The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

Rating: 9/10

Published: 1890
Number of pages: 200

Started: 13 April 2008
Finished: 17 April 2008


Summary (taken from blurb):
Dorian is a good-natured young man until he discovers the power of his own exceptional beauty. As he gradually sinks deep into a frivolous, glamourous world of selfish luxury, he apparently remains physically unchanged by the stresses of his corrupt lifestyle and untouched by age. But up in his attic, hidden behind a curtain, his portrait tells a different story...

Comments:
A wonderfully dark and Gothic novel. Dorian starts the story as a young, innocent man who is more or less unconcerned by his extraordinary beauty. Then he meets Lord Henry, who derives great pleasure in imparting his theories on aestheticism to the impressionable young man. Dorian drinks it all in and begins a life of debauchery and depravity, which leads to tragedy for everyone he comes in contact with.

The Picture of Dorian Gray misses out on a perfect 10 only because I found Lord Henry's ramblings a little hard-going at times. He's a very quotable man (or should I say, Oscar Wilde is a very quotable man), not that I agreed with much of what he said. It took me a while to get into the book, but once the story picked up, it flew along. Has one of the best endings to a story that I have ever read.