The Picture of Dorian Gray

It's Oscar Wilde's only book and has been widely read because the school education system here thinks it's a fantastic book. But why is it that I have never read it until now? Anyway, not bad.


Granted, I did skim a lot of the beginning because I still have Vanity Fair to get through. But The Picture of Dorian Gray is easy and quick to read (Is this because I have something huge and thick to compare it to?), and after hearing my sister's trauma with it I have to say that it is not as scary as I thought.


In fact, I actually think I may have liked it. It's a didactic kind of book, one that discusses life and perspectives on it, how one should live or look at one's life; it questions the real and the significant and trivializes many things that we take very seriously (as books often do). It may have felt a little too lecturing at times, especially when Lord Henry is talking, but I enjoyed reading it all because it was still an interesting take on the world.


But! I can see why Ophelia hated it with a passion. While Dorian belittles the world and derives pleasure from his newfound hedonism, we the reader soon belittle Dorian's views as well. We, in fact, become Dorian. And while we're reading about how Dorian has been corrupted and can never change again (er, sorry to those who haven't read it yet...), we get tired and feel perhaps skeptical at just how radical it all quickly becomes. It's like following a character until we get tired of him. Was I tired of him? In the middle I was, until... Well, until nearer to the end. His naivete in the beginning was tiring as well, to be fair. I guess what I'm trying to say is Dorian is a tiring character. But interesting to follow, nonetheless.


I did like seeing the progress with the painting though. Can I say I totally expected the ending?


Recommend? Sure, why not. I'm not in love with the book, but I can see the appeal.