Reviews tagging 'Cultural appropriation'

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

13 reviews

praisefadzai's review against another edition

3.75

dark emotional mysterious 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

i’ll start by saying that i 100% understand why people are obsessed with this book. there’s something about it that is endlessly quotable and the fact that this book ended up being used against wilde in his trials adds this ominous mystique to it as well.

my overall review is: it wasn’t what i was expecting it to be at all.

i think maybe i would have loved it more had i read it earlier but there’s a language barrier and cultural sensitivity barrier that i think ruined the reading experience for me. this book wasn’t written for a queer black woman in the 21st century to read and it shows.

i do absolutely find the book fascinating and i’m glad to have read it. wilde’s characters felt so real and cemented in their identities here and i could almost see them in front of me. i knew some aspects of the story but i don’t think this is a story you can spoil because the true plot is in minute details - the underlying eroticism in basil’s infatuation with dorian, henry being a catalyst to dorian’s terrible character development even though it all sounded like a joke and then dorian himself starting off gentle and unspoiled and ending with killing himself out of vanity.

i find it fascinating just how many ‘rules for life’ henry could throw out to the world all for the plot and how he never expected anyone to actually take it seriously. i also found being in dorian’s head fascinating in a morbid sort of way, the way he could instantly detach himself from the tragedies he had created. him referring to basil’s body as a thing will live on in my mind for a while.

one of my main criticisms (outside of the weird way jewish or non-white people are discussed), is how so many things were left unanswered or not elaborated on.
- what were the crimes that caused basil to finally confront dorian?
- who is the woman from the tavern?
- what happened when they found dorian’s’ gross body?

as a reader, it was an at times frustrating experience but i would highly recommend listening to ben barnes narrating it.

Content Warnings

ciel_nemo's review against another edition

2.0

tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Génial et détestable

Absolument détestable. Très bien mis en image. Les deux points sont pour le motif récurrent du portrait en dernière case sur toutes les pages impaires, du génie. Une excellente BD pour qui veut découvrir cette œuvre sans lire le roman.

Content Warnings

clary0402's review against another edition

5.0

dark emotional 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

Content Warnings

renardthefox's review against another edition

4.5

dark funny mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Read for A240.

Content Warnings

imjumokay's review against another edition

4.0

challenging dark funny mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

fuck lord henry all my homies hate lord henry. good on victoria for leaving that miserable POS. rich people should have their excesses seized. get a job. my copy of this book was old and withered and musty like dorian gray and his crusty ass. basil <3 bby you didnt deserve what you got <3

Content Warnings

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

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.

Content Warnings

doriandelioncourt's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark funny informative mysterious reflective 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

Content Warnings

sagelikesscats's review against another edition

4.0

challenging dark funny mysterious reflective sad 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

I will definitely return to this book. Great writing, great characters, and an amazing ending. I did find that all of the rich people problems get annoying towards the end, but still a fantastic book about beauty, morality, and heathenism.

Content Warnings

hauntedboi's review against another edition

3.5

challenging dark mysterious 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

Content Warnings

mars2k's review against another edition

4.0

dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

I knew of Oscar Wilde, of course, but this was my first time actually reading his work. I found it difficult not to use the book as a means of analysing its writer. He was known for his wit but was he genuinely clever or just good at appearing clever? Maybe there’s no distinction. Maybe it’s foolish of me to try to judge the character of a man by the work he creates. Wilde himself rebuked the idea that art should be taken as autobiography, that works of fiction reveal something about the writer. Then again, he also wrote in a letter “[The Picture of Dorian Gray] contains much of me in it — Basil Hallward is what I think I am; Lord Henry, what the world thinks of me; Dorian is what I would like to be — in other ages, perhaps.” It’s hard not to read the story as a reflection of its author to some extent.

The Picture of Dorian Gray is so much gayer than I expected. Like, it’s difficult to even describe it as subtext. It’s right there, unmistakable despite careful censorship, from chapter one onwards. I have to admit, this kind of pining, withholding, and hinting at queerness appeals to me far more than the uncomplicated “representation” we tend to see nowadays. I acknowledge literature like this comes from a society in which homosexuality was criminalised and deeply stigmatised – the ambiguity I adore wasn’t just a stylistic choice, it was a necessity – but it resonates with me in a way modern queer media just doesn’t.

The story is dominated by the theme of influence (and its inverse, impressionability). It’s handled well for the most part but I don’t really understand the significance of

the book Lord Henry recommends to Dorian. I know that some scholars identify it as an ode to either The Yellow Book or Huysmans’s Against Nature, and that the idea of a “poisonous book” was accentuated in later editions in response to the controversy surrounding this very novel upon its publication. In other words, I know that Wilde was playing with the idea of an immoral piece of literature corrupting (read: queering) young minds. That said, Dorian is already affected by the picture painted by Basil Hallward and the mirror given to him by Lord Henry, not to mention Lord Henry’s words; the addition of the corrupting book seemed to overcomplicate what was otherwise quite an elegant concept.

The Picture of Dorian Gray is good. I wasn’t blown away by it, but the premise is solid and I was pleasantly surprised by how audaciously queer it is. I can see why it’s considered a classic. Definitely worth a read.

Content Warnings

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