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

dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

4.25

This used to be a 5* baby for me, but alas upon reading it the second time, I found a lot of it rather annoying. Well, more specifically, Lord Henry is an absolute knob and I find his paradoxical manner totally tosh - I know it's the point of his character though (to consistently utter sayings that sound meaningful, but in actual fact, are bloomin' balderdash). Wilde was a fan of aestheticism, and hence this character has reason for being in the novel, for the mere fact he has no reason at all (oh, would you look at that - I'm being a paradoxical piece of poop) - the novel doesn't intend to be moral, or immoral, or serve any purpose other than to exist as art, and certainly the poeticism and lyricism of the contents solidify it as such, but pfft it still grinds my gears! Anyways, I do recommend this and it is enjoyable - you've just got to put up with some complete trashtalk and middle-class poppycock. Wilde is undoubtedly a talented author, though (or "was", rather... RIP), and is quite probably one of my favourites - I think I've just grown more critical in my old age, but yeah, give it a go!
p.s. don't get me wrong, this book still slaps and touches on some very interesting and *mysterious* (ooo) topics of the Victorian era. Now that I think of it, I might've been a tad harsh
Oh....but if I remember rightly, there was some casual antisemitism in there so pfft suck it!
(Actually I've revised my review overall, boosting it from a 3.75 becauseeee I can't get it out of my mind - it's quite profound in its nothingness, but its being simply art).
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