The Picture of Dorian Gray (original 1891; edition 1891)

My oh my.

Another standard by which to judge other authors.

At the age of 43, I've finally gotten to Wilde (aside from his delightful children's tales) after many years of the "I'll get to him, I'll get to him, stop bothering me" stage. I wish you all hadn't stopped bothering me. Reading this at 23 might have helped me to understand some dark events and people better.

Not a novel to make one feel good, for sure. As a matter of fact, it left me feeling nauseous at a few points. Wilde is such a master of prose that he's able to describe perfectly the vacuous "new" hedonism he observed in late Victorian society with his characteristic wit yet show no signs of cynicism that might otherwise lead the reader to any dry conclusions. Rather than being an autopsy of the condition of morals, it is simply a body laid bare upon the table, complete with hair and scabs and scars and imperfections, leaving you mildly uncomfortable at the slight grin on its pale face. ( )

I appreciated this book, though since I saw the movie more recently than I read the book my memory of the book is merged with the movie. ( )

I wanted to slap Dorian throughout this entire book. ( )

http://speculiction.blogspot.com/2013/05/review-of-picture-of-dorian-gray-by.htm... ( )

Not just about aging, which I assumed, based upon popular culture, but moral degeneration too; or rather, about moral degeneration and aging, in that order.

As a reader, looking to enjoy himself (I give up on a lot of books if the writing itself doesn't appeal to me), the prose at first was annoying--too flowery for me--but I got used to it, and at the same time more appreciative of what the author was accomplishing. In my rating, it loses a star because of a long and eventually tedious recitation of meretricious objects collected by the protagonist, in the interests of Art. ( )

Grandiose story of a man who remains young while his portrait ages. Enjoyment depends on you tolerance for Victorian verbosity. I found it tedious in stretches. ( )

While I don't think it will ever be my favourite book (more than halfway through for it to become even remotely entrancing?), the latte half is intriguing, with some interesting bits. ( )

The Picture of Dorian Gray er skemmtileg saga. Þetta er ein þekktasta saga Oscars Wilde og segir frá því þegar Dorian Gray verður að ósk sinni þegar hann öðlast eilífa æsku og fegurð á meðan málverk af honum afmyndast af elli og spillingu eftir því sem árin líða þar sem það er spegill sálar Grays.
Mér finnst hugmyndin sem liggur að baki sögunni heillandi og ekki síst að í upphafi sögunnar þá kynnumst við vinum Grays, þeim Basil og Henry. Þeir eru gerólíkir og má líkja við góðu og slæmu samviskum Dorians sem í upphafi virkar saklaus og opinn fyrir áhrifum. Á meðan Basil skapar málverkið og ljær því þann töframátt sem gerir því kleyft að meðtaka sálu Dorians hefur Henry hins vegar þau áhrif að freista Dorians og fá hann til að velja leið spillingar og útlitsdýrkunar sem síðan verður honum að fjörtjóni.
Þrátt fyrir heillandi sögu þá var hún oft á tíðum langdregin. ( )

I've always enjoyed the movie and the underlying story, but to actually read ths was a chore. Long-winded, slowly dragging, there was severe "damage" to the painting after only four years. And then, Dorian's crimes were still not enumerated to give the reader sufficient cause to believe his soul could be so scarred. We see a young man living to excess, but that more a crime to himself than to society. Closer to the end, the reader gets a closer look at Dorian's debauchery and darker nature. This book was too much a commentary on idle English society that droned on and less of the interesting concept that spawned movies. Given the choice, I'd recommend the movie over the book. ( )

Audacious book for its era. The melodramatic delivery starts to ruffle. ( )

I've meant to read this one since I had to analyse the last few pages for the final module of my English Lit A Level. For some reason, I'd never read it entirely before. It wasn't really spoilt by the fact that I already knew the ending intimately, although nothing was exactly a surprise to me, since I'd already thoroughly researched it. It's an interesting idea, and the ending is just perfect. Parts of it were a little boring, given that parts centered around philosophising, and parts centered around long descriptions. It is easy to read, and the descriptions are actually very lovely, but... there's just a bit more of it than I'd like. The actual plot is quite simple, though, really, so I suppose there'd be almost nothing to it without this! ( )

I really enjoyed this book and it's crazy plot. I also felt like it was a warning not to live too much about the physical things in life. I think for a lot of people image, clothing, and physical appearance sometimes becomes a part of their identity in a way that's not healthy and not productive. This book definitely has a moral tone as well that while I understood, did not always appreciate. I'm sure that if Wilde had been alive today he would have been able to write about homosexuality in a more visible way. Though, we might not have his wonderful work in the way we do now.

