Reviews with content warning for Animal death - The Picture of Dorian Gray

You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.

Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

31 reviews

books283474's review against another edition

4.0

challenging dark reflective sad tense 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

I absolutely hate Lord Henry. Beyond that, this was a beautiful, rich, and well written book that explores vanity, ego, and society. A lot of philosophical conversations, beautiful symbolism, and a masterful illustration of the descent into madness. Dorian fell into the vices of pleasure and pride as his actions no longer held a consequence—outwardly—and he had someone along with him to romanticize away the flaws of pursuing pleasure alone. "I have never searched for happiness. Who wants happiness? I have only searched for pleasure." It was just as he said: no happiness for the lovely and corrupt Dorian Gray, only pleasures that last for a moment and wilt the reputation away. Dorian was alone with the effects his actions had, and this isolation with his corruption ate away at him until he was driven to end it. Perhaps just not the way he intended. The copy I had was preowned and had someone else's notations! It was fun to read along with them for a bit, they mainly noted the symbolism of flowers in Sibyl Vane and Dorian's fleeting love.

Content Warnings

flygonjinn's review against another edition

4.25

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

aceofcryptids's review against another edition

3.5

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I’m glad I read this because it’s always good to read the classics. That said, I was a bit disappointed because it feels as though it’s been hyped up all my life as this big Thing. Whereas it just felt neutral. It was a book. It did its job. Not bad, but perhaps overhyped.

Content Warnings

calamityin's review against another edition

3.0

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

I found this a very interesting book. It's honestly a bit surprising I am 24 and haven't read it before, especially given I grew up in a family heavily focused on academics and then got an English degree. I enjoyed it, and I do think I shoud have read it earlier, but I'm glad I have gotten to it now.

I found it an interesting book to use as a touchstone when thinking about the rise of anti-intellectualism in today's modern culture. Lord Henry is someone who is not an intellectual, constantly and openly refusing to engage with anything around him on a true level, but is harrolded by many as a great philosopher, even being a main linchpin in the corruption of Dorian at the beginning. Throughout the narrative, Dorian parrots things Lord Henry has espoused, and continues to encourage a culture of beauty over intelligence or careful thought. Lord Henry is able to avoid consequence by simply not acting on any of the things he says, but Dorian, who says those things as if he does not care, seems incapable of not acting. He is actively seeking the pleasure that Lord Henry insists is there, not noticing when Henry is not doing the same.

The murder of Basil is simply the culmination of this idea that to care about something in a truthful way is wrong. Basil is insulted by both Lord Henry and Dorian in the latter half of the book for being principled. When he acts on his principles, he is acting in a way that Dorian finds tedious and even difficult to endure! Dorian acts as if he is being tortured by having to listen to Basil say that committing transgressions is immoral, and even as he regrets murdering him, he still continues to assert to himself that Basil should not have "put him through" what he was saying.

This idea that beauty is something that is earned by being good and that death is the deserved ending of those who act immorally is something that I will probably take longer to think about. I would probably identify it as the key theme of the novel, which brings up lots of questions. Why is Oscar Wilde so interested in beauty as a concept? Why does he feel inclined to write about it in this way? The idea that death is the natural end of those who are improper is not a new one, especially in the writing of Wilde's cohorts, but this fascination with beauty as emblematic of character, while a common conception at the time, is something that seems unusual.

Content Warnings

niles_reads's review against another edition

4.5

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I've been experiencing the symptoms of BPD while reading this book.

Chapter eleven was a snoozefest to get through, though afterwards I enjoyed the rest of the book a lot better than the part before it.

I understood this book, I understood its message, but my god will you ever finish a sentence, Mr Wilde? I would start reading a sentence then forget what I even read by the end of it.

It's a 4.5 for me. If chapter 12 and onwards didn't exist, it would've been lower.

Content Warnings

bonradinfinite's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous dark emotional funny informative mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

mousmoulo's review against another edition

3.0

slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Loveable characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

bless my useless workplace i've become literate again 🤩

anyway yeah idrk about this one. i annotated the shit out of my copy and yet by page 180 i was more than ready for it to end. i think the fact that the ending was very clearly foreshadowed since like page 3 didn't help keep my interest, but watching dorian gray's moral and psychological decline, as well as his descent into madness (and especially the (in)direct consequences of

sybil vane's death

) was incredibly interesting.

i think my biggest grievance with this book was henry's entire character. every time he started monologuing i had to sigh and brace myself for a lot of eye-rolling. obviously he's not meant to be a loveable character but jesus fucking christ dude. SHUT UP. i'm not even sure what bothered me i just needed him to stop ❤️

yeah i wouldn't say this was for me but i'm still glad i finally got around to reading it on my own time. i can still appreciate this classic for what it is and what wilde meant for it to be, and as far as certain themes go he did a splendid job given his contemporary circumstances, but i still believe he was easily at his best when he was being satirical.

Content Warnings