Book Review: The Picture of Dorian Gray

Book review: The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

   I haven't yet met someone who's already read The Picture of Dorian Gray who doesn't think that is a MASTERPIECE. This spellbinding book reflects the well-crafted character of the narcissist Dorian Gray and his awe-inspiring journey from moral decency to moral decadence. Oscar Wilde presents an engaging and a thought-provoking narrative on the hedonist Dorian Gray and his devious innocence, on the skeptic Lord Henry, his radical statements and steadfast influence, and on the artist Basil Hallward who's also the passionate portraitist of Dorian Gray and his affectionate emotions for his handsome model. This aesthetic account comes with a perfectly paced and meticulous plot where readers would substantially turn into engaged thinkers, especially while reading Lord Henry's often extravagant and obnoxious passages.

       This is definitely one of the stories where men sell their souls to the devil, however in this story, Dorian exchanges his soul and morals for eternal youth and beauty. The dramatic transformation of Dorian is spine-tingling, it echoes a voyage of a naive fine young boy who becomes a case study in the hands of Lord Henry, but he'd eventually be proved a failed man experience. 

     The book was banned the first time it was published in all the English speaking countries for his explicitly sexual content was condemned insolent. The latter was represented through the hidden complicated emotions of the Artist Basil Hallward and at times Lord Henry himself for the young Dorian Gray. Besides, this homosexuality element in the only novel of Oscar Wilde led it to be considered an autobiography several times. Personally, I noticed( as would anyone who's read both works do) plenty of similarities between the novel and the long letter De Profundis, which would be published posthumously. Oscar Wilde wrote the letter in jail and sent it to his ex-lover whom he addressed as "Bosie", hence he recounts his experience in jail, his longing to his children and wife, the secrets and deceptions built around their affair and multiple passages on mental self-punishment and pain self-efficacy in addition to other opinions of Oscar Wilde.

 The book encompasses extremely controversial ideas and triggering yet engaging dialogues, and I'm tremendously in love with this book. 

it is probably the first book I'll reread because I never reread books 💜

 it has one of the most unexpected heart-wrenching endings ever !!!