Reviews with content warning for Adult/minor relationship - The Picture of Dorian Gray

Reviews tagging 'Adult/minor relationship'

The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde

11 reviews

trintrin's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.75

Behind every exquisite thing that existed, there was something tragic.

This quote perfectly sums up the exquisitely tragic story that is Dorian Gray's.

The first classic that I have ever voluntarily fully read and oh boy did I love it. The descriptions just seemed so poetic and the writing is so fluid. It almost felt magical and whimsical reading some of those passages despite this book not having any magic at all. My only complaint is no normal person is gonna be spewing formal poetry for two whole pages in a normal conversation lol. I thought this writing style would be hard to read but it flowed really well for the most part. The only section I was actually bored by was in chapter 11 when we get pages long descriptions of Dorian's various new hobbies and interests. I found it too much like an info dump-y Wikipedia copy paste or something. That alone made me put the book down for nearly a week before continuing whoops.

The characters are amazing imo. Dorian started out pretty boring but I started loving him more and more as his character progressed. Lord Henry is... interesting, to say the least. I admire him for the confidence he has in his views and I'm also also scared of finding someone like him irl. Poor Basil got caught up in this mess I feel bad for him. Sybil Vane and her family were more or less there only to further the plot but I didn't particularly mind that. But my biggest question is, how do these people socialise so much? I feel exhausted reading about all the operas and dinners and clubs they go to like everyday. My introverted self could never.

I didn't know what I was thinking the ending would be but it wasn't what I expected. I knew this was going to be tragic but the abruptness of it all it still sort of took me by surprise.

Overall, an amazing book definitely worth the read.

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byrdteeth's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

2.5

"...That a burnt child loves the fire"
"I am not even singed. My wings are untouched."
"You use them for everything except flight."

Personal Review
- 'Dorian Gray is a mediocre story, I really don't get the hype. Yeah, I was surprised Basil was killed by Dorian, but the rest was just 'OK'. I definitely see the LGBTQ overtones but that's what makes it uncomfortable. Wilde doesn't really glorify either of them yet it's still awkward especially considering Henry was
  Spoiler
  grooming
  Dorian and was shocked when Dorian became deranged; like what did you expect? Also the
  Spoiler
  antisemitism
  ? I thought at first it was in Dorian's POV, but it was continuous and expansive. I couldn't find concrete evidence Wilde was
  Spoiler
  anti-Semitic
  but considering its popularity of the time it adds another uncomfortable layer to the mix.'

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ale15sousa's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective 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

I really wanted to like it but I didn't. I almost hate read it (with the help of an audiobook) in hopes of liking it or reaching the good part. I'll probably give it another chance in a few years.

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hannahlouise_'s review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

5.0

i absolutely adore the way that oscar wilde writes. one of the best novels i’ve read

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madinhoa's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective medium-paced

4.0

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filipa_maia's review against another edition

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dark mysterious 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

3.75

I have a really hard time reading classics. The people who are represented in them are so wildly different from today's reality (from my reality, at least) that I have a really hard time trying to not be annoyed throughout the book. Everyone is so overly dramatic: the women keep fainting, people are always in each other's houses (I would hate living back then)... every little thing that happens is a story for days... So, in reality, to my eyes (and not wanting to get classic lovers angry) every single "classic book" look, and sounds, the same to me.

This book is a little bit different. Oscar Wilde combines the cliches of classic books with the horror and mystical aspect of a fantasy story, and I really enjoyed that. I already knew Dorian Gray's story: the guy that never ages and has a picture that keeps getting older, but I didn't know this much. I enjoyed discovering the madness behind Gray's actions, the things that he does, to himself and others, without taking any responsibility. On one hand I wish I knew what kind of "magic" is behind the painting; on the other hand this gives another coat of mystery to the book.

I have a couple of questions still:
* Why is every character so hateful? I have Dorian, I hate Henry, I hate that entire society.
* Don't people get curious with the fact the Dorian does not age? They know him for year... don't they wonder?

Anyway, overall this is a good book, very mysterious and entertaining.

P.S.: The edition that I read is one without the six "infamous" chapters. Apparently, someone, sometime ago, decided that the original book had six chapters that where "too gay", so some books don't have them. I discovered this because I've read this book in a group read, and some of the girls had more chapters than the others... So, this edition was published for the first time in 2009. Where those chapters still "too gay"?

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michaelion's review against another edition

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challenging 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

1.25

Yawn. Boring story with nonsensical characters and ridiculous plot. If you can even call it a plot. I've read enough philosophy to know I don't like this brand of uppity white people, so call me biased, but there's nothing there. There's no there there. It's empty and hollow and- Honestly makes sense why this would be considered classic literature. There's just no flavor. A pinchings of elements in the story were almost kinda cool, but overall it was a tough read even without the time period-language barrier. (I don't know what else to call it.)

And this book is not queer at all! Whoever tagged it as such lied!

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cadybooks's review against another edition

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dark 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

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soupsswagreads's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious reflective

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

3.75

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seawarrior's review against another edition

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challenging 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

4.0

While some passages in this book were terribly dull to me, Wilde's dazzling language and audacious characters kept drawing my interest back in. I'm fortunate to have just read the works of a few of the philosophers referenced in this book for college, though I'm sure there were several references to other works of literature and ethics systems that went over my head. The edition of the book I had access to did not provide citations of other works Wilde referenced, but I imagine one that did would have only made my reading experience richer.

I'm sure that most of what I can say about this book in regards to its philosophy and history has already been said by someone more knowledgeable that me, so I won't go into my thoughts on those matters. As a horror story I think it still holds up well in the modern day. Dorian's descent into soullessness grows more chilling by the chapter, as his sins culminate and lead to his ultimate end. Wilde's wit and descriptive language made the scenery and characters come alive, and as the book went on I felt it less challenging to make sense of his dense paragraphs and philosophies. I would recommend this book to other readers. It remains a classic not only for Wilde's adept writing, but the controversy it caused at the time of publication.

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