I also really liked the language, of course, Wilde is a master and I appreciated the insanity of the entire situation. Dorian Gray reminded me the reason we read classic literature.

The new film from a couple of years ago was also good though, I think, it's better in novel form than film form. ( )

“Live! Live the wonderful life that is in you! Let nothing be lost upon you. Be always searching for new sensations. Be afraid of nothing.”

Not the best advice in the world to a young innocent man.

The premise of Oscar Wilde's only novel is well-known. Dorian Grays friend Basil Hallward paints his picture - and Gray thinks it's a shame he will grow older, but the picture will stay the same. He declares that he would sell his soul if the reverse was true. Well, be careful what you wish for……

This was a reread - and it's remarkable that I remember so many things from this story - having read it back in the 80's. Down to certain quotes I remember pasting into a scrapbook I once had - the power of stories. I was very fascinated by it back then - I wasn't gripped so much by it this time.

The reckless libertine, Lord Henry Wotton admires the young Adonis - and he deliver's much of the wit in the story with his amoral life wisdom spoken out so elegantly.

“There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.”

“Nowadays most people die of a sort of creeping common sense, and discover when it is too late that the only things one never regrets are one's mistakes.”

Things like that.The second part of the story is not so well crafted I think, but it is slowly building up to the "grand finale" - the novel reminded me of Stevenson's [Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde] although that is a more of a gothic horror story than [Dorian Gray]. But I mostly enjoy it for the conversations in the beginning between, Basil, Lord Henry and Dorian Gray. That's sublime. ( )

It seems like I run into references to Dorian Gray pretty frequently (Most recently in James Blunt's song "Tears and Rain"). I decided to pick this up because I was tired of not understanding the references.

The Picture of Dorian Gray begins with one of Dorian's friends, a painter named Basil Hallward, just finishing his portrait. Lord Henry is visiting Basil and happens to meet Dorian. Henry sort of becomes the devil on Dorian's shoulder, asking something like, "Isn't it a shame that this portrait will be forever beautiful, perfect, innocent, and pure, but you will age, wither and die?" This hits Dorian hard. In a temper tantrum, he prays that the opposite should happen. He wants to live unsullied and have the portrait bear the marks of his living. His prayer is answered. This frees Dorian to live the life of cruelty, debauchery, and addiction that he wants. The portrait is hidden away in the attic and it looks more and more horrifying. But since Dorian is forever a beautiful 20-year-old Adonis, no one ever knows about his secret life.

To me, this book was cautionary tale about not judging by appearances and how you might be able to hide your sins, but you can't hide them forever. I was shocked to read the introduction (after finishing the book) and find out that the critics at the time of publication thought the book was immoral and terrible! The first version included some "homoerotic" scenes which upset readers in the 1890's. Wilde's popularity wasn't helped by the fact that he was jailed for two years, basically for homosexuality. It seemed to me like Oscar Wilde and Dorian Gray became the same person in the minds of readers and no one wanted anything to do with the book or the author. But, obviously, someone saw the value of the book or it wouldn't have become a classic.

I recommend this one. It's very readable and, like I said before, references to Dorian Gray are everywhere. I'll be glad to fully understand them now.

One final thing. I learned a great word from the introduction to this version--logorrhea. As in "Stephen King's books frequently suffer from logorrhea." Great word, right? ( )

In the words of one of my teachers...like eating chocolate cake all day long. ( )

well done, oscar wilde, well done. this is a fun, easy read that has so much to say about upper class society and how it is hypocritical and dishonest when dealing with its own members. there are parts of the story that are predictable, but the writing is so good that this doesn't matter at all.

"'Each of us has Heaven and Hell in him...'" ( )

Cool book. I recently read Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, which makes a nice companion piece to this since they're sortof about the same thing. Dorian Gray was published in 1890, Jekyll & Hyde in 1886; Wilde's apparently on record as admiring Jekyll & Hyde.

I think Wilde's lack of experience writing novels shows sometimes. James Vane is introduced so clumsily that it's instantly clear that Sibyl will come to an unfortunate end and James will take revenge. There's no other reason for his character to exist, right? "If he ever does you any wrong, I shall kill him." Not brilliantly subtle.

