Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

49 reviews

seapotatohowisitalrtaken's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad slow-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Toxic friendship, Blood, and Violence

Moderate: Gun violence

Minor: Sexual content, Domestic abuse, Addiction, Death of parent, and Emotional abuse

thequeercaseofmarius's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad 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

4.75

Dark, bewitching, and so very gay. 

‘Why is your friendship so fateful to young men?’ 

In The Picture of Dorian Gray; Oscar Wilde crafts a narrative of Queer love, desire, vanity, and fear, embodied in a twink who wishes to remain young and beautiful forever. Wilde’s only novel is one that is both frighteningly fantastical, but also harrowingly personal. In Dorian we see the picture of the dark version of ourselves; the Hyde to our Jekyll, and it is his ability to transform with each reader that makes The Picture of Dorian Gray so enduring as a staple of Queer Literature, and one of the bestselling titles in Penguin’s Classics series.

Wilde’s writing and descriptions are breathtakingly beautiful, so much so that I would find myself rereading the same sentences over and over again. Wilde’s genius and intellect is also evident in the text, and his use of Queercoding through historical and art references is very clever.

Our main cast of characters are so very gay, and it’s crazy because it’s almost like Wilde met my gay friends and acquaintances and wrote a book about us (I like to think that I am Basil). But I also see each character as a different side to the Queer experience; Basil being the Queer artist who represents the beauty and tenderness of love between men, Lord Henry as the witty sass Queen that gay men are often viewed as from the outside, and Dorian represents Queer fears and anxieties that most of us have experienced some point in our life. The result is one of the most ingenious Queer horror stories ever written. 

The Picture of Dorian Gray should be a (not-so) straight five-stars, however it does contain some racism and anti-semitism that I can’t ignore. It is a book of it’s time, but I’m also aware of writers and people from Wilde’s time who tried their best at not being racist. I think it’s important to appreciate this novel for everything good about it, but also to recognise it’s faults rather than excuse them, so that we as the readers can grow as people. 

‘Each man sees his own sin in Dorian Gray. What Dorian Gray’s sins are no one knows. He who finds them has brought them.’

-Oscar Wilde 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Violence, Body horror, Drug use, Murder, Addiction, Alcoholism, Blood, Drug abuse, and Death

Moderate: Racial slurs, Suicide, Antisemitism, Classism, and Racism

Minor: Misogyny and Sexism

This novel is VERY dark as it covers a lot of internalised homophobia and fear of your own Queerness.

hauntedboi's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Blood, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Drug use, Gun violence, Alcohol, Antisemitism, Body horror, Panic attacks/disorders, and Suicide

Minor: Classism, Cultural appropriation, Racism, Addiction, Infidelity, and Racial slurs

spineofthesaurus's review against another edition

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Classism, Murder, Toxic friendship, Dysphoria, Blood, Suicide, Gaslighting, Drug use, Emotional abuse, and Alcohol

Moderate: Xenophobia, Ableism, Colonisation, Racism, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, and Gun violence

Minor: Fire/Fire injury

dalaia's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship and Murder

Moderate: Suicide

Minor: Misogyny, Sexism, Infidelity, Suicide, Alcohol, Drug use, and Gore

teslis's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad 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

2.0

This book was a bit up and down for me. 

First of all, it has a really old language and for me reading in my second language made it harder to take in and understand. This was the third book club book we read and I’m happy I read it but I’m sad I didn’t understand it as well as I would like. I think I’ve been in a book slump, after reading so many classics and harder books that this was probably the end of that era. I have one more classic from the library but after that I will go and find more easier books. I want to think reading is something fun, not a chore. 

It was fun to realize the thing with the painting changing and Dorian staying the same physically, but not psychologically. When he killed his friend I was so confused but interested and I think that made the book both interesting but also the fall for me. Parts like him discussing the book that change his life made me so tired and probably a reason for not giving the book the right chance.

Will not reread this book in the near future but maybe in 10, who knows. I’m happy I got to challenge myself by my book club friend with this book!

This book took me 8 hours and 10 minutes.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Alcohol, Blood, and Death

lau_dbs's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Murder, Suicide, Alcohol, and Blood

rayfobic's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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

5.0

No words to this masterpiece

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death and Alcohol

enoemo's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious 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

3.5

This was a good read (you know, apart from the random misogyny and antisemitism that came with the time and do not really add to the story either) and chapter 11. I don't know but chapter 11 was just a lot of rambling in an otherwise exciting book in my opinion. Also, I see how someone would likely dislike this book if deeply flawed characters are not their thing - for one it kind builds the main plot and also there's probably a bit too much Lord Henry in there.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Alcohol, Gaslighting, Suicide, Classism, Colonisation, Stalking, Antisemitism, Blood, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Racial slurs, Drug abuse, and Racism

ellelockley's review against another edition

challenging dark informative 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

4.0

Oscar Wilde's only novel is the dreamlike story of a young man who sells his sould for eternal youth and beauty. This book makes you reflect on literally everything that has happened in your life. At the start, you're a blank slate, and at the end you've completely changed your outlook on life. It was so very interesting to read, and for a classic it wasn't absurdly long. The only reason it's a four is because I think it was way too focused on very minor things some of the time. I did really enjoy it and would recommend it to everyone.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Homophobia, Death, Alcohol, Classism, Infidelity, and Misogyny