Reviews tagging 'Racism'

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

110 reviews

thequeercaseofmarius's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad 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

4.75

Dark, bewitching, and so very gay. 

‘Why is your friendship so fateful to young men?’ 

In The Picture of Dorian Gray; Oscar Wilde crafts a narrative of Queer love, desire, vanity, and fear, embodied in a twink who wishes to remain young and beautiful forever. Wilde’s only novel is one that is both frighteningly fantastical, but also harrowingly personal. In Dorian we see the picture of the dark version of ourselves; the Hyde to our Jekyll, and it is his ability to transform with each reader that makes The Picture of Dorian Gray so enduring as a staple of Queer Literature, and one of the bestselling titles in Penguin’s Classics series.

Wilde’s writing and descriptions are breathtakingly beautiful, so much so that I would find myself rereading the same sentences over and over again. Wilde’s genius and intellect is also evident in the text, and his use of Queercoding through historical and art references is very clever.

Our main cast of characters are so very gay, and it’s crazy because it’s almost like Wilde met my gay friends and acquaintances and wrote a book about us (I like to think that I am Basil). But I also see each character as a different side to the Queer experience; Basil being the Queer artist who represents the beauty and tenderness of love between men, Lord Henry as the witty sass Queen that gay men are often viewed as from the outside, and Dorian represents Queer fears and anxieties that most of us have experienced some point in our life. The result is one of the most ingenious Queer horror stories ever written. 

The Picture of Dorian Gray should be a (not-so) straight five-stars, however it does contain some racism and anti-semitism that I can’t ignore. It is a book of it’s time, but I’m also aware of writers and people from Wilde’s time who tried their best at not being racist. I think it’s important to appreciate this novel for everything good about it, but also to recognise it’s faults rather than excuse them, so that we as the readers can grow as people. 

‘Each man sees his own sin in Dorian Gray. What Dorian Gray’s sins are no one knows. He who finds them has brought them.’

-Oscar Wilde 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Violence, Body horror, Drug use, Murder, Addiction, Alcoholism, Blood, Drug abuse, and Death

Moderate: Racial slurs, Suicide, Antisemitism, Classism, and Racism

Minor: Misogyny and Sexism

This novel is VERY dark as it covers a lot of internalised homophobia and fear of your own Queerness.

leniornot's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, and Suicide

Moderate: Racism and Sexism

ashybear02's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Gore, Violence, Blood, and Misogyny

Moderate: Racial slurs and Racism

honeyvoiced's review against another edition

dark

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Sexism, Murder, and Classism

Moderate: Antisemitism and Misogyny

Minor: Racial slurs, Drug use, and Racism

sfx_naike's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Antisemitism, Racial slurs, and Racism

writing_on_my_own's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

4.5

I loved this. I don’t read a lot of classics, but this was fantastic. It was dark and gritty and challenging, and yet the prose was easy to understand. 

The hardest thing about this book I think is the paragraphs on paragraphs of dense philosophy. So if you are alright with that you will enjoy this book.

This symbolism and themes of mortality and sin and beauty were so wonderfully explored, it was so darkly beautiful. It was peak gothic, and I can’t wait to read more of the Gothic period. 

All the characters were wonderfully flawed and awful, Dorian was such a compelling character.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism and Misogyny

Moderate: Antisemitism and Racism

literatebird'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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Violence, Sexism, Suicide, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Infidelity and Racism

hauntedboi's review against another edition

challenging 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Blood, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Drug use, Gun violence, Alcohol, Antisemitism, Body horror, Panic attacks/disorders, and Suicide

Minor: Classism, Cultural appropriation, Racism, Addiction, Infidelity, and Racial slurs

spineofthesaurus's review against another edition

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Classism, Murder, Toxic friendship, Dysphoria, Blood, Suicide, Gaslighting, Drug use, Emotional abuse, and Alcohol

Moderate: Xenophobia, Ableism, Colonisation, Racism, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, and Gun violence

Minor: Fire/Fire injury

momogajo's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

5.0

It is really good withrich exploration on many different themes. I love the exploration of how much influence another can have on anothers life. Henry influenced Dorian; Dorian influenced others around him; and how much that influence really did make or break anothers life.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Violence

Minor: Racism, Drug use, and Drug abuse