BOOK REVIEW: The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde (1891)
This review was originally written in 2021 and posted on Goodreads
I find myself quite conflicted by this book.
Abstract spoilers, nothing anyone who has heard of this story shouldn’t already know—no specific plot details.
First, it’s worth mentioning that I seem to have read one of the editions that didn’t include the character of James Vane, which was, afaik, an expanded version with more fleshed out story. While I’m not sure what the angry brother brought to the story, I did feel like the story I read was in need of something else.
At first, I really enjoyed it. The romantic writing style is very evocative and beautiful, but after a while began to wear on me. At first I was dazzled by the intensity of the prose, but the glamor wore off, leaving me feeling that Lord Henry Watton didn’t talk like a real human being, particularly during his overly long monologues where he doesn’t let the other person speak. This occasionally affected descriptive scenes as well, occasionally going on too long to keep my interest.
My main issue, however, is that a lot of Dorian’s debauchery is, I felt, hugely glossed over in this version. Once the choice is made to live his life as he will, we hear a great deal about all of the things he bought, but not of any truly... bad things. Of course, back then a lot of the homoerotic (and other things that are no longer considered “bad” by decent humans in modern days) content was removed—it seems in this version also—but the lack of it made the story a bit underwhelming. We hear that Dorian has done some terrible things but I never felt a true impact since they were always alluded to, without being particularly clear. What did he really do that so badly corrupted the painting? I couldn’t tell you.
It also bothered me that the painting was never really described at its worst. Of all the things Wilde over-described, I would’ve wanted to get a real, visceral feel for the painting at its worst. What horrors did it truly behold? Apart from a change in expression and some age, I never felt that the painting was described beyond just being really horrible and disturbing, but I didn’t see or feel what was wrong with it. Was it just the change of expressions, or was he mutilated and rotted? It’s a weird detail to leave undescribed.
My version also ended far too quickly, with the ending needing a bit more drama. I didn’t realize I was in the last pages until it suddenly ended. It wraps up much too quickly, and in that sense I can see how James Vane may have improved the story, building up to the conclusion.
I would be interested to perhaps someday read the uncensored or expanded story and see how it works as compared to this, but ultimately it felt a bit overhyped, story-wise.
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