Reviews tagging 'Antisemitism'

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

445 reviews

funny reflective fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Crazy antisemitism and for what 

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challenging dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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funny 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

Wow. What an asshole. I'm glad I read this classic now rather than high school - I see what Wilde is doing in the grotesque descriptions of food, drink, and conversation. The twist here is part of the anglophone zeitgeist, but how we get there is not, and Wilde takes his sweet time in classic Wildeian plotlessness. You don't read about Gray's Jekyll & Hyde-esque philandering, but you sure sense its effects, and the damaging of "reputation" is as damning as Victorian England could get. Intensely homoerotic as to be expected, and I'm very glad I finally read it during a cold camping weekend over Thanksgiving. 

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective tense 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

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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.

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Damn near perfect

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challenging dark emotional funny mysterious tense 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

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
challenging 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

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
Loveable characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Lord Henry was INSUFFERABLE, never wanted a character to shut the fuck up more in my life.
Five stars.
I opened this book with high expectations and they were exceeded.
I love a good obvious Christ or Satan figure (hint: it's Satan in this one). 
The book was hedonistic and indulgent in a way only few people could pull off.
Terrible, terrible people but you're still able to pity Dorian for his gradual corruption, even while you're fully hating him and hoping he'll finally get his.
Don't know how I went almost 30 years without reading this. Weird because I know a lot about Wilde.
I'm yapping now but just read it if you've been thinking about it.

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Antisemitic writer. 

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