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A review by pastelwriter
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
5.0
A more accurate star review would be 4.5 stars.
There were lots of things to love about this book. It was over the top, extravagant, luscious, etc.
I've read reviews criticizing the character of Lord Henry for being so cynical and pretentions, but that was the whole point. Yes, his corruption of Dorian Gray was plain as day, but I believe that was part of the point as well. His actions were deliberate, but Dorian ate them up easily. This is more of a flaw on Dorian's character than on Henry's. At least on my end, I loved every time Lord Henry opened his mouth to spew all his nonsense because it was obvious he was doing it just to amuse the people he was with. You never really know if he believed any of it, but he was consistent with most of what he said. I loved him because I would surely throttle him if I ever met someone like him in real life.
Dorian, even as our main character, was the least interesting of the characters. There's a clear reason for this, by being a narcissist and obsessing over the picture of himself, there was little to him. This was the whole point. He was hollow and dedicated himself to hollow pursuits. So, the reader not finding him as entertaining as, for example, Lord Henry, is understandable.
Basil was curious to me in the beginnings of the story. He was so thoroughly enamoured by Dorian that I found his fascination with the then young man interesting. His long monologues speaking of his adoration and admiration were curious to me because no one took them seriously. Yet when his muse, Dorian, left him to amuse himself with Lord Henry, his art diminished. It became less than what it once was. One could say, it suffered just as the soul of Dorian suffered.
Overall, I truly enjoyed this book. I attempted to read it back in 2014, but was simply not a mature enough reader to even get through it. Four years later, I can't say I can analyse the book without the prompting of others, but I have the maturity to comprehend the words and reach the end. The reason I did not give it five stars was merely because of one specific chapter that was so boring I just had to take part of a star off because of it.
There were lots of things to love about this book. It was over the top, extravagant, luscious, etc.
I've read reviews criticizing the character of Lord Henry for being so cynical and pretentions, but that was the whole point. Yes, his corruption of Dorian Gray was plain as day, but I believe that was part of the point as well. His actions were deliberate, but Dorian ate them up easily. This is more of a flaw on Dorian's character than on Henry's. At least on my end, I loved every time Lord Henry opened his mouth to spew all his nonsense because it was obvious he was doing it just to amuse the people he was with. You never really know if he believed any of it, but he was consistent with most of what he said. I loved him because I would surely throttle him if I ever met someone like him in real life.
Dorian, even as our main character, was the least interesting of the characters. There's a clear reason for this, by being a narcissist and obsessing over the picture of himself, there was little to him. This was the whole point. He was hollow and dedicated himself to hollow pursuits. So, the reader not finding him as entertaining as, for example, Lord Henry, is understandable.
Basil was curious to me in the beginnings of the story. He was so thoroughly enamoured by Dorian that I found his fascination with the then young man interesting. His long monologues speaking of his adoration and admiration were curious to me because no one took them seriously. Yet when his muse, Dorian, left him to amuse himself with Lord Henry, his art diminished. It became less than what it once was. One could say, it suffered just as the soul of Dorian suffered.
Overall, I truly enjoyed this book. I attempted to read it back in 2014, but was simply not a mature enough reader to even get through it. Four years later, I can't say I can analyse the book without the prompting of others, but I have the maturity to comprehend the words and reach the end. The reason I did not give it five stars was merely because of one specific chapter that was so boring I just had to take part of a star off because of it.