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The Picture of Dorian Gray

The Picture of Dorian Gray

List Price: $7.95
Your Price: $7.16
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Literary Genius
Review: The quickest way to sum up this book in one word is "wow." I will admit that for awhile I didn't find the book 5-star worthy, but I soon found myself thoroughly engrossed. Wilde has written this story like a symphony in four movements with an overture, ballad, climax, and finale. The prose is absolutely lyrical.

Beauty is a dominant theme. Wilde excessively alludes to Greek Gods and the perfection of Adonis. The concept of beauty is also represented in the idea of man vs. himself, or better yet as beauty vs. immortality. Dorian wrestles constantly with his inner self and with the immortality his beauty presents to him. But with his beauty comes sins and pleasure that have no effect on him because their consequences marr his self portrait. Dorian uses his beauty to sin which ultimately leads to violence; his emotions often confuse his sins with pleasure.

A secondary theme is the absence of reality. In the Importance of Being Earnest, Wilde echoes a similar line as that from Dorian. He writes that the two most attractive types of people are those who know nothing at all or absolutely everything. Three key characters represent varying degrees of reality, as well as Wilde's description of attractive people. Dorian knows nothing and Lord Henry knows absolutely everything, but Basil is the medium ground between the two that represents reality. Basil is the only one who sees/acknowledges things for what they truly are, but he is shunned by others who don't want to see reality. Characters like Dorian and Lord Henry have the idea that to see reality is to be scared of life. It is bad to be a spectator to one's own life. Dorian even admits that "He felt that the secret of the whole thing was not to realise the situation." If he didn't acknowledge it, it simply did not exist.

Lastly is the theme of homosexuality. Wilde does not mention any specifics of homosexual relationships, but what one has to read between the lines jumps off the page with equal magnitude of the written text.

All in all, this book is excellent. Read this book, you will be glad you did!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: What can I say that hasn't already been said?
Review: All the great reviews speak for themself! It's a book written by Oscar Wilde, that alone ought to make you order right on the spot! This book is great! I love it! And I love Dorian Gray! Get this book!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Appearances are not what they look like
Review: Oscar Wilde is a man who is obsessed by appearances. In this particular novel, he follows from the moment Dorian Gray sells his soul to the devil named beauty and youth, pleasure and enjoyment, to his death and he describes how someone who looks perfect, perfectly young, intelligent, brilliant, beautiful, moral and healthy is in fact nothing but a monster decaying in all possible immoral actions, deeds and ways just under the surface. It is a very strong criticism of victorian society that considers appearances as more important than real ethics and morality. He exposes the hypocrisy of such a society where a whole class of people are nothing but perambulating pictures of perfection hiding the mire and mud of crime and evil. We can also feel another dilemma in this book. Oscar Wilde's own dilemma who has to keep up appearances, the appearances of a well behaved, well educated and perfectly integrated man in this aristocratic society of his, and who yet lives a passion and a whole basket of desires and impulses that are absolutely rejected as crimes by victorian society. We know he will not be able to hide this deeper nature forever. But the book shows that no one can evade one's being exposed and rejected, condemned and sentenced to some punishment forever. There always comes a moment when one will be exposed and rejected. This shows how deeply Oscar Wilde must have suffered in his life. The painting is nothing but a mirror of the deeper self of Dorian Gray, but a mirror who will become one day his accuser.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University of Perpignan.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: The Picture of Dorian Gray
Review: While Oscar Wilde's central theme of corruption initially captures the readers attention, the character development does not help to hold the reader's attention for a long period of time. Dorian Gray, the central character, has the potential to be a very romantic and dumbfounding character, but because Wilde does not go into great character development, he seems almost more like the painting that comes to represent him ... dimensionless. The point of the novel is to point out how changed Dorian becomes over the years and how he goes from being the epitome of beauty to someone that is hardly recognized as the person he once was. However, in order to feel this transformation, the reader would need to feel as if he or she knew the original Dorian Gray. Because the beginning of the novel does not describe him enough, the full effect of Dorian's startling transformation is unable to be fully comprehended.
In addition, although the theme of outer beauty coupled with inner corruption is a strong one, this book seems more like one that should be read in a class and discussed in groups. It is not a novel that is easy-reading for pleasure. The style of writing makes it hard to breeze through the book, although on the positive the book brings about much self-contemplation and is very thought provoking. The reader cannot put it down because the whole novel leads to the very disturbing, although somewhat predictable, ending.
In general, it is a book that should be read and will be enjoyed by many. The reader can relate to the feelings felt by the main characters and the themes in the book are ones that can be witnessed in real life. The general faults of the novel are eventually outweighed by the suspense and the intrigue as the painting of Dorian Gray, once a masterpiece, becomes more defiled with each horrible act committed by Dorian.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Possibly not the easiest read, but...
Review: The novel "The Picture of Dorian Gray" by Oscar Wilde is yet another triumph for this talented author. The dark tale of a young man who unknowingly sells his soul in order to stay forever young is wittily brought across through three main characters, each resembling a different part of Wilde himself.

Dorian, the main character, represents what Wilde himself said he would like to be, yet Dorian also clearly resembles part of Wilde: the part that was once young and innocent before becoming corrupted by the world he lived in.

Henry Wooton, the man responsible for the corruption of Dorian Gray, is the side of Oscar Wilde that the world thought was the true Wilde: carefree and conceited, caring nothing for other people, yet extremely witty. This is also Wilde, as far as the witty and carefree parts go. Only when Henry displays his rare moments of care for other people does this character seem like Wilde.

