A review by locomotive_xo
The Uncensored Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

dark reflective fast-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

When thinking about this book as the inner turmoil between the different versions of himself Oscar Wilde felt lived inside him, I really enjoy it. The essays at the beginning really helped to bring important context to the story, and I was easily able to draw the parallels between Wilde’s own real life experiences and what was happening in the story. I find it very relatable in the sense of having all these truths about you, and what you choose to hide and what you choose to show, who you choose to love openly, and how what you leave behind of yourself festers and curdles inside you. 

There is a sort of melancholy you get throughout this book that I really enjoy, and the moments when the self-loathing and repression are so strong, you feel it as a heavy pit in your stomach. Sweet Basil! 

I will admit I’m horribly terrible with philosophy and some of Lord Henry Wotton’s ramblings about life and morality truly had me dizzy, but the irony of his character shined through and was what I ultimately clung to. I did want to kick him a few times. I’m gonna be honest, I had to Google “did Oscar Wilde hate women?” while reading this 😭 just to make sure because there were so many long monologues about how women were boring and had no value and I was like hm alright. 

Ooo and also what struck me was a lot of the discussion around puritanism, especially during the Victorian era in which is was written. I feel like it resonates especially right now…I don’t have fully fledged thoughts about it, but it did sit with me. 

Fav quotes (looking now, I should’ve jotted down more substantive ones, but these are mostly ones that made me giggle it looks like 😭):

“Her name was Victoria, and she had a perfect mania for going to church.”

“The bright dawn flooded the room, and swept the fantastic shadows into dusky corners, where they lay shuddering.”

“I quite admit that I adored you, madly extravagantly, absurdly.”

“He grew more and more enamored of his own beauty, more and more interested in the corruption of his own soul. He would examine with minute care, and often with a monstrous and terrible delight, the hideous lines that seared the wrinkling forehead or crawled around the heavy, sensual mouth, wondering sometimes which were the more horrible, the signs of sin or the signs of age. He would place his white hands beside the course, bloated hands of the picture, and smile. He mocked the misshapen body and the failing limbs.”

“It is an odd thing, but every one who disappears is said to be seen at San Francisco.” (PTV was on to something…)

“Death and vulgarity are the only two facts of the nineteenth century that one cannot explain away. Let us have our coffee in the music room, Dorian. You must play Chopin to me. The man with whom my wife ran away played Chopin exquisitely.”
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