A review by clayjs
Against Nature by Joris-Karl Huysmans

3.0

[a:Oscar Wilde|3565|Oscar Wilde|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1316521008p2/3565.jpg]'s [b:The Picture of Dorian Gray|5297|The Picture of Dorian Gray|Oscar Wilde|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1320467562s/5297.jpg|1858012], taking it's cue from [a:Mary Shelley|11139|Mary Shelley|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1205347203p2/11139.jpg]'s [b:Frankenstein|18490|Frankenstein (Penguin Classics)|Mary Shelley|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1311647465s/18490.jpg|4836639], gives its hero three books to read in order to shape and to define his personality. The most fascinatingly bleak of Dorian's reads is this strange little book about a jaded perfumer with too much money, trying to fill up his boring, pleasure-sated days. It's a sensualist romp through, well, very little, actually, and it adequately depicts the life of a man who has everything in life and nothing to live for. Bleak, pointless, at times very charming, [b:Against Nature|210255|Against Nature (A Rebours)|Joris-Karl Huysmans|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1312506330s/210255.jpg|306152] isn't for everyone, but it's a useful tool to get further into Dorian Gray's character. If you are an enthusiast of Wilde's novella, it's a must read, along with [b:Marius the Epicurean|626363|Marius the Epicurean|Walter Pater|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1334835995s/626363.jpg|1443058] and [b:Confessions of An Opium-Eater|87602|Confessions of an English Opium-eater & Other Writings (World's Classics)|Thomas de Quincey|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171104391s/87602.jpg|18609464].