Jekyll & Hyde, by contrast, is a tidy little package by a master storyteller. But it doesn't reach for the same heights that Dorian Gray does. Wilde's not always successful, but I think he's set his sights higher.

I'm a little afraid that Wilde thinks Lord Henry is as charming as everyone in the book seems to. From quotes I've read, and from Wilde's preface to this book ("All art is quite useless"), Henry's paradoxical style seems to be an exaggerated version of Wilde's own. The problem is that Henry's a total bore. He's just constructing elaborate nonsense based on a formula. You could probably write a software program to deliver Henry-isms. "I'm tired!" "I tire only of sleeping." "That girl's hot!" "There's nothing so ugly as a pretty girl." Oh, shut up. ( )

I listen to audio books on my commute to work, and this may not have been the best choice. I found it difficult to develop much empathy for Dorian Gray, and although I found the issues the novel tackles interesting (the relationship between art and life, the lure of youth, the power books have over the lives of readers, the influence of mentors and friends, and the impossibility of ever really knowing oneself, let alone another), I ultimately felt detached from the characters and let down by the ending. Interesting, but not compelling. And the endless quips from Sir Henry! I would have probably loved this if I'd read it in high school. ( )

I've heard about this book for a long time. Everyone knows the basic plot. It's highly rated and one of those books that always comes up on lists of highly recommended. What I hadn't heard before was how boring it is. For such a small book it took me far longer than it should have to get through it. I should have been finished in a day but I'd read two pages and fall asleep.

Now I can appreciate a good vocabulary, a well constructed sentence, a beautiful turn of phrase, even if I can't write like that myself. But there needs to be substance beneath the paint. This book is all style and the meaning of the plot gets lost under it. Dorian Gray is a rich, good-looking socialite who is vain, greedy, uncaring and cruel. He starts that way and he ends that way. There is no growth, no learning. The moral of the book seems to be if you are rich and good-looking you can do anything and get away with it and who cares what anyone else thinks, they're just jealous. There were no characters I could respond to. Any nice character only played a bit part and tended to die and be pushed aside.

And boy could Wilde write some filler, useless crap. Pretty much a whole chapter devoted to the various fads Gray went through and all the stuff he wanted. Jewels and music and tapestries. Pages of it that added not a single thing. The ending was poor. So Gray destroyed the painting and therefore himself. He only did it because it was ugly. He didn't want to change who he had become he just didn't want a visual representation of it.

I had expected much more from this. I cannot see why so many people love it. I won't ever pick it up again. It was a chore from start to finish and I'm glad it's done so I can get back to books I enjoy. ( )

I feel perplexed about The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. On one hand, the story is well written about a young man being moulded and shaped. On the other hand, this book was incredibly flowery and doesn’t really start for 100 pages. Dorian doesn’t really know about life and meets an artist and an aristocrat that help him though his journey into manhood. The artist paints his portrait, subsequently making him keep his youth. The aristocrat had the biggest influence on Dorian Gray, though Lord Harry Wotton is very annoying. He talks and talks the whole way through this book, thinking he’s so witty.

Dorian Gray starts off in this novel as a blank slate, an easily influenced young man. Thoughout the rest of the story he gets moulded and pushed into shape. After Basil paints his portrait Dorian starts to unravel, afraid to show the picture, he locks it way in a room and never lets anyone see it, protecting it at all costs. The whole thing symbolising the way we hide our real selves from the rest of the world, scared of what they may think.

The Picture of Dorian Gray would have been controversial in its day, with strong homosexual themes. Though the book itself is more about the life and morality, Oscar Wilde did a brilliant of capturing this element of the book. For me the biggest downfall of this book was that Lord Wotton was too loud and dominates throughout the entire book. ( )

This is one of the most powerful books I have ever read. I wish I had read it long ago- I was really missing out. The writing is absolutely beautiful and drew me into the book right from the first page. The story is fascinating, the characters are complex and the plot unfolds perfectly. What I liked most was that I didn't find the book predictable. I really did not see the ending coming and was surprised at every change Dorian went through. I went from loving Dorian to hating him to not being sure how to feel about him. He was quite a nasty character at times but also fascinating. The book came together nicely in the end and overall it was just wonderful.

