Reviews with content warning for Death - The Picture of Dorian Gray

Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

424 reviews

imjumokay's review against another edition

challenging dark funny mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

4.0

fuck lord henry all my homies hate lord henry. good on victoria for leaving that miserable POS. rich people should have their excesses seized. get a job. my copy of this book was old and withered and musty like dorian gray and his crusty ass. basil <3 bby you didnt deserve what you got <3

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turidt's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-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

4.5

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lucyatoz's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-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

3.0

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde is about a rich young man, who sits for an artist who paints his portrait. However, there is a curse attached to the painting and the sitter as the painting will age and the man will not!

This results in Dorian's life ultimately spinning out of control, leading to a suicide of a young woman, who is an actress, and the murder of the one man who could be called his only true friend.

The story sometimes felt like it was stuck in a loop, and although is wonderfully written and deserves it place as a classic in literature, it was a struggle for me to read with some chapters feeling out of place whilst others were deeply engaging and moved the narrative forward.

I borrowed a copy of this book from Taunton Library and listened to it on CloudLibrary. I read this for the 52 Book Club Summer Reading Challenge 2024, for prompt 23, Closing Ceremonies, author who hasn't released a book in the past four years.

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bambilouise's review against another edition

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challenging dark tense medium-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

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lightningmc_logyn's review against another edition

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emotional reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I read this in 3 days. It was amazing, absolutely insightful. The context of Oscar Wilde being imprisoned for homosexuality after writing this book adds a somber layer to the experience.
It was very profound, and raw with discussions of human nature, and how it’s pushed and pulled within the lense of a Christianity based good vs. evil society. Wilde did something powerful here, presenting a fascinating argument for beauty and ugliness, power and weakness, and the shades of morality. I will think about this for the rest of my life.
The older English was challenging for me at times, particularly as I started reading the book and as well as

in chapter 9, which I felt dragged on for too long. The intention I think was to articulate how much Dorian had abandoned all things but knowledge and sensation.

I definitely recommend people read the uncensored version. Seeing the book as it was originally written is magical. The textual introduction was interesting, but quite long and I primarily focused on the actual body of the novel.

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jackiepaigecat's review against another edition

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dark reflective medium-paced

4.75

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artemy_se's review against another edition

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dark funny mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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hoiyan's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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sophiaxscherm's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious fast-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

1.75

I had such high hopes for this book and really wanted to like it but unfortunately I was disappointed. I really like the idea of the story and when it was about the story, I enjoyed it, even though I never felt like it was really catching and exciting. However, most of the first half are just monologues, mainly by Lord Henry about how he knows everything and just him being a sexist dick. At first, I liked the philosophical monologues but after a while it gets annoying and just doesn't add to the story in my opinion. The second half was a bit more interesting as it focused a little more on the story but still wasn't very exciting. It's so sad because, like I already said, I think it's a great story and I think the most interesting part would have been to see Dorian become this monster, however, we sadly don't really get to see the way there which would have been the best part, instead we get a 20 pages chapter that serves as a fast-forward chapter which only describes in a monologue-style what Dorian did for like a decade, which was so boring that I was really close to just skipping it entirely. Unfortunately, I was very let down.

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fantomerrant's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective sad medium-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

5.0

Oh, how to begin talking about this book? I adored it, despite it being clearly problematic at times (misogyny, antisemitism, romanticizing adults attracted to children and the likes, though some of it isn't clear whether it is coming from the characters or the author) but it is also so wonderful. Wilde's prose is incredibly poetic but by all means, my favourite thing about this classic is all the references and themes of beauty and greek ideals, as well as tragedy, terror and fatality, because it parallels my favourite book of all time: The Secret History. I wonder if Donna Tartt drew some of her inspiration from Wilde, and more specifically Dorian Gray.

"Behind every exquisite thing that existed, there was something tragic" "Beauty is terror, whatever we call beautiful we quiver before it"

"There is something fatal about a portrait" "Does such a thing as the fatal flaw, that showy dark crack running down the middle of a life, exist outside literature? I used to think it didn't. Now I think it does. And I think that mine is this: a morbid longing for the picturesque at all costs"

Dorian, which at times does remind me a little of Henry, is constantly being referred to as greek figures like Appollo or Narcissus. The way Sybil, his first love, is described reminds me a lot of Camilla.

There's also this romanticising of suicide/death where Sybil's, and later Basil's, ends are seen as a beautiful thing, through the lens of Shakespearean references like Romeo and Juliet or Ophelia, and it is simply used as a device to further Dorian's transformation.

As an artist myself, this novel, just like the works it draws parallels with, really touched me. I found the end of both the book and of Dorian's, incredibly fitting. How he, or rather his youth, it's memory, ended up absorbed in his portrait, as it was always meant to. How his soul, and its true nature, was released as Dorian enacts the final act, which reflects what he himself admired in his love interests, which is to kill himself, though quite inadvertently.

As a queer person, I can’t end this review without mentioning that I appreciated reading a classic written by another queer person, despite Wilde being problematic. And I appreciated all the queer subtext, if you can call it that (as to me, it was the clearest thing). I believe this book to be about the tragic love story of Dorian and Basil, or at least, of Basil's love for Dorian, and Dorian's love for himself.

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