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

dark slow-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

whew i struggled through the middle portion of this book because i couldn’t stand lord henry’s aristocratic yapping. 😭 he’s so? full of shit?

oscar wilde’s words are fun to read though. he’s snappy. when he’s not describing lord henry’s contradictory tangents about pseudo-philosophy, i can picture every bit of each scene and its atmosphere. 

The hideous hunger for opium began to gnaw at him. His throat burned, and his delicate hands twitched nervously together. He struck at the horse madly with his stick. The driver laughed, and whipped up. He laughed in answer, and the man was silent. 

The way seemed interminable, and the streets like the black web of some sprawling spider. The monotony became unbearable, and, as the mist thickened, he felt afraid. 

Then they passed by lonely brickfields. The fog was lighter here, and he could see the strange bottle-shaped kilns with their orange fan-like tongues of fire. A dog barked as they went by, and far away in the darkness some wandering sea-gull screamed. The horse stumbled in a rut, then swerved aside, and broke into a gallop. 

how did oscar wilde do that 😭 i’m in love with his writing. 

i can’t believe this book was published over a hundred years ago either, because it feels modern, current. the characters have messy relationships with each other; dorian gray tortures himself with a mix of pity, righteousness, superiority and terror; not to mention the incredible gay subtext that seem more text than subtext, and i’m already — unfortunately — reading the censored version. one doesn’t need the uncensored version to understand that basil the painter was tragically in love with dorian. 🙂‍↕️

if i don’t judge it as a novel, because i don’t think it was well-structured at all, i still think reading it was quite the experience for me. i’d love to read more of oscar wilde’s stuff. 
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