For more of my reviews and recommendations, visit my blog: here ( )

I first read this I believe, where I was in HS. I think that my aunty Cath gave me a copy, possibly this was a censored copy (for my young age), but perhaps not. I re-read it several times since.

The "sweet" writing style used in the novel is a tad off-putting, but it works well in the hands of Wilde. The story also seemed not quiet coherent, in that it seemed to lack continuity—however, it has been maybe a decade since I last read the novel, so my recollection may be off. The ending seemed abrupt, and not entirely reasonable. Having said that, I found the moral of the story just a little weak, however, obviously not so at the time.
( )

"The sitter is merely the accident, the occasion. It is not he who is revealed by the painter; it is rather the painter who, on the coloured canvas, reveals himself. The reason I will not exhibit this picture is that I am afraid that I have shown in it the secret of my own soul."

And so begins this tale of art and sin. I would highly recommend first watching the movie Wilde starring the wonderful [a:Stephen Fry|10917|Stephen Fry|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1208721007p2/10917.jpg], it is a film which takes the audience on a journey through the life of the tormented writer, from the beginnings of his fame to his later incarceration for "gross indecency" - a charge used to imprison individuals when it was impossible to prove sodomy. Wilde was sentenced to two years hard labour and died not long after being freed due to health problems gained during those two years. Looking at Wilde's story from a twenty-first century perspective, it is sad and horrifying to realise this man was indirectly sentenced to death for being gay. The "hard labour" prescribed was carried out in various ways but one of the most common was the treadmill:



This machine made prisoners walk continuously uphill for hours on end and had many long-term effects on people's health.

Why do I think it's important to know this? Because, as Wilde claims, in every piece of art there is more of the artist than anything else. And I believe this is especially true of [b:The Picture of Dorian Gray|5297|The Picture of Dorian Gray|Oscar Wilde|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1320467562s/5297.jpg|1858012] more than perhaps any other fictional work I've read. In this novel, Wilde explores the nature of sin, of morality and immorality. The homoerotic undertones between Dorian Gray, Basil Hallward and Lord Henry Wotton are, I think, the author's little expression of his own secret "sins" within his work. Rarely does a work of fiction so deeply seem to mirror elements of the author's life.

By 1891, when [b:The Picture of Dorian Gray|5297|The Picture of Dorian Gray|Oscar Wilde|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1320467562s/5297.jpg|1858012] was published, Oscar Wilde had met and fallen in love with Lord Alfred Douglas and they had begun a semi-secret affair, by which I mean that many were suspicious of the relationship but didn't argue with Wilde's claims that they shared a Socrates/Plato love that is between a close teacher and student. The idolisation of Dorian Gray's youth and beauty, his tendency to be mean at random, these characteristics all fit with the description and personality of Lord Alfred Douglas. For me, there is no real question as to whether part of Dorian is meant to be Mr Wilde's lover.

I think if you familiarise yourself with Oscar Wilde, this becomes a very personal novel, much more than just a disturbing horror story where a man sells his soul. But even without any additional information, I think this is a sad and haunting book that tells of the joyful naivete of youth and the sad wisdom of maturity. ( )

I watched the recent dramatisation on the BBC and decided to read the book. I'd always meant to, and my husband said it was a good read. I was a bit disappointed, if I'm honest. The only other work by Wilde that I've read is The Importance of Being Ernest, which I love, and I was expecting something in the same vein, albeit with a shade darker humour. I really enjoyed the baseline story but found myself becoming irritated by Wilde's predisposition for extemporising on his various theories of gender difference, the nature of art, the effects of beauty, etc., etc. both through the medium of Sir Henry Wotton and through some quite dull prose. His detailed descriptions on furnishings were also a little tedious. If he had just stuck to the story (which is a good premise for a book) and maybe developed some of the characters a little more, it would have been a great book. As it was, it was only okay for me. ( )

This book is amazing. I loved the eloquent words and descriptions, the story has always been captivating, and it was just a pleasure to read. It definitely is my second all-time favorite. If I had to say anything negative about it, it would just be that two instances of what really should have been climaxes, were allowed to just "happen." It could be that I am just so familiar with the story, having seen various versions of the movie, that I know where the thrilling parts occur, but it was a bit of a disappointment to me. But, the book came first, so I don't feel right criticizing that point. I don't know why I waited this long to read it, now I know what I had been missing out on. ( )