I'm still working my way through an audiobook version of this, and Woo doggie I just gotta say that's some nice misogyny with that misogyny. Lordy.

Wrestling with self...so conflicted...so much offensive in this book...but so INCREDIBLE. OMG! It's great! it's great! And it burns so much!

***Review*** I finally got this one fully under my belt, and I gotta say that's a great place for it. It took some time for me to let this one settle before I could expand on this here review.

In the final recap...well...it does paint quite the picture. There are few authors who can play at so many different levels, but Wilde does so to the point that when I consider the question, 'what's this story about?' I have a hard time finding a single answer.

Superficially it is a story of a faustian bargain. After listening to the bloviating of Lord Henry on beauty and youth, Dorain, jealous of his own image, wishes that he could always stay young and beautiful while his portrait takes on the ravages of age.

Through this prism The Picture of Dorian Gray can be seen as a condemnation of selfish, self-absorbed living. Were that the only thing going on here it would be a great book.

Take a step closer though and it becomes clear there is more to this story than meets the eye. Wilde once said, "Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth." Wilde would know, like his character Dorian, he was a man that lived a double life. From this vantage you can see Wilde speaking through his characters. He toys with the role of artist in Basil, and as the seductor in Lord Henry, as well as the brutal deceiver Dorian. Wilde uses all three of these voices to wax cynically on women (the misogyny bits), art, hedonism, society, the purpose of life.

He doesn't stop there. One of the central elements in the presumed corruption of Dorian is, hold the phone, a book. No doubt Wilde is looking his readers right in the eye, but does he fancy himself our corrupter, or is he poking a little fun at how he (correctly) expects this work to be received?

It's good question, especially when you consider, was Dorian corrupted? Sure he was young, and we presume naive, but he was already self-absorbed. In truth he required no pushing. All Lord Henry had to do was open the door. I don't know if you can draw a parallel between Dorian, and what Wilde thinks of all youth/society, but it's hard not to raise an eyebrow about that.

Wilde's life was a troubled one, and in the end this work may have spoken more to his inner-demons than of society of his day. He said himself, "Every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not of the sitter." He was a man who painted with words. He lead a double life and ultimately became trapped by his own artifice while on trial for sodomy.

The product of that is this stunning work, that reveals not only Wilde's tortured soul, but calls us all out on where we place the observer, memes and actions within our own.

I give it my highest possible recommendation, with the caveat it is as vile as it is spectacular. It is best read from a place of personal strength, or at least wearing a hazmat suit.

Super amazing note. He wrote this before he got involved with Bosie.