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cluttered_mind's review against another edition
dark
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
iri00's review against another edition
dark
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
emilymknight's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
4.75
When I read The Picture of Dorian Gray early last year, it quickly became one of my favourite classics. And so when I found out that an uncensored version of this novel existed, I knew I had to read it.
For starters, I'm not usually interested in the introductions in books, sometimes they can be quite dense and often give details of the plot away so I usually skip and then sometimes read it after. However, because I already knew of the plot, I read the introduction of this novel and it was SO interesting. I knew of course that Wilde was sent to prison for a reason to do with his homosexuality, but I did not know they literally used the original manuscript for the novel AGAINST HIM IN COURT. After learning of his imprisonment, on what charge he was imprisoned, his wife and sons leaving him and changing their surname, the novel being edited and published without him seeing the edits, etc, I was expecting this uncensored version to be significantly darker, intense and difficult to read, but it was just not... at all. And that for me, just made me appreciate Wilde and his work as an author, to another level.
His style of writing is unmatched for me. Nothing will beat the experience I had when I first read the revised version last year, and I feel like the plot is expanded slightly in that one too while this uncensored version focuses more on the confessions of the characters and their developments ?
For starters, I'm not usually interested in the introductions in books, sometimes they can be quite dense and often give details of the plot away so I usually skip and then sometimes read it after. However, because I already knew of the plot, I read the introduction of this novel and it was SO interesting. I knew of course that Wilde was sent to prison for a reason to do with his homosexuality, but I did not know they literally used the original manuscript for the novel AGAINST HIM IN COURT. After learning of his imprisonment, on what charge he was imprisoned, his wife and sons leaving him and changing their surname, the novel being edited and published without him seeing the edits, etc, I was expecting this uncensored version to be significantly darker, intense and difficult to read, but it was just not... at all. And that for me, just made me appreciate Wilde and his work as an author, to another level.
His style of writing is unmatched for me. Nothing will beat the experience I had when I first read the revised version last year, and I feel like the plot is expanded slightly in that one too while this uncensored version focuses more on the confessions of the characters and their developments ?
''For there is such a little time that your youth will last, such a little time. The common hill-flowers wither, but they blossom again. The laburnum will be as golden next June as it is now. In a month there will be purple stars on the clematis, and year after year the green night of its leaves will have its purple stars. But we never get back our youth. The pulse of joy that beats in us at twenty becomes sluggish. Our limbs fail, our senses rot. We degenerate into hideous puppets, haunted by the memory of the passions that we did not dare to yield to. Youth! Youth! There is absolutely nothing in the world but youth!''
''To him, man was a being with myriad lives and myriad sensations, a complex multiform creature that bore within itself strange legacies of thought and passion, and whose very flesh was tainted with the monstrous maladies of the dead.''
malloryhardesty's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
bhnmt61's review against another edition
5.0
I originally read this at least 35 years ago. I don’t think I understood many of the details, but I did get the idea of it— a man slides further and further into debauchery over several years, yet shows no visible signs of damage or deterioration. The damage instead appears on a portrait of himself that he keeps hidden away where no one can see it.
It’s a fascinating book, but even though it’s short, it’s not a quick read, or at least not for me. I had forgotten that there was so much philosophizing on the nature of art and the stranglehold of Victorian morality.
This “uncensored” version restores Wilde’s original wording of various homoerotic thoughts and conversations, but there are no explicit scenes of debauchery. There is an interesting introduction that gives biographical context and explains Wilde’s legal woes in the late 1890s, including two years in prison for “gross indecency.” It’s a tragedy that someone so brilliant was made to suffer so harshly.
It’s a fascinating book, but even though it’s short, it’s not a quick read, or at least not for me. I had forgotten that there was so much philosophizing on the nature of art and the stranglehold of Victorian morality.
This “uncensored” version restores Wilde’s original wording of various homoerotic thoughts and conversations, but there are no explicit scenes of debauchery. There is an interesting introduction that gives biographical context and explains Wilde’s legal woes in the late 1890s, including two years in prison for “gross indecency.” It’s a tragedy that someone so brilliant was made to suffer so harshly.
hanzy's review against another edition
4.0
I'd read the censored version a long time ago but hardly recall anything except for some of the main plot details. I felt it to be a great discussion of sorts on vanity through three very different characters. A very enjoyable read and one that I'd be revisiting in the future.
ahobbitsreadinglist's review against another edition
challenging
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
ghostlight's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
haleymk's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0