Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

39 reviews

uss_mary_shelley's review against another edition

4.0

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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It's always interesting reading something when you have a cultural understanding of it and a dissertation written on the time period. Steeped in its history and contemporary moods. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Murder

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Antisemitism

jackyjoojoo's review against another edition

4.0

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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could be boring at times but otherwise amaizing :)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Racism, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Murder, Toxic friendship

abby_reads_books's review against another edition

5.0

dark emotional reflective 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Murder, Toxic friendship

Moderate: Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Antisemitism

taniethrifter's review against another edition

5.0

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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Misogyny, Murder, Toxic friendship

Minor: Body shaming, Death, Drug use, Hate crime, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Death of parent, Alcohol

wolfthorn's review against another edition

3.0

dark mysterious tense 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

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I haven't read The Picture of Dorian Gray, but I have seen a television adaptation of it so I am aware of the plot.  Before actually getting to the novel, there's a General Introduction and then a Textual Introduction.  I found the General Introduction to be quite long-winded and hard going, but at the same time it was very interesting to learn about the background of the novel and why there is an uncensored version in the first place!  It was also quite helpful in explaining aestheticism and how the moral is regarding the life of an aesthete which I probably wouldn't have understood the same.  

The novel itself was much easier to read than I feared after struggling through the General Introduction.  I did find Chapter 9 quite heavy going, and not just for the ridiculously lengthy sentences!  I felt like I was missing a lot of references, and did have to look up various names, although that was more down to my lack of knowledge than a fault of the book.  It was interesting to read about the lifestyle and how men of prestige spent their time.  I was a little disappointed however, to be unable to find any of the scandalous homoerotic content that so shocked the 19th century readers.  I think there is some hidden meaning in various phrases that I am missing which is a shame.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder

Minor: Death, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Antisemitism

lucithefer's review against another edition

5.0

dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder

Moderate: Body horror, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Antisemitism, Grief

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide

crying_again's review against another edition

4.0

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism

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

Minor: Misogyny, Murder

adhdru's review against another edition

2.5

dark 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

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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: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Murder

Moderate: Drug use

Minor: Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism

camilleingram's review against another edition

4.0

dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Death, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide