Title: The Picture of Dorian Gray
Author: Oscar Wilde
Pages: 239
Finished: January 22, 2020
First Sentence: The studio was filled with the rich odour of roses, and when the light summer wind stirred amidst the trees of the garden, there came through the open door the heavy scent of the lilac, or the more delicate perfume of the pink-flowering thorn.
Summary: Basil Haliward paints a beautiful portrait of his new friend Dorian Gray. He also, reluctantly, introduces Dorian Gray to his friend Lord Henry. Upon conversing with Lord Henry, Dorian finds himself not exactly thrilled with the idea of growing up and wishes his soul into the picture. Oddly enough, it happens. Dorian stays young and looks pure forever while his portrait takes on all his sins and aging.
Thoughts: This was not what I thought it was. Not that I can even define what I thought the book was about, but this wasn't quite it. I think I've perhaps been influenced by how he exists in various pop culture.
Also, I'm realizing that if things in my life aren't going well, it bleeds over into what I'm reading. Two days after I started this book, my dog unexpectedly died and the book became the biggest slogfest. Perhaps I should have put it down, but I wanted to finish it for my spin.
So what is it that I objected to?
I think it was the slowness of the book. I knew it had something to do about a painting and that Dorian Gray didn't age but his painting did. I knew there were supposedly some homosexual overtones in it. I knew there was a painter named Basil who was fairly innocent, and who died (primarily because someone played him in an RPG I was in. I played Martha Jones from Doctor Who. She and Basil were good friends and used to drink tea together.) And that's all I knew. I had some vague inkling that he cheated death and kept his painting hidden.
But the amount of time it took for him to discover that the painting held his soul was tedious. Only to be followed by an even more tedious chapter going into great detail of how he spent eighteen years of his life in debauchery. I felt sorry for him in the beginning dealing with Lord Henry and his snake tongue. But the long decent was just... long.
I also had a really difficult time reading pages and pages of misogyny from Lord Henry. What an odious man!
I think my biggest issue with the book is that I don't tend to enjoy books about people's descent into evil. And I didn't have any idea that that was what this book was about. So I was expecting a vaguely fantasy/scifi book where Dorian Gray's soul is in this painting, and instead I watched a man thoroughly corrupt someone else. It wasn't what I signed up for, and it certainly wasn't what I shoudl have been reading just after losing my dog.
I suspect I'll be returning to this book in ten years or so. I feel like it deserves another chance. It's a book I was so excited to read. I was honestly shocked at how incredibly disappointed I was in it.
Book counts for lots of challenges:
Beat the Backlist
Virtual Mount To Be Read
Library Love
Reading Classic Books LGBT+ category (Oscar Wilde may have been gay? Half the research I find says yes, the other half says no. He did have male lovers.)
Back to the Classics: Person's Name in Title (Dorian Gray)
Classics Club AND Current Spin
Also, I'm realizing that if things in my life aren't going well, it bleeds over into what I'm reading. Two days after I started this book, my dog unexpectedly died and the book became the biggest slogfest. Perhaps I should have put it down, but I wanted to finish it for my spin.
So what is it that I objected to?
I think it was the slowness of the book. I knew it had something to do about a painting and that Dorian Gray didn't age but his painting did. I knew there were supposedly some homosexual overtones in it. I knew there was a painter named Basil who was fairly innocent, and who died (primarily because someone played him in an RPG I was in. I played Martha Jones from Doctor Who. She and Basil were good friends and used to drink tea together.) And that's all I knew. I had some vague inkling that he cheated death and kept his painting hidden.
But the amount of time it took for him to discover that the painting held his soul was tedious. Only to be followed by an even more tedious chapter going into great detail of how he spent eighteen years of his life in debauchery. I felt sorry for him in the beginning dealing with Lord Henry and his snake tongue. But the long decent was just... long.
I also had a really difficult time reading pages and pages of misogyny from Lord Henry. What an odious man!
I think my biggest issue with the book is that I don't tend to enjoy books about people's descent into evil. And I didn't have any idea that that was what this book was about. So I was expecting a vaguely fantasy/scifi book where Dorian Gray's soul is in this painting, and instead I watched a man thoroughly corrupt someone else. It wasn't what I signed up for, and it certainly wasn't what I shoudl have been reading just after losing my dog.
I suspect I'll be returning to this book in ten years or so. I feel like it deserves another chance. It's a book I was so excited to read. I was honestly shocked at how incredibly disappointed I was in it.
Book counts for lots of challenges:
Beat the Backlist
Virtual Mount To Be Read
Library Love
Reading Classic Books LGBT+ category (Oscar Wilde may have been gay? Half the research I find says yes, the other half says no. He did have male lovers.)
Back to the Classics: Person's Name in Title (Dorian Gray)
Classics Club AND Current Spin
The same happens to me. Dark books are difficult if life is tough at the moment. I'm sorry about your dog.
ReplyDeleteI read it a long time ago yet your feelings about it sound familiar to what I remember. At least things don't end well for him. There's a certain moral in the book that redeemed it for me.
Funny enough, that was where I was the most misdirected. Because the character has been in other modern pop culture things, I wasn't expecting the death.
DeleteSo sorry to hear about your dog. But mood is such a big part of why we enjoy (or not) a book.
ReplyDeleteI tend to turn to non- fiction when I’m having a tough time. Or kids books.
I hope you’re next read is more uplifting and hopeful.
Thanks Brona. Jane Austen is my go to. Or middle grade fantasy. Thankfully my next few have been easier reads.
DeleteSo sorry to hear about your dog.
ReplyDeleteYour were probably influenced by this when reading the book. Not the best book to read under those circumstances. It is not an easy book. I agree with you that certain parts are too long and tedious. I think one has to look at it from the angle of the time it was written in.
I think one has to see it as a satirical account of the British society at the time. The leisureliness of the aristocracy and maybe boredom, as well as hypocrisy. Wilde highlights these characteristics in the story.
I guess we are all influenced by modern takes of the classics. Sometimes it is good though to go back to the sources. I re-read it some years ago, and saw it quite different this time. Hope your next read is more satisfying. At least you made your spin! That is a good thing.
Thank you for your sympathy.
DeleteFor now we'll just put the book aside and see how it goes in ten years time if I decide to come back to it.
Oh no, I'm so sorry this book did not serve you well at a difficult time!
ReplyDeleteI also read a book about descending into evil (Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde). It was surprising to me though how removed the book really was from that topic, perhaps because Stevenson didn't want to get too close. Also, it was extremely short. So it didn't have such a strong effect on me.
But I'm with you about not really wanting to read books about people descending into evil. When there's too much emphasis there, I find it really difficult.
Hello Lory,
DeleteInteresting view on the book. What do you mean by "the book was removed from the topic"? I think Stevenson has managed to convey the thought of human nature's inner struggle between good and evil quite well. It is not so clearly defined in the book as, for example, in the movie with Spencer Tracy. But, I think it is there. I read it many years ago, so remember it vaguely.
Being an old classic, knowing they can be tricky to read and like so many years afterwards, I found this short novel quite refreshing.
Did you like Dorian...?