Reviews - Il ritratto di Dorian Gray

41.1k reviews for:

Il ritratto di Dorian Gray

Oscar Wilde

4.08 AVERAGE

thegirlwholived's review against another edition

4.0

challenging dark mysterious reflective 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

brideofire's review against another edition

2.0

2 stars bc oscar wilde was mlm and i should support ig

qwertymel's review against another edition

3.75

dark mysterious reflective 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

bethpeebles's review against another edition

3.0

dark emotional reflective 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

Only one extra star because of the ending. I couldn’t stand Dorian. I know that’s the point but I just couldn’t get over it.

noirnine's review against another edition

5.0

dark inspiring mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

booktolerator421's review against another edition

2.5

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

.Dorian Gray is one of the stories where the aesthetic and story itself is 5*, but the actual writing - jfc. I would probably give a more modern/politically correct adaptation of this story a 5*. Good ideas, bad execution. Oscar Wilde was a terrible writer. It makes me realise in my creative writing course it’s not the skill or execution of the story that matters, but the aesthetic/idea around it all. Most classic writers have no idea how to write. Their grammar is horrific and their sentences are like drunkards rambling.
It made me so angry that I got to about chapter 16 and just googled summaries. Even ChatGPT writes better than Oscar Wilde. The novel closes with poetic irony—Dorian cannot destroy the evidence of his corruption without destroying himself. The portrait regains its innocence, while he suffers the fate he tried to escape: the return of age, sin, and mortality.

Too bad it’s written in 1890. I could not give a shit about the world, the characters or Wilde’s shitty writing style. Someone let me know when a “woke” version has been published so it can be a tolerable read.