Information
Goodreads: The Picture of Dorian Gray
Series: None
Age Category: Adult
Source: Library
Published: 1890
Official Summary
Oscar Wilde's only novel is the dreamlike story of a young man who sells his soul for eternal youth and beauty.
In this celebrated work Wilde forged a devastating portrait of the effects of evil and debauchery on a young aesthete in late-19th-century England. Combining elements of the Gothic horror novel and decadent French fiction, the book centers on a striking premise: As Dorian Gray sinks into a life of crime and gross sensuality, his body retains perfect youth and vigor while his recently painted portrait grows day by day into a hideous record of evil, which he must keep hidden from the world. For over a century, this mesmerizing tale of horror and suspense has enjoyed wide popularity. It ranks as one of Wilde's most important creations and among the classic achievements of its kind.
Review
The Picture of Dorian Gray seems to have a bit of a cult following even among readers who don't normally describe themselves as fans of classics, so I was excited to finally delve into a work that has touched the imaginations of so many. Unfortunately, I wasn't captivated and won't be counting myself among the book's particular fans, but I'm glad I read it.
A large percentage of the book is devoted to the characters sitting around and discussing their philosophies, which is not necessarily a mark against the novel. My problem is that I didn't find the discussions that interesting or profound. The biggest talker is side character Lord Henry Wotton, who likes to go around pontificating -- except nearly everything he says is supposed to be something the reader finds morally incorrect. Henry can take any adage and think himself a wit because he flips it around to then support something like being selfish, only living to seek pleasure, maybe even murdering people if it makes you an interesting person to have done something like that. I didn't read any of his speeches and find anything I wanted to think about more or reflect on in my own life. I wouldn't sit around listening to this man's theories in real life, and I wasn't that interested in reading most of them in the story.
The book overall is making important points, of course, one of the most obvious being the value placed on youth and beauty and how much society is willing to forgive of one who has those. There are repeated mentions of Dorian Gray's debaucherous lifestyle that are hand-waved away by other characters insisting that, if he were a bad man doing immoral things, you would be able to tell; the evil would be written on his face. The theme might be slightly exaggerated (there are tons of serial killers in real life no one could tell were serial killers by seeing the evil in their eyes and the lines around their mouths), but I take the point that the world is kinder to the young and beautiful, more willing to overlook their faults. There's still a sense in today's society that beauty = goodness.
Although most of the book feels like Henry's speeches and other flights of philosophy, there is a little more plot than I was anticipating, since they only thing I knew going in is that the book is about Dorian's portrait growing older while he does not. Unfortunately, the characters I found most interesting and would have liked to learn more about and hear more from all get killed off. There's probably something in there about the good undeservedly dying while the wicked live on, and all the dying does add a little excitement to the novel, but I was disappointed!
It's a good book. I enjoyed it. I'm certainly not obsessed, which I was hoping to be after seeing some very thrilled reviews from other readers. I don't know that I'll be thinking much about it once I move on from writing this review.
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