Reviews with content warning for Murder - The Picture of Dorian Gray

I had such high hopes for this book and really wanted to like it but unfortunately I was disappointed. I really like the idea of the story and when it was about the story, I enjoyed it, even though I never felt like it was really catching and exciting. However, most of the first half are just monologues, mainly by Lord Henry about how he knows everything and just him being a sexist dick. At first, I liked the philosophical monologues but after a while it gets annoying and just doesn't add to the story in my opinion. The second half was a bit more interesting as it focused a little more on the story but still wasn't very exciting. It's so sad because, like I already said, I think it's a great story and I think the most interesting part would have been to see Dorian become this monster, however, we sadly don't really get to see the way there which would have been the best part, instead we get a 20 pages chapter that serves as a fast-forward chapter which only describes in a monologue-style what Dorian did for like a decade, which was so boring that I was really close to just skipping it entirely. Unfortunately, I was very let down.

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___'s review against another edition

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dark funny informative mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I enjoyed this classic much more than I was expecting. Admittedly, the middle of the book got a little boring for me, but the beginning and end hooked my attention well. I'll want to reread to get a better grasp of some stuff I might have missed in the middle of the novel.

Another reason I'll want to reread the book is because apparently most copies out now are heavily edited and censored. I hear the uncensored version is much better.

Art lovers and haters alike will enjoy this book, I think.

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fantomerrant's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective sad 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

Oh, how to begin talking about this book? I adored it, despite it being clearly problematic at times (misogyny, antisemitism, romanticizing adults attracted to children and the likes, though some of it isn't clear whether it is coming from the characters or the author) but it is also so wonderful. Wilde's prose is incredibly poetic but by all means, my favourite thing about this classic is all the references and themes of beauty and greek ideals, as well as tragedy, terror and fatality, because it parallels my favourite book of all time: The Secret History. I wonder if Donna Tartt drew some of her inspiration from Wilde, and more specifically Dorian Gray.

"Behind every exquisite thing that existed, there was something tragic" "Beauty is terror, whatever we call beautiful we quiver before it"

"There is something fatal about a portrait" "Does such a thing as the fatal flaw, that showy dark crack running down the middle of a life, exist outside literature? I used to think it didn't. Now I think it does. And I think that mine is this: a morbid longing for the picturesque at all costs"

Dorian, which at times does remind me a little of Henry, is constantly being referred to as greek figures like Appollo or Narcissus. The way Sybil, his first love, is described reminds me a lot of Camilla.

There's also this romanticising of suicide/death where Sybil's, and later Basil's, ends are seen as a beautiful thing, through the lens of Shakespearean references like Romeo and Juliet or Ophelia, and it is simply used as a device to further Dorian's transformation.

As an artist myself, this novel, just like the works it draws parallels with, really touched me. I found the end of both the book and of Dorian's, incredibly fitting. How he, or rather his youth, it's memory, ended up absorbed in his portrait, as it was always meant to. How his soul, and its true nature, was released as Dorian enacts the final act, which reflects what he himself admired in his love interests, which is to kill himself, though quite inadvertently.

As a queer person, I can’t end this review without mentioning that I appreciated reading a classic written by another queer person, despite Wilde being problematic. And I appreciated all the queer subtext, if you can call it that (as to me, it was the clearest thing). I believe this book to be about the tragic love story of Dorian and Basil, or at least, of Basil's love for Dorian, and Dorian's love for himself.

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broccoli_mmm's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.75

Wow wow wow.

Sometimes a piece of art just finds you at exactly the right time in your life. I had no idea what to expect going into this besides the queer subtext but wowww.

The idea of life itself as a form of art is brilliant and beautiful. Dorian’s complete misapplication of that principle is both fascinating and horrifying. Lord Henry is both clever and right and wicked and wrong. There is no room for absolute truth here.

The dialogue is insanely good, the only books ive read that come close are Austen’s. Every Basil and Dorian scene had me floored. sweet Basil </3

I want to read lines from this over and over and over again.

-0.25 because of the chapter listing every gemstone, tapestry, and instrument Dorian owned lol

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julalbert56's review against another edition

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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

4.0

An intriguing and creepy examination of vanity and the value of beauty. Some parts dragged or were too philosophical for my liking, but overall a great read. Also very antisemitic and sexist, not cool.

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asharamakumar's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.75

"What does it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose...his own soul?"

This is the fundamental question explored in Oscar Wilde's magnum opus, The Picture of Dorian Gray. In only 270 pages, Wilde creates a compelling story with enough background that the foreground is that much more electric. The characters are complicated, elusive, and perhaps most importantly, flawed.

The ending, in particular,

reminded me so much of Black Swan! The Aronofsky HAS to be inspired by this story. The constant pursuit of beauty, youth, and perfection ultimately leading to their demise. And of course at the end, when Nina thinks she's stabbing the Black Swan, she's actually stabbing herself.

The interplay between love, violence, lust, and greed is extraordinarily compelling.

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clovetra's review against another edition

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dark mysterious 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

4.0

i find my feelings very hard to put into words. i cant describe how this book made me feel. it is topsy-turvy, it changes its pace midway through, and is constantly adapting itself.
i do think the online "hype" about this book makes this book overrated - but it still is a good book! i do feel as though this is one of those books when just reading it in isolation renders it a 3-star read, but with the introduction & biography following wilde, as well as context for the time in which it was written, the story opens itself up.
i found the plot to lowkey be all over the place? i mean up until sibyl is

murdered

i was enjoying this, and understood the hype. but following that plot point, this book does a complete 180, and i didn't know what to expect. the entire tone shifts almost instantaneously that night in the theatre, and i think its a neat comparison for

dorian's descent into madness from the painting to begin in a theatre - art destroying art in a sense

. but yet again, without deeper analysis & trying to read this book just as it is à la 'death of the author', this book would not be as good, and honestly that's why it isnt a 5-star. that and the writing gave me a headache many of times because i had no clue what i had just read because 75 words no longer used in the english language were present in a sentence that was 7 lines long. i get that's how classics are written but doesn't mean i have to like it!!
anyways, what else do i have to say? honestly i fail to truly grasp this book as well, i think because a lot of wilde's obvious intentions were masqueraded in subtext, and i am not good at subtext!! at all!! i am not a very smart reader (unless im actively trying to solve a mystery novel. then i become mf sherlock holmes).
i enjoyed basil & dorian's characterisations, but henry's seemed to go over my head. i think im gonna have to read a deep analysis of his character because i seriously don't get how it is insinuated

henry sends dorian down his corrupt path

. yet again that could be because i missed the subtext or actually had no idea what i was reading due to the language used. sue me.
i reallllyyy enjoyed the ending. the book lowkey kinda floundered in the middle, but picked up again at full steam at around chapter 12.
also no shade but chapter 11 isn't as bad as everyone makes it out to be. if im honest its probably the most important chapter of the book!!!
anyways booktwt dont sue me for not liking it, sue my brain for being a dumb ass bitch.

edit 30/7/24: nvm im bumping it a star up cuz im up thinking about the ending

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