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Summary: This book is rich with hidden meaning.
Review: This story is positively a masterpiece. Dorian Gray is a young boy at first, whose beauty is so entirely dazzling that Mr. Basil Hallward, an artist, becomes utterly obsessed with the portrait he is painting of Dorian. Feeling certain he has not only achieved his best artistic work yet, he confesses shamefully that he has put so much of himself into the portrait that were it ever displayed publicly, the world would glimpse his soul. In short, Basil is in love with the image of Dorian Gray. Lord Henry Wotten befriends Dorian, much to the chagrin of Basil, who feels a near homosexual jealousy. When Basil presents the finished portrait to Dorian, Dorian makes a whimsical wish " If it were only the other way! If it were I who was to be always young, and the picture that was to grow old! For that - for that - I would give everything!"
From that moment on, Dorian's life changes. Lord Henry becomes his mentor of sorts, and a finer fictional character I have yet to meet. Indeed, Lord Henry has a profound influence on young Dorian, and his philosophies will hypnotize you, as they often do Dorian Gray. The portrait takes on sinister and looming proportions, and eventually Dorian must face the consequences of that one whimsical wish, and fight the ultimate battle - for his own soul. An amazingly fabulous book you absolutely MUST read.
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Summary: Wilde Really Was a Genius
Review: When Wilde landed in America in 1882 for a lecture tour, he was asked if he had anything to declare. He responded, "Only my genius." Okay now, an attitude like that didn't exactly make me want to read any of his works for a long time. Finally, I decided to try The Picture of Dorian Grey, and I found that it really was a work of genius.The novel is the story of Dorian Grey who at the beginning of the novel has his portrait painted by Basil Hallward. The picture turns out to be remarkable, and Grey becomes jealous because the picture will remain young and beautiful while he will age. He expresses a wish that the picture would age instead of himself. To his delight, his wish becomes true, and believing himself to be immortal, he embarks on a path of of hedonism. He always searches for pleasure above happiness, and above all things he loves beauty. Along the way, the portrait chronicles the total moral decay of Dorian Grey. The are a lot of interpretations to this novel. My favorite is to read it as a moral tale warning of the consequences of leading a life of hedonism. It could almost be read as "The Picture of Oscar Wilde" as he seems to be criticizing his own lifestyle. This is probably also the most ironic reading of it since Wilde continued after the novel to preach aestheticism. But anyway, taken within itself, the novel is marvelous. The prose is well-polished. The pacing is elegant and the plot is always interesting. The points is makes are important. The Picture of Dorian Grey deserves its classic status, and Oscar Wilde actually was a bit of a genius.
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Summary: Oscar Wilde Was One Of The Best.
Review: I read this book in 6th grade and have loved it ever since. It's rich and compelling words are fantastically written and portyayed in the mind frightfully real and visual. Oscar Wilde is one of my all-time favourite writers and I congratulate his excellence of writing and choice of description. After his two year sentence on Abnormal Sexual Vice his career literaly ended but even though he is gone, his writing is still fresh, enjoyable, and always a favourite.
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Summary: A True Moral Dilemma
Review: After letting his friend Basil Hallward paint a portrait of him, Dorian Gray makes a wish to the heavens above that the the picture would take on all his sins and showings of age and he would remain youthfull and boyish. Throughout the book, Dorian Gray becomes very popular and attracts all sorts of attention just by waltzing into a room. People find him so innocent and pure, he's alluring (which soons turns sour.) But they don't see his other life. His loathing of the once-beautiful portrait which now displays his age, sins and iniquities. This deep hatred drives him to do many strange things in this dark, twisting tale of morale, age and youth. The book follows Dorian through love, loss, murder, disdain, hurt and ofcourse, happiness. Because it covers most every subject, its a wonderful classic, and a must-read. Though because its written in England in the 19th century, some of the vocabulary is bewildering. Its best to read with a dictionary near by or atleast some knowledge of English Literature and diction.
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Summary: Funny Stuff
Review: Wow. Oscar Wilde was a funny, funny man. One of his goals in writing fiction must have been to leave at least one potential quote on each page. As you read this, book, you will encounter dozens of quips you heard used by your English professors. It is interesting to note that it was this book that got the obscenity trials started for Mr. Wilde.
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Summary: Beauty isn't everything....
Review: a good story. but what impressed me most was wilde's razor-sharp wit and insight. he gives his opinions on everything from love to art and was his sharp tongue that brought on his downfall.i think it's more important to be intelligent than goodlooking, however...
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Summary: Portrait of An Artist
Review: "Every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist..." says Oscar Wilde's Basil Hallward - and every book is the author's autobiography. Wilde provides an irresistible coupling of his fascinating wisdom and seductive voice in THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY, a self-portrait. In a story of forbidden love, Wilde languishes in an idyllic setting eager with curous onlookers whom he delights in stimulating. He insists upon being provocative and alluring, taking 'strange pleausre in saying things that he is not sorry about having said.' THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY is an image drawn by a lover whose passion for realism is transcended only by the hands of a writer who leaves everything to your imagination. As Dorian Gray protests, "Let me think. Or, rather, let me try not to." But this IS a book about thinking - and deeply. A book that fathoms the deep erotic recesses of the human heart and speaks its language perfectly.
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Summary: Wonderful!
Review: This is one of my favorite books! I can't believe how well it is writen. I love classics and the picture of Dorian Grey is one of the best. It's a very good story about vanity, cruelty, and greed.
I really don't like books by mdern day authors, like Tom Clancy and so on. They word things as well as authors did back then.
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Summary: Entertaining yet unimpressive
Review: Over the years I had heard a number of witty quotes that various people had pinched from Ocar Wilde, so it seemed logical that this book would be at least somewhat original and funny. Unfortunately, it was so predictable that one could submit submit its title as an adequate summary. The only saving grace was the witty rambling of Lord Henry, who I can only describe as a precursor to Newsradio's Jimmy James. Although the book was good for a laugh, I cannot really recommend it to anyone, unless he or she does not care about plot.
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Summary: Nice book and really nothing more
Review: When I first began reading this book I was intrigued. The first few pages are incredibly interesting. They are written extremely well and are filled with facinating ideas. That doesn't last long, though. After the forthy-somthing page the reader begins to understand that Oscar Wilde uses a lot of words to say nothing. And he does say something, you won't notice it because it's strangled to death with a lot of useless information. However, I do think the book does make a good read. You can't really blame Wilde for writing the way he does, since he, himself, says on the second page of this book: "The only excuse for making a useless thing is that one adimers it intensely", and Wilde does admires his work intensely and for that we "owe' it to him to read "The Picture of Dorian Gray".
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