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|| 4.0 stars ||

This is most definitely the gayest book that was ever written in the nineteenth century, and I wholeheartedly love it for that.

This book has the most fascinating yet despicable main characters, and I couldn’t help but be outraged and intrigued by everything about them.

Henry is truly a manipulative narcissist, who seems to view himself as the wisest person alive and who takes a perverse pleasure from dominating and shaping other people with his mind. The way he views other people is terribly creepy and dismissive; he appears to look down on anyone and anything as he deems himself utterly superior. Yet, he still manages to charm everyone around him, and convince them that his word is truth. He is, without a doubt, a sociopath.

At the start, I really couldn’t help but feel sad for Henry’s manipulations of the impressionable and naive Dorian. Even if Dorian was vain and egotistical, he wasn’t yet evil, and I feel like he could have been a happy and kind person if it weren’t for Henry’s influences. It was really quite the tragedy��
After a while, though, I obviously lost more and more of my pity for Dorian as he slowly turned into a cruel monster. He grew to be completely apathetic and seemed to have no care or sympathy for anyone other than himself.

The most likable character was definitely Basil. He was very pitiful and slightly pathetic, but he did have a very pure soul, and my heart broke a bit for how he lost the sweet boy Dorian once was to the horror Dorian later became. Basil’s love for him was so desperate and so painful: he worshipped Dorian, heart and soul. Even if Dorian was wholly undeserving of it, Basil’s deep love for him truly moved me.

Overall, I really liked the writing of this book as it was beautiful and often insightful. However, there was one chapter, namely chapter 11, that was literally my worst nightmare: I don’t think I have ever encountered such mind-numbing rambling before in my life. Luckily, this was only once and the rest of the book was simply stunning, so I could forgive it.

The main theme explored in this book is the nature of humanity in its most evil sense and it shows how deceptive beauty and innocence can be.
It also tries to imagine what someone would turn into if they no longer had to answer for their sins: What would a person become when they could live a life without consequences for themselves? This book answers that question, and it’s definitely not pretty.

In summary, this story, but mostly the characters, intrigued the hell out of me, and this book was genuinely so much more engaging than I thought it would be!


Oscar Wilde books:
The Happy Prince - 3.5 stars
The Picture of Dorian Gray - 4.0 stars