Reviews with content warning for Sexism - El Retrato de Dorian Gray

I loved everything about this but I don't know where the lgbtq section was in the whole story. Maybe it was in thr one I skimmed through.

Don't care about others opinion of Henry (Harry) but he's my favourite character.

Content Warnings

genz_reads_classics's review against another edition

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dark tense slow-paced

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

4.25

The book itself may not be special but holy CRAP those last 8 chapters had me shook.

First off, the characters are brilliant! (I’m sorry if I’m bad at analyzing character, that’s one of my main weaknesses. This book is very based in human thought and reasoning and i have trouble understanding those sorts of ideas. Which is why Harry is such a riot lmao)

Basil Hallward is probably the best one, he’s just so caring! Lord Harry sure loves talking and holy shit his thoughts on women are problematic..

it’s so clear how his charm and cunning spread to Dorian and in turn corrupting everyone else Dorian ever met with. It’s so tragic how Alan and Sibyl ended up because of Dorian. James was also so compelling! His love and determination and the fact he DIED FROM SHOOTING AT A RABBIT OR SOMETHING AND DORIAN WAS HAPPY?!

I swear Dorian is the most eerie character I’ve ever seen. He was perfectly calm talking to Harry, as managed to influence him so horribly.

especially the fact he was calm after killing Basil (which is a such a pretty name btw) aswell as his friends/lovers committing suicide and similar.

And the second Basil started giving good advice and care for Dorian he gets mad!

Poor Basil gets a dozen stabs to the neck. And then gets referred to as « the thing » for the next several pages. Horrific.

The ending was very good. If the book has me giggling and kicking my feet like a little goblin it’s a good one!

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remuslibrary's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective 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

5.0

one of the best. books. ever.

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river69rat's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective tense slow-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

3.0

Heard so many good things about this one but it just didn't hit for me unfortunately. None of the characters were particularly interesting and Henry was especially annoying with his contrarian sexist rants. Dorian Gray himself was just fine, but it felt as if he was just a corruption of Henry and the parts in Henry's PoV were just better. Shame as I wanted to love this book :/

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the_vegan_bookworm's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective fast-paced

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

4.5

A classic in so many ways with poignant reflections on youth, beauty and what makes a good person. There are also so many layers of queerness in each of the characters and their relationships.

It is certainly a product of its time, with several sexist comments and some antisemitic portrayals. Readers should be aware of this before beginning to read

Content Warnings

queeniecraft's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense 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

Content Warnings

bblanka's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective 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

Content Warnings

lybrarie's review against another edition

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slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This is the first adult classic I ever read and I have it to thank for all the classics I have read since. I absolutely fell in love with this book the first time I read it, and several years later I still love it just as much. In fact, I'd even go as far to say that I love it more.

On my journey of reading classics I have come to be used to and even greatly enjoy the style of writing that typically comes with classics, and I have adored a lot of the classics I have read. But I always find myself comparing the love I have for whatever classic I have recently finished to my love for this book. It has been a real joy to come back to.

Since first reading this book, I have read some more of Oscar Wilde's writing and I truly do love it. Coming back to this book I really got to appreciate Wilde's writing and the beauty of it. This is a great book and I really recommend it to everyone. For me it was the perfect gateway into reading classics - it is short and pretty easy to read (as far as classics go), and I love the plot and the message of the book.

I originally only gave this book 4 stars, but now I am increasing it to 5. This book is not perfect, but since I rate off of overall enjoyment I still want to give this 5 stars.

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