Humorous—fairly predictable ending, but recommended reading.

After viewing his newly painted portrait, Dorian Gray prays that he stays as young and beautiful as his picture. When he eagerly dives into a life of sin and debauchery, he finds the tell-tale signs of it, not on his own face, but on his beautiful portrait. Creepy! Excellent! ( )

I have heard a lot about this book and, having read a few of Oscar Wilde's plays and enjoyed them, decided to give it a try. Overall is was a good book, if a bit inconsistent in pacing at times.

Dorian Grey is a beautiful young man, who is corrupted by a Lord to worry about how his looks might one day fade. While a portrait of him is being painted he wishes to never grow old. Later he realizes that the portrait is changing to reflect any cruelty in his nature, yet he remains the same.

Oscar Wilde is a genius at writing. The cleverness of the language he uses and the sharpness of the commentary on society is deftly done and makes the story a joy to read, most of the time. The footnotes in this version of the book help to explain some of the more subtle jokes that I would have missed without them.

The book does have some flaws, especially when compared to modern literature. Wilde takes nearly half to book to set up his characters. You can tell Wilde is a playwright at heart because many of the characters wander off into multiple page long dialogues that get to be a bit too much and sometimes a bit boring. Even in the second half of the book there are times where Dorian is reading from the book he is obsessed with and it just goes on and on and on.

The second half of the book is by far the strongest. Wilde stimulates the imagination by talking about Dorian's unspeakable acts but never revealing what the majority of the horrible acts are. I was a little disappointed that there isn't a lot more to the plot than what you read on the back of the book. That being said, the end of the book is remarkable and really made the book a wonder to me.

Overall this is a very interesting book and worth the read. Some of the lengthy dialogues can get a bit trying to read through, but most of the book has a quick wit to it that is amusing. The ending of the book holds some wonderful surprises. I would recommend reading this, especially if you are a fan of Wilde's writing style. ( )

The Picture of Dorian Gray was a quick, easy and enjoyable read. I knew the very basic premise of the story from watching the 2003 movie, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. I also had a lot of wrong preconceived notions because of the the movie.

The Picture of Dorian Gray was less supernatural in nature than I expected. Other than not aging and having the picture age for him, Dorian was a regular guy. When given the opportunity to live his life without his behavior marring his beauty, he chose debauchery. I found myself thinking, who wouldn't? He tried to experience everything the world has to offer (a noble pursuit) and finds that life can become pointless without boundaries.

Dorian's friend, Harry, is the absolute shining star of this novel. He counsels Dorian in the way of the world, full of his own theories and cynical viewpoints. He's humorous and more often than not, what he says makes a lot of sense.

The one thing I disliked about The Picture of Dorian Gray was that it seemed like the most interesting pieces of the story were missing. Oscar Wilde was very vague about exactly why Dorian actually did in the years he spent corrupting his soul. People who were once his friends couldn't stand to be in the same room as him and no explanation was given. Perhaps in 1890, when the book was published, saying that he did vile, cruel, disgusting things was enough. Now, 120 years later, I need more. I need to know and it still bugs me that I don't know what Wilde was alluding to. ( )

This book is a complex and dark look into the issues of eternal youth and beauty, moral corruption without consequences and the influence others can have over our lives. I admit I became acquainted with the character of Dorian Gray through the film the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and so I expected to come across the sophisticated womanising rogue portrayed in the film, which isