Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

146 reviews

waytoomanybooks's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

3.0

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.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

evaeyre's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

super well written, and very poetic! in a way, it was a very good commentary on humanity and such qualities as vanity and hubris!

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

kattila's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark sad tense slow-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

3.25


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

corruptednatz's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

3.75

I felt more sympathy for the side characters more than Dorian Gray. Alan, Sibyl, James and especially Basil! Lord Harry is something else I have no love for him. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

catherinedsharp's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark tense fast-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

4.0

DISCLAIMER -  I read this text as a set text for university meaning I did not pick this up for myself. It does not necessarily fit my usual reading selection so my review may be rather biased.

Really poetic and interesting reflection. Got a little slow towards the middle but picked up again and was a dark but good read.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

riverofhorton's review against another edition

Go to review page

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. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

frozenheartv's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

3.25 stars

Surprisingly i didn't enjoy this book as expected. I get the metaphors and deep meanings of this book but it lost me somewhere in the middle part. Too much filler and the characters are horrible people. It's about a bunch of white, filthy-rich, toxic, misogynic, hypocritic, psychopathic men. Can't care less

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

zia_c's review against another edition

Go to review page

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. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

remuslibrary's review against another edition

Go to review page

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. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

inoshiiro's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark informative mysterious reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

The Picture of Dorian Gray has always been on my TBR, and has been collecting dust since I purchased the Penguin Classics version sometime around 2020. This year, for an English course concerning literature in the fin de siècle, I was given the excuse to finally read the novel when it appeared in the course readings. 
I think my reading was likely a bit coloured by the literary/societal concepts we were learning about alongside the texts. The mentions of degeneration, aesthetes, and cultural biases were jumping out at me when I read the text, highly influencing the way I approached its themes. I feel like if I read this novel earlier in my life, I would likely have had a very different viewpoint on it. 
I think the themes of homosociality and queer sexualities are prominent, but I felt more drawn to the way the characters and its story embodied the prevailing ideas about degeneration, social-Darwinism, and the role of the arts. 
As a femme reader as well, the attitudes towards women were of course, unappealing. I wasn't put off the story or anything--and I very well know that the attitudes are definitely a product of their time--but that didn't stop me from feeling baffled at
Lord Henry's remarks about female intelligence, and sympathetic to the the OTT cruelty towards Sybil Vane

Despite this, I did enjoy the book. The storyline was something I vaguely already knew about due to the plots prevalence in pop culture, and the fact that the book was recommended to me by an ex-highschool friend. However, the way the novel unfolded, as well as the more intimate details were unknown to me until I was actually sitting there and reading. I finished the thing in two sittings, well before we had to discuss it in class. 
My rating of 3.75 stars can be concluded like this: The book was entertaining and I found myself looking forward to the plots progression. That being said, it is still a book about men and their morals, which isn't exactly my cup of tea. And the fact that I had to write a 2500 word comparative essay about it for class probably didn't boost my enjoyment either.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings