The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

I picked this one up last year, initially because I was curious to see what it was about. Stephen Fry speaks highly of Oscar Wilde in his memoir More Fool Me (you can read my review on his memoir here), many booktubers speak highly of him too, and I really enjoyed his works that I had read at university. It was also on special. And then I discovered it might become a new Matric setwork book, so I decided I had to get on with reading it.

I really loved the beginning of the book. I found the humour delightful. There was a quote about painting portraits that I really appreciated. It basically said that a portrait is more about the artist painting it than the subject posing for it. I liked that. The middle I did not enjoy as much. It might have had a lot to do with the fact that I had a rather disjointed reading experience. It could also have something to do with Chapter 11 which I really need to read again because I was half asleep when I tackled it and found it particularly heavy. Maybe I will find something online to read first so that I can actually understand what it is about too. (I did get the general idea, but I want to understand all of it.) I thought the book ended brilliantly.

The characters in the novel were interesting. I liked how I could see how much Gray had degressed throughout the story. I liked how questions were raised, and I enjoyed the more philosophical questions and hypotheticals that were raised.

“The books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame."

― Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray

While I can't say that this book is for everyone (and I can foresee a generation of kids in my country hating it should it become a prescribed book, as rumour has it), I think folks who are interested in reading classics and who enjoy literary fiction, would probably appreciate it.

I gave this one 4 stars on Goodreads, although, if I had to study it to the point where I understood every reference and dissected the novel, I might give it more.

This is the 46th book I have read for the 2015 TBR Pile Reading challenge.