Reviews tagging 'Violence'

The Picture of Dorian Gray: An Annotated, Uncensored Edition by Oscar Wilde, Nicholas Frankel

162 reviews

olive_lol's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Suicide, and Murder

Moderate: Sexism, Violence, Antisemitism, and Classism

Minor: Animal death, Gun violence, and Blood

zauet's review against another edition

dark reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicide, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Emotional abuse

Minor: Body shaming

I loved how you could try reading between the lines, find the limit between fiction and what the author was going through, try seeing beyond the censored love story

a cruel love story, between Dorian and the painter (mostly unilateral), or the women he met, as well as the way his other friend, I forgot his name, is enjoying seeing Dorian, slowly become more corrupted

. The main character is also very passionate about beauty and art, but it slowly get more and more twisted... overall a great classic of litterature, but a very dark one.

peggy_racham's review against another edition

4.75

"The sin we had done once, and with loathing, we would do many times, and with joy."

I really liked the censored version without knowing much about it. This was so much better, more complex and more queer. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Gore, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Racism, Violence, Antisemitism, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

megstickz's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This edition includes contemporary reviews of The Picture of Dorian Gray:

“The puzzle is that a young man of decent parts, who enjoyed (when he was at Oxford) the opportunity of associating with gentlemen, should put his name (such as it is) to so stupid and vulgar a piece of work”.

5/5 excellent read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Murder

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

biobeetle's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny

Moderate: Body horror and Violence

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.

kaylsy04's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Murder

blau_elmo's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.0

The question remains: was Dorian Gray always bound to go down the road of depravity, or was it purely because of Lord Henry's influence? The artist's desire to keep him pristine and untainted - was that realistic or reasonable, or was it just out of his infatuation?

When

Dorian dies after destroying the portrait out of disgust at his twisted character and he just ends up perishing

, I don't know how I was still legitimately surprised at the turn of events, but the ending really caught me off guard. But it is a very deserved ending for our titular character and his sinister debasement.

Is Lord Henry's hedonism a reasonable way to conduct ourselves? Clearly, the answer is no. Thank you Wilde, for this inspection of sin.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Violence, and Murder

mirandaleighhhh's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective fast-paced

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

3.0

This was a solid, readable classic. I tend not to like philosophical droning, but there was enough plot to balance it. My only understanding of Oscar Wilde came from quotes on Forever 21 t-shirts circa 2016, and I hadn't realized how interesting he was or how he was persecuted for his identity. I didn't care for the way he wrote about women, it icked me out, but I could get through it since it wasn't the main purpose of the book and, honestly, because it was all very gay. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide and Violence