The Picture of Dorian Gray - Prose or Plot? Style or Substance? *Potential Spoilers*

[Kim]

One of my main issues with this book was the lack of any real plot. It seemed more like an opportunity for Wilde to just write all these ideas and thoughts and fancies he had without any real coherent story behind it. Pages of nothingness, especially the chapter with all the descriptions of jewels and music, etc.

So do you prefer this type of writing? Evidentally it's popular or are people just giving this 5 stars because it's a "classic"? Would you prefer more meat to your story or just pretty flowers?

[Regan]

The "pages of nothingness" are probably intentional: That we see that Dorian spends his life consumed by these superficialities.

It's certainly an early example of a "psychological" novel which are so popular in contemporary literature. I personally don't like the style and prefer a more traditional plot.

[Franky]

I think that Lord Henry's nuggets of life philosophies is one of the reasons I first put this book down and didn't finish years ago. I think that, to a certain extent, the flowery descriptions are somewhat a product of Victorian literature, which I don't mind too much normally, as I can read any Dickens novel and not mind a bit. For some reason, though, in this book, Wilde just beats us over the head with theories that are repetitive and many of the characters have such a stuffy, superficial view of the world that the read is somewhat tedious.

But, as Regan said, there was probably a purpose to this.