A review by sorayee
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

4.0

(Very minuscule spoiler) I read this recently for the first time, after about three years of wanting to. It was far more real than I expected because all I knew about the book was what I had heard about the picture that grows older instead of Dorian. I thought it would be far more fantastical but this story has it's basis in real life and it outlines the deep-seated vanity that is apparent throughout most of human history. It also talks a lot about evil and temptation with Lord Henry leading Dorian astray and Basil always the voice of reason. I think that what made a good man in the society in which this was written and set is not wholly different to in our own and therefore it is still relevant. Although this book has a somewhat hopeless message, it keeps reminding the reader that Dorian could have prevented his fate if he had chosen another path.