Basil, the man who paints the infamous picture of Dorian, is the character who Wilde found himself to be the most like. Quiet and withdrawn, Basil is a caring man with a good consience who completely adores Dorian. Out of the entire novel, Basil is one of the few truly good people.

This novel does, however, have it's shortcomings. Lord Henry Wooton's wife is introduced in a scene and given an extremely interesting description. She is a nervous woman who laughs often and also displays the wit that Wilde was so famous for. This description, however, makes one think that she will be extremely important later, when in truth, she never shows up again (though she is mentioned once by Henry). There is also a chapter that delves a little too deeply into the obsessions that Dorian went through, going into long run-on sentances and too-long descriptions.

Overall, this is an extremely well-written novel that portrays what is wrong with society today through the views of the characters and the actions they take. Though it may not be the easiest read for today's society (many of whom are as corrupt as the characters in the book), it is one well worth reading, if only for a new outlook on life.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: A Powerful Wish
Review: In the book the Picture of Dorian Gray Dorian, the main character makes a powerful wish that impacts his life and the lives of others. I think that Dorian's wish to stay young forever was a good one when he was pure but when he turned bad I did not like him. I hated some parts of the book like when he killed one of his closest friends. Can Dorian find a way to make everything right?

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Not an easy book for modern readers
Review: This cautionary tale of sensuality, excess, vanity, and self-love is slow-going for today's readers, used to a brisker pace of writing. The story is wonderful but could have been told in far fewer words; however, word count excess wasn't important in the era in which Wilde wrote and lived his own unique brand of literature, art, and life.
Wonderful witty, sarcastic and caustic writing of course, all being Wilde's trademarks.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Be careful what you wish for, you might just get it.
Review: "What does it profit a man if he gains the world, but loses his soul?" This is the core question raised by "The Picture of Dorian Gray", Oscar Wilde's reworking (if that isn't too unkind) of Goethe's Faust for the Victorian era and his attack on the values of the middle classes caused a scandal when it was first published in 1890 and over 100 years later, while not particularly shocking to the modern reader is still a deeply unsettling tale. The novel revolves around our hero Dorian, the tensions within his own character and the forces that conspire in his eventual destruction.

The book begins with Dorian seeing for the first time a portrait of himself painted by his friend Basil Hallward and Dorian's wish that the portrait would age while he remained forever the same as he was on that day. The "prayer of his pride" is answered and not only does the picture carry the assault of time for Dorian, but also the full weight of the casual cruelties and crimes he commits, evolving from a reproduction of his physical form into a mirror image of his soul. Realising this, Dorian is driven to even greater excesses safe in the knowledge that he can get away with it until finally his own guilt catches up with him.

In his only novel, one can't help but feel that Oscar is giving us an insight into his own soul and the guilt he suffered over his sexual orientation. But on a deeper level, Wilde shows us the damnation of one soul and in that gives us a metaphor for our world and ourselves. Despite the Victorian idea that a person's nature is written on their face, which is frankly ludicrous with the hindsight of the last century, "The Picture of Dorian Gray" is a truly wonderful and thought-provoking story heavily laced with the famous wit and wisdom of the great man himself.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Wilde frente al espejo de su vida
Review: Indudablemente Oscar Wilde es uno de los más grandes escritores de la Literatura Universal; pero más que eso fue uno de los pocos que se atrevió a enfrentar a una sociedad adoctrinada y primitiva, siempre dispuesta a estigmatizar aquellos que no se alineaban con los patrones impuestos por ellos mismos. Wilde era un alienígena en un mundo que no fue construído para él.

Después de leer esta novela corta (o cuento largo, como prefieran) uno se queda con la impresión que Oscar Wilde la escribió mirando su futuro en una bola de cristal porque es impresionante la similitud con muchas cosas que le ocurrieron mucho tiempo después que "El Retrato de Dorian Gray" sea publicado; cumpliéndose lo que él mismo escribió en uno de sus ensayos: "La Vida imita al arte ..., en tanto que el arte es la realidad".

La historia muestra a un Lord Henry Wotton enamorado de la belleza juvenil de Dorian y no vería mejor forma de demostrárselo que retratándolo en un lienzo para perpetuar su belleza. Lo sorprendente es que de manera inexplicable el retrato iba reflejando la vida de Dorian, como si tuviera vida propia y convirtiéndose en su conciencia que le recordaba cada día la vida desordenada en la que se había sumergido. Conciente de esto Dorian, en un momento de ira, arremete contra su creador, Lord Henry, y se convierte en un deicida; de esta manera evitaría que Lord Henry revelara su secreto a la sociedad que lo señalaría con su dedo acusador. Sin embargo, su intento por borrar su pasado turbulento lo llevaría a enfrentarse a aquel retrato que envejecía paralelamente a como envejecía su alma. Pero al arremeter contra este Dorian se daría cuenta que el no era más que el reflejo de aquel retrato y que en realidad era este quien decidia sobre su vida, incluso sobre su muerte. "La Vida imita el Arte" ... me repito una y otra vez y despierto en la realidad de las mentiras pensando en el otro "yo" que vive libre al otro lado de mi retrato ... Excelente historia.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Beauty and Beast portmanteau...
Review: that would be the ideal way to describe Dorian Gray - an impressionable young Adonis on his Hedonistic quest for a life which itself is a work of art. Society artist Basil Hallward's portrait of Dorian Gray which ages and hardens as Gray's quest lead him to a remorseless and brutal lifestyle is the mirror to his soul while his physical form remains as youthful as ever. The book builds up beautifully towards the climax. Wilde's generates idle irreverent amoral and bitingly sarcastic dialogue as if out of thin air.


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