, Toxic friendship
Moderate: Suicide, Antisemitism, Classism
Minor: Drug use
challenging
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The writing style is beautiful, extremely evocative. Unfortunately, so much of the depth and complexity and intention of the text was lost on me as it's written for a different audience, and conceals itself in a way that means a lot of the 'friend of Dorothy' type encodings are lost on me as a general, modern reader. I bet if I had the chance to study this text deeply for uni I'd adore it but at present it didn't really impact me deeply as I was too thrown by the extremely derogatory treatment of minorities across the story to pay enough heed to the artistic/sexuality deconstruction.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Sexism, Antisemitism, Classism
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Suicide
Minor: Addiction, Drug use
dark
funny
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
Content Warnings
Moderate: Misogyny, Racism, Antisemitism
challenging
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Antisemitism
Minor: Homophobia
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Antisemitism, Grief
Minor: Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Stalking, Toxic friendship
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I liked the interactions between the main characters and the main premise but some parts really dragged, with long descriptions about things that were pretty irrelevant.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Antisemitism
Minor: Racism
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Murder, Toxic friendship
Moderate: Misogyny, Sexism
Minor: Infidelity, Mental illness, Racism, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Antisemitism, Outing, Classism