Reviews tagging 'Blood'

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

211 reviews

riverofhorton's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

So to start, this book was not what modern media had lead me to believe it would be, but that is definitely not a bad thing. In the modern media, the characters are straight or at the straight end of bi/pan, whereas here they're straight, gay, or at the gay end of bi/pan. Had I not gone into this knowing Wilde was gay, I would have been wondering after a couple pages.

One of the male characters is madly in love with Dorian and at throughout his character arc,

I found myself crying tears of both joy and heartbreak at various points.

One of the few things I didn't find enjoyable about this book, was Chapter 11. I understand the intention behind that particular chapter completely, but for me it seemed to drag on too much and added relatively little to the story that couldn't have been contained in a couple of paragraphs.

Here is a bullet pointed review I posted elsewhere online:

• Dear God, the gay. I don't even want to count how many gay bits I tabbed.
• Basil is an absolute sweetheart and deserved way better.
• Dorian could have been an amazing person, if he hadn't been corrupted.
• Harry can suck a d*ck. To paraphrase the Frankenstein Vs. monster thing: Knowledge is knowing Harry isn't the villain, wisdom is knowing Harry is the villain.
• Alan reminded me of Dr Jekyll in a lot of ways, which I liked but I don't know if this was intentional or just my brain.
• Chapter 11 dragged so much, and only really added
  "Dorian spent 18 years collecting hobbies, some of which will be briefly mentioned later."
  Probably going to skip it next read.
• And yes, I will be re-reading it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

thestrangebeingyouare's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Violence, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Drug use, Misogyny, Blood, Antisemitism, Grief, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Classism

the story is strange and beautiful, but the main characters are all extremely flawed. there are also some aspects of misogyny and antisemitism that are unrelated to the plot, so i do warn you to be aware of the authors prejudices so you can critically read the story.

macliffe's review against another edition

dark 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

4.75

I have been wanting to read this book for so long and it did not disappoint! Fully lived up to the hype. 
I was hesitant because I’m not a horror reader, but this book did a good job of being gothic without having unnecessary gore or uncomfortable scenes. 
The characters were so well done, especially Dorian.
I love how the message of the book is stated subtly at the beginning with Lord Henry saying the world needed a “new hedonism”. Then the plot gives Dorian that new hedonism, but he comes to realize that it doesn’t satisfy and only leaves him miserable. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Racism, Toxic relationship, Antisemitism, and Murder

Moderate: Drug abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Suicide, and Blood

Minor: Violence

eloiseyoung's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective fast-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Misogyny, Racism, and Antisemitism

zia_c's review against another edition

funny mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I loved everything about this but I don't know where the lgbtq section was in the whole story. Maybe it was in thr one I skimmed through. 

Don't care about others opinion of Henry (Harry) but he's my favourite character. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Transphobia, Blood, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

remuslibrary's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

one of the best. books. ever. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Sexism, Antisemitism, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Classism

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Suicide

Minor: Drug abuse, Infidelity, and Blood

the_vegan_bookworm's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

A classic in so many ways with poignant reflections on youth, beauty and what makes a good person. There are also so many layers of queerness in each of the characters and their relationships. 

It is certainly a product of its time, with several sexist comments and some antisemitic portrayals. Readers should be aware of this before beginning to read

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Blood, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Antisemitism

katewhite77's review against another edition

challenging dark informative mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

A queer classic 

I can't remember a book that has surprised me so much with all its twists and turns. Elements of the super natural also appear. 

This is my first time reading Wilde and it won't be last. There are so many famous quotes in this novel alone. 

There are some racial slurs which are of their time. The internalised hemophobia drips off most pages but that is why it is such an important book to read now.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia and Murder

Moderate: Antisemitism

Minor: Body horror, Suicide, and Blood

larseneiii's review against another edition

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

3.5

top ten books that would not exist if an elitist man knew when to shut up (fuck lord henry all my homies hate lord henry!!)

ps i put adult/minor relationship in the trigger warnings as a way to say there is a pederastic relationship that made me uncomfy

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Blood, Antisemitism, and Classism

Moderate: Death, Murder, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

alyssapusateri's review against another edition

dark informative mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Blood, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicide, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Classism

Minor: Infidelity and Antisemitism