Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

17 reviews

lunar_witch's review against another edition

3.75

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Death, Drug use, Blood, Grief, Murder, Alcohol

Moderate: Ableism, Body shaming, Gun violence, Infidelity, Self harm, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, Classism

everie's review against another edition

3.75

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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A classic. I will say, the 20 chapter updated version doesn't improve on much from original 13-chapter version and was kind of unnecessary with some added racism and a

revenge plot that goes nowhere

but who am I to stop Wilde from special edition income

Also gay as hell, Henry is a fun terrible person even if Dorian is the head empty easiest mark. Poor

Basil and everyone who crosses Dorian's path

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Racism, Sexism, Suicide, Stalking, Toxic friendship

p_a_p_e_rcuts's review against another edition

5.0

dark mysterious reflective sad slow-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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Gore, Sexual content, Murder

tim_tam's review against another edition

4.5

dark funny reflective sad slow-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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Drug use, Gore, Sexual content, Murder

bellesinfinite'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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Animal death, Death, Drug use, Blood, Alcohol

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicide, Grief, Stalking, Toxic friendship, Classism

amre23's review against another edition

3.75

challenging dark emotional reflective 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

---

A very interesting story. Many sentences were beautifully written and others a tad redundant. Overall enjoyed the story. A few parts dragged on with the descriptions of w.e. was happening. Good points to learn from the greediness some have with youth and the obsession to be considered "interesting".

Vanity is rampant in almost every character. 

Henry can kick rocks. He's an asshat.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Xenophobia, Antisemitism

Minor: Drug use, Classism

mhilt17's review against another edition

2.0

dark 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: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Murder, Toxic friendship

ryyy's review against another edition

4.0

dark emotional mysterious reflective

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Death, Suicide

Minor: Alcoholism, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual violence, Classism

waytoomanybooks's review against another edition

3.0

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

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Knowing about Oscar Wilde's past is crucial to reading this novel. It's not just that his gayness was an open secret, but that his targets weren't just men, but also boys. As in actual teenage children. Wilde was also openly Antisemitic and misogynistic in his real life and throughout the novel. What his three main characters do, say, think, and feel very closely mirrors Wilde's own. Much like the titular Dorian, it is clear that Wilde suffered from an inflated ego, was bloated with pride, and had a conscience that weighed him down...but not enough to change, grow, or do better. Trigger warnings abound throughout this novel as we watch Dorian explore the world of vice and sin, leaving a body count in his wake.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Classism

thequeercaseofmarius's review against another edition

4.75

dark mysterious reflective sad 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

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

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

Minor: Misogyny, Sexism

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