The Picture of Dorian Gray (Penguin Classics S.)

published	October 1st 1995 by Penguin Audio
first published	1891
binding	Audio Cassette
isbn	0140860444 (isbn13: 9780140860443)
pages	4
description	A lush, cautionary tale of a life of vileness and deception or a loving portrait of the aesthetic impulse run rampant? Why not both? After Basil Hallw...more [close] A lush, cautionary tale of a life of vileness and deception or a loving portrait of the aesthetic impulse run rampant? Why not both? After Basil Hallward paints a beautiful, young man's portrait, his subject's frivolous wish that the picture change and he remain the same comes true. Dorian Gray's picture grows aged and corrupt while he continues to appear fresh and innocent. After he kills a young woman, "as surely as if I had cut her little throat with a knife," Dorian Gray is surprised to find no difference in his vision or surroundings. "The roses are not less lovely for all that. The birds sing just as happily in my garden." As Hallward tries to make sense of his creation, his epigram-happy friend Lord Henry Wotton encourages Dorian in his sensual quest with any number of Wildean paradoxes, including the delightful "When we are happy we are always good, but when we are good we are not always happy." But despite its many languorous pleasures, The Picture of Dorian Gray is an imperfect work. Compared to the two (voyeuristic) older men, Dorian is a bore, and his search for ever new sensations far less fun than the novel's drawing-room discussions. Even more oddly, the moral message of the novel contradicts many of Wilde's supposed aims, not least "no artist has ethical sympathies. An ethical sympathy in an artist is an unpardonable mannerism of style." Nonetheless, the glamour boy gets his just deserts. And Wilde, defending Dorian Gray, had it both ways: "All excess, as well as all renunciation, brings its own punishment." [close]
date added	05-10-07 edit book

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Kelly rated it:

(review of isbn 1593080255)

06/30/08

bookshelves: strand-80

Read in June, 2008

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

In The Picture of Dorian Gray, Wilde paints the perfect picture of a vanity-obsessed man who becomes his own worst enemy and the cause of his own despair. Having previously read Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest and with knowledge of the general plot line, I expected a repitition of trite dialogue, laden with puns (particularly after reading the opening chapter). However, the story unraveled full of suspense and mystery, with a true form follows function structure, as Wilde's poetic synta...more

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Trevor rated it:

(review of isbn 1593080255)

03/23/08

This is another of those books I’ve been meaning to read for ages and kept putting off. Although I’ve a particularly good reason for putting this one off, as a very good friend of mine, who died a couple of years ago, spoke to me about this book and I was worried that might make it hard to read for quite other reasons.

He said that when he read this book as a young man it made him certain that he was not homosexual. Now, that in itself was enough to make me curious about the book. This...more This is another of those books I’ve been meaning to read for ages and kept putting off. Although I’ve a particularly good reason for putting this one off, as a very good friend of mine, who died a couple of years ago, spoke to me about this book and I was worried that might make it hard to read for quite other reasons.

He said that when he read this book as a young man it made him certain that he was not homosexual. Now, that in itself was enough to make me curious about the book. This is a book that could only have been written by a homosexual male and it is a book about homosexuality in very many ways. The obsession with youth and beauty is almost a cliché of homosexual obsessions – though the ‘dandy’, the vanity of men, is much more common now, I think. We are increasingly a culture obsessed with appearance. I wonder if reading the book and seeing this obsession was the thing that convinced my friend he was not homosexual, if that was the thing that made him say, ‘no, that’s not me’. Or rather if it was the expression of desire very early in the book for Dorian Gray by Basil, his painter and ardent admirer, that convinced him.

Lord Harry is one of those talking desk calendars, in fact, other than Hamlet, I think it would be hard to find a book with more quotable quotes per page. Some of them are deliciously funny and others are just the sort of illumination that a match struck in a dark room makes.

There were moments in this book, as there are in other works by Wilde, when one gets a feeling of premonition of his fate – it is hard to think of a sadder story than that of the last years of his life, or one that makes more plain how incredibly stupid are societies that punish people for their sexuality. There would be very little I could not forgive Wilde for, particularly after he wrote The Importance of Being Earnest – this book, his only novel, is nearly as good.

Our sins are not quite displayed as clearly on our faces as is assumed here, but our lives do mark us – it is a pity that in our obsession with youth that we forget how beautiful our scars can be and that love, real love, the love that touches us most deeply, is when another accepts our scars and loves us for them, rather than in spite of them.

One of the most quotable quotes in this book is an attack on realism in fiction – “That is the reason I hate vulgar realism in literature. The man who could call a spade a spade should be compelled to use one. It is the only thing he is fit for.” I understand this is hardly a ‘realistic’ story – I mean, it is really a myth and takes liberties with ‘reality’ so as to comment on the world through the form of a myth – but like all such stories centred on something that is clearly ‘over-the-top’ it is contained in a shell that struck me as remarkably realistic. There was no time when I felt Wilde was calling a spade an implement for cultivation or some such silly phrase. His writing is always clear and to the point. The most ‘flowery’ language is perhaps when he is describing the perfumes Gray becomes fascinated in and seeks to understand ‘what there was in frankincense that made one mystical, and in ambergris that stirred one’s passions’, but even this is hardly as romantic or less real than TS Eliot’s (that most ‘modern’ of writers) “In vails of ivory and coloured glass / Unstoppered, lurked her strange synthetic perfumes,” Even at his most flowery, Wilde is hardly ‘unrealistic’.

I came to this book expecting it to be much ‘sillier’ than it turned out to be. I’ve no idea why I thought this – perhaps because I knew that the central idea of the book was that a man has an odd relationship with a painting in that he stays young while the painting gets old. But the book wasn’t nearly as silly as I thought it would be. I really did enjoy it.
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Patricia rated it:

(review of isbn 1593080255)

05/03/08

bookshelves: classics

Read in May, 2008

recommended to Patricia by: my husband said it was one of his favorites
recommends it for: people who like psychological thrillers and are willing to give this classic a chance

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

It is four fifteen in the morning and I have finally finished Dorian Gray. It has been on my currently-reading-list for about nine months. I started it several times and the furthest I got was to page 20. One challenge was that I was unfamiliar with Oscar Wilde's writing style. When reading from an author who is new to me, it takes me a couple chapters to get comfortable.

I started the book again last month and finally felt comfortable with the language. Even still I had a difficult time gett...more It is four fifteen in the morning and I have finally finished Dorian Gray. It has been on my currently-reading-list for about nine months. I started it several times and the furthest I got was to page 20. One challenge was that I was unfamiliar with Oscar Wilde's writing style. When reading from an author who is new to me, it takes me a couple chapters to get comfortable.

I started the book again last month and finally felt comfortable with the language. Even still I had a difficult time getting into it. Then yesterday I got half way through it... and I couldn't put it down.

Initially I felt that the plot was stagnate. I felt like Dorian Gray's fall from grace was down an abyss that might be bottomless. I felt like maybe the book would be a never ending list of sins that continued till the last page.

Half way through the book I realized that the plot was not stagnate. It was subtly changing from focusing on experimentation and sin to one of regret. Only when the focus had shifted could the climax be appreciated. If the ending had come sooner than it would have been meaningless. Wilde carefully constructs Dorian's deterioration subtly to reach a powerful and perfectly suited climax.

That being said, I think that Dorian's main problems were first, that he didn't think that change for the better was possible. He decided quite early on that he was a lost cause. And secondly, I don't think he ever felt the reality of what he did. He felt regret but it was for the ugliness of his soul. He never felt responsibility for his actions, in the end he blamed the painting.

I thought that the premise was genious. How in the world did Wilde come up with the idea that one could seperate their soul from their body in such a way?

The premise is so unique that it was shocking. The language is beautiful. The two characters of Basil and Harry are prefectly juxtaposed. One friend represents good and the other evil. Becuase Dorian chooses evil it helps the reader to have Basil in the story. His goodness gives the reader a measuring stick with which one can see how far Dorian has decended. It provides an amazing study on the psychology of sin. In many ways it reminded me of crime and punishment. The idea that spiritual death can be more devestating than physical death is something that I have was taught as a child and believe as an adult.

I believe that our experinces in life are written on our faces. I am not good at reading people, but I have some friends that are. It true that stress and the experiences of life age the body, and I believe that good and evil are written in our countenances.

There are few exceptions to that rule. Dorian Gray is one of them. When one's appearance is completely detached from the reality of ones character, that person is derranged. Dorian Gray reminded me of famous crimes that hit the news. I have often seen reporters interview the neighbors of murderers or people who commit serious crimes. We have all seen the neighbors say, "I can't understand he seemed like such a nice man."

Wilde's philosophical approach to art, and the motif of art did not do much for me. But I really appreciated the other things that this book got me to thing about. This book made me consider: vanity, the value of one's concience, the importance of consequences in life and what consequences teach us, the power of persuasion, and what is worse spiritual or physical death. I never thought I would say it but LOVED this book....less

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Johannes rated it:

(review of isbn 1593080255)

05/13/08

bookshelves: literature

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

The story begins when young, beautiful Dorian Gray encounters Lord Henry Wotton, who becomes Dorian's friend, mentor and corruptor. Lord Henry teaches Dorian that the purpose of life is simply to experience life, that experience is both the means and the end. Dorian searches for new experiences and soon finds himself engaging in immoral and vulgar acts: he breaks hearts, he breathes opium, he ruins lives and he kills. As Dorian's moral character decays, his outward appearance is unaffected; b...more The story begins when young, beautiful Dorian Gray encounters Lord Henry Wotton, who becomes Dorian's friend, mentor and corruptor. Lord Henry teaches Dorian that the purpose of life is simply to experience life, that experience is both the means and the end. Dorian searches for new experiences and soon finds himself engaging in immoral and vulgar acts: he breaks hearts, he breathes opium, he ruins lives and he kills. As Dorian's moral character decays, his outward appearance is unaffected; but while he retains his youth and charm, his portrait grows old and wicked-looking. At the end of the book, Dorian attacks the portrait in a fit of confusion, grief and anger, and in doing so ends his own life.

It would be possible to interpret this novel as almost puritanical: Dorian sins and is punished. Yet I think this would be a gross misinterpretation. First, Dorian's corruptor remains relatively unpunished: Lord Henry not only lives still at the novel's close, but he seems to be as free and content as always. Second, the uncorrupted -- Sybil Vane and Basil Hallward -- fall victim to Dorian's cruelty and are quickly forgotten by a world that continues to make a place for Dorian. Finally, we must remember that Wilde was himself was a proponent of the aesthetic movement: art for art's sake. His own infatuation with beauty is a part of Lord Henry's teachings, so a complete condemnation of those ideas is an unlikely theme for Wilde's only novel.

Rather, I believe the novel endorses Lord Henry's teachings, in part or in full. But we must remember that Lord Henry does not take opium, he does not wander in unsavory parts of town, and he certainly does not commit murder. Rather, he goes to the opera, he reads good literature, he surrounds himself with art, and he amuses himself with witty conversations. In short, Lord Henry lives for his own experiences, but those experiences are of a refined nature. He eschews the vulgar and lives. Dorian fails to discriminate in this way, and so he suffers and dies. Wilde is telling us that while experience is both a means and an end, not every experience is worth having. The story of Dorian Gray is a cautionary tale: live for the sake of living, but live a discerning life of artistry and culture.

In this age, aestheticism is not a common thesis, and this made The Picture of Dorian Gray particularly enjoyable for me. More than anything, I loved reading almost every word uttered by Lord Henry Wotton. Dorian's master seems a projection of Wilde himself: a gentleman who laughs at the world while relishing in its highest pleasures, who lives for those pleasures and who loves beauty more than anything. As such, it is through Lord Henry's speech that Wilde's wit is most evident.

On the whole, this is one of my favorite novels. I can hardly believe it took me so long to read it. I am indebted to Kristen for giving me such an enthusiastic recommendation....less

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Kristen rated it:

(review of isbn 1593080255)

06/26/08

bookshelves: classics

Unfortunately I made it through both high school and college without ever having been assigned this book. Over the years I have read plenty of Wilde's works, but for some reason or another, missed this one over and over. I recently sat down, and decided that it was time to give this a read. To be honest, I knew very little about this actual book prior to reading it, other than it involved a picture that aged rather than he in the painting.

I expected to have difficulty reading...more
Unfortunately I made it through both high school and college without ever having been assigned this book. Over the years I have read plenty of Wilde's works, but for some reason or another, missed this one over and over. I recently sat down, and decided that it was time to give this a read. To be honest, I knew very little about this actual book prior to reading it, other than it involved a picture that aged rather than he in the painting.

I expected to have difficulty reading this book, since it had been such a long time since I had read anything from the Victorian era, however the language was surprisingly simple, and Wilde's wit is as sharp as ever. Almost sharp enough to harm the reader should they not be forewarned or guided through the readings. Should someone of a weaker mind read this book, it would be easy to fall into the trap of Dorian, who himself was poisoned by a book and the words of his friend.

Summary without giving too much away: Dorian Gray is an Adonis-like beauty, young and full of life and innocence at the beginning of our story. His beauty has attracted the obsession of a painter who paints picture after picture of him. Basil (the painter) tries to keep young Dorian pure and in love with life. Henry, a friend of Basil's comes to the studio as Basil paints his master work - a portrait of Doran. Henry fascinates young Dorian in his vile manner of speaking and sarcastic wit. His talk instills in Dorian both a fear of losing his beauty and a lust for all that is selfish and vile in life. Dorian's notable debauchery follows in exquisite detail with Henry always along for the ride to prod young Dorian down the wrong road. Several suicides and a murder or two later, complete madness begins to make its appearance.

Wilde was brilliant in his writing of this book, he captures the time perfectly... the lust of it, the sexuality of it, the debauchery of it... all in the name of truth. In their words they say things that their hearts dare not to believe and their smiles are masks hiding the truth. And what if someone believed in these lies? What if they lived their life according to what they had been told? Then they would be Dorian Gray... and we will see what happens to him. This is a brilliant read, and for those of you who will have to write papers on it... the story is not long, but it is thick with meaning. There are very few stories that I would give 5 stars to, this is one of them.
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Jenny rated it:

(review of isbn 1593080255)

04/11/08

Read in February, 2008

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde is definitely a disturbing book. I think there is great worth in reading it, particularly when paired with a book such as Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe or Les Miserables by Victor Hugo. Contrasting Dorian's sordid downfall with with the heroic ascension of Uncle Tom or Jean Valjean is particularly beneficial.

The Picture of Dorian Gray begins with Dorian, a young and handsome gentleman who is involved with philanthropy, sitting for a port...more The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde is definitely a disturbing book. I think there is great worth in reading it, particularly when paired with a book such as Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe or Les Miserables by Victor Hugo. Contrasting Dorian's sordid downfall with with the heroic ascension of Uncle Tom or Jean Valjean is particularly beneficial.

The Picture of Dorian Gray begins with Dorian, a young and handsome gentleman who is involved with philanthropy, sitting for a portrait while his new friend, Lord Henry, a sarcastic and hedonistic man of society, watches on. Dorian is described as being “unspotted from the world” and his beauty inspires the artist to his very best work. Lord Henry exclaims how lovely the portrait has turned out, but laments that it is too bad that the picture will stay young forever, whereas Dorian will eventually age and lose his youth and beauty. A vexed Dorian makes a wish that he will stay timeless and the picture will age instead of him.

Taking Lord Henry as a mentor, Dorian sets out to apply Lord Henry's selfish and narcissistic worldview into nearly every facet of his life. In time, Dorian realizes that his wish has magically come true. He remains beautiful, while his painting takes on all the consequences of his wicked actions. As the debased Dorian sins more and more, the picture becomes more hideous and tortures Dorian's soul.

Despite being filled with Wilde's signature wit, this is a haunting story showing the consequence of selfish character and the downfall of the soul due to despicable and hideous behaviors. Dorian loses his inner beauty long before he realizes that his soul's ugliness will destroy him.

It's interesting to note that he chooses a French novel as his own Core Book, a personal classic which guided him throughout his life. In comparison, Uncle Tom and Jean Valjean both chose the Bible as their Core book. Near the end of the book, Dorian laments, "You poisoned me with a book once. I should not forgive that. Harry, promise me that you will never lend that book to any one. It does harm." Wilde clearly shows that books exert an amazing influence over our lives. We must be wise in our choice of what we read. As Thoreau once said, "Read the best books first, or you may not have the chance to read them at all." I would only add to that, "Read the best books most often, for they will color your soul."...less

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Linda rated it:

(review of isbn 1593080255)

05/29/07

bookshelves: favorites

“Women have no appreciation of good looks; at least, good women have not.”

“We are punished for our refusals. Every impulse that we strive to strangle broods in the mind, and poisons us. The body sins once, and has done with its sin, for action is a mode of purification. Nothing remains then but the recollection of a pleasure, or the luxury of a regret. The only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it. Resist it, and your soul grows sick with longing for the things. It has forbi...more

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Steven rated it:

(review of isbn 1593080255)

02/19/08

bookshelves: 1001

Read in February, 2008

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

Basil Hallward, who is a bit smitten with his subject, paints a portrait of the obviously enchanting Dorian Gray. Gray prays that it will be the picture and not he that ages and he gets his wish. While Gray remains youthful looking and fresh, the picture shows every blemish upon his character, including the unpardonable role he had in the suicide of a young actress he had been pursuing. Unlike Gray, the picture also ages and grows grotesque with time. Dorian does all manner of bad things suc...more Basil Hallward, who is a bit smitten with his subject, paints a portrait of the obviously enchanting Dorian Gray. Gray prays that it will be the picture and not he that ages and he gets his wish. While Gray remains youthful looking and fresh, the picture shows every blemish upon his character, including the unpardonable role he had in the suicide of a young actress he had been pursuing. Unlike Gray, the picture also ages and grows grotesque with time. Dorian does all manner of bad things such as murder Basil Hallward, etc., (odd to me that hedonism in Victorian England takes the form of collecting jewels and tapestries) until he is overcome with guilt and stabs the picture and he is transformed to his true self and dies.

Of course, the most charming aspect of the novel is the various witticisms of Lord Henry Wotton with the unique tone and epigrams of Oscar Wilde. For example, “the only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it;” “Always! That’s a dreadful word…. Women are so fond of using it. They spoil every romance by trying to make it last forever. It is a meaningless word, too. The only difference between a caprice and a life-long passion is that the caprice lasts a little longer;” “When you lose your good looks you lose everything;” “Men marry because they are tired; women, because they are curious. Both are disappointed.”

Certainly the novel is a classic for its larger themes of hedonism, the importance we place on physical beauty, the true nature of goodness, guilt, etc. What would we all give for the ability to have eternal youth? Should we really always follow our bliss? One of my favorite expressions is the idea that someone or something can be “rode hard and put up wet.” One often hears the expression when someone is referring to a person that shows the marks of partying a bit too hard at an age where partying a bit too hard often shows up on the face the next morning. But what if it didn’t, what if it only showed up on a portrait of us, what would we do? Interesting to consider.

This book was a real breeze to read given the unique style and humor of the incomparable Oscar Wilde.

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Donna rated it:

(review of isbn 1593080255)

01/19/08

bookshelves: 1001-books, 18th-19th-century-novel, classic-books, ireland, once-upon-a-time

Read in May, 2007

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

We all know the story of Dorian Gray, but going back to the original novel was a true delight. Oscar Wilde is simply brilliant, and this depiction of a self-involved young man who uncovers the depths of how awful he can be is both mesmerizing and thoughtful. Wilde’s sardonic wit comes out most effectively through the character of Lord Henry, who delivers a scathing (and hilarious) commentary of London society in the late 19th century, along with a decidedly bleak opinion of all humanity.

* ...more We all know the story of Dorian Gray, but going back to the original novel was a true delight. Oscar Wilde is simply brilliant, and this depiction of a self-involved young man who uncovers the depths of how awful he can be is both mesmerizing and thoughtful. Wilde’s sardonic wit comes out most effectively through the character of Lord Henry, who delivers a scathing (and hilarious) commentary of London society in the late 19th century, along with a decidedly bleak opinion of all humanity.

* * * * *

W A R N I N G - - - S P O I L E R S

The story of Dorian Gray raises all kinds of interesting thoughts about the nature of evil in humankind. As I watched Dorian deteriorate into a most cruel and twisted human being, I wondered about what would happen to men who experienced no consequences of their actions. In Dorian’s case, it wasn’t only the aging process but also the blackness of his heart that was subsequently reflected in the painting. As the story progresses, Dorian becomes even more depraved. Yet it was less about lack of consequences and more about the pain inflicted on him by the knowledge of what was happening to the painting. In the end, I believe it was his need to be released from this inhuman destiny that drove his final actions.

The following quote is just one of the myriad of gems delivered by the ultimately pessimistic Lord Henry, whose opinions I loved to hate throughout the book….

“Why, my dear Basil, he is a Narcissus, and you – well, of course you have an intellectual expression and all that. But beauty, real beauty, ends where an intellectual expression begins. Intellect is in itself a mode of exaggeration, and destroys the harmony of any face. The moment one sits down to think, one becomes all nose, or all forehead, or something horrid. Look at the successful men in any of the learned professions. How perfectly hideous they are! Except, of course, in the Church. But then in the Church they don’t think. A bishop keeps on saying at the age of eighty what he was told to say when he was a boy of eighteen, and as a natural consequence he always looks absolutely delightful.” [p. 38]

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wrecked rated it:

(review of isbn 1593080255)

05/15/08

"The artist is the creator of beautiful things.
To reveal art and conceal the artist is art's aim.
The critic is he who can translate into another manner or a new material his impression of beautiful things.
The highest, as the lowest, form of criticism is a mode of autobiography.
Those who find ugly meanings in beautiful things are corrupt without being charming. This is a fault.
Those who find beautiful meanings in beautiful things are the cultivated. For these there is hope.
They ...more

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Paula rated it:

(review of isbn 1593080255)

02/10/08

Read in February, 2008

This book reminded me why I hate classics.

Like Frankenstein, it starts out with a great premise: what if a portrait bore the brunt of age and sin, while the person remained in the flush of youth? How would that person feel as they watched a constant reminder of their true nature develop? And like Frankenstein, it gets completely bogged down in uninteresting details and takes forever to get to the interesting bits. Seriously, in a 230-page novel, the portrait doesn't even start to change unt...more

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Clare rated it:

(review of isbn 1593080255)

11/06/07

Read in October, 2007

recommends it for: dedicated readers

Oscar Wilde's only novel! I thoroughly enjoyed Wilde's ability to play with words, to toss them about and see where they land. There is a particular joy in finding a word used slightly out of sync to it's meaning, a stretching if you will. Wilde's thick, image driven, morally questionable (to most, not me) string of words delight the eye and impassion the mind. His dialogues demonstrate his future word play in plays. His ability to create synthesis between character types is magnificient, he all...more

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Mike rated it:

(review of isbn 1593080255)

05/18/08

Read in May, 2008

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

The Picture of Dorian Gray is a confusing book; not so much in the story itself, but in the larger story of Oscar Wilde himself. After Dorian's first encounters with Lord Henry, he turns to a life of wild hedonism and Aestheticism, and in the end is destroyed by them. The curious part is that Wilde himself advocated much of the mode of life that Dorian indulges in, and it seems odd that Wilde would write a story that seems to point to those actions leading to self-destruction.

Perhaps...more

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Courtney rated it:

(review of isbn 1593080255)

04/28/08

bookshelves: bookgroup, classiclit, own, queer

Read in April, 2008

I have been wondering and wondering what to say about Dorian Gray and recently came across a GR review by Trevor that so perfectly captures all of my notes and contemplations that I am stealing it and quoting liberally below.

Trevor says:

"[A] very good friend of mine, who died a couple of years ago, spoke to me about this book and I was worried that might make it hard to read for quite other reasons. He said that when he read t...more

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Maran rated it:

(review of isbn 1593080255)

02/26/08

Read in February, 2008

recommended to Maran by: Oscar Wilde

While there have been so many literary incarnations of Dorian Gray, nothing compares to the source. At the risk of reiterating a cliché, what struck me most about this book was not the character of Dorian Gray, to whom I felt rather indifferent, but the wisdom of Oscar Wilde. That Wilde was a brilliantly educated man and an artfully skilled writer is a characterization shared even by those unmoved by Wilde’s own unabashed declarations. Thus, to contest this depiction would be a waste of ti...more

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Casey rated it:

(review of isbn 1593080255)

02/16/08

bookshelves: fiction

Read in July, 2006

I think I may be in love with Oscar Wilde! He's got this knack for delivering the perfect recipe of words... for conveying a thought, a moment, an idea in just the most evocative way! (It's odd: it reminded me of the way I felt reading Sylvia Plath's intuitive jewels of phrases in The Bell Jar.)

Wilde's wit and obvious enjoyment of painting scenes of the upper classes, and all of their social fripperies, shine through - he manages to mock the sillier aspects of this culture even while dealin...more

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Jonathan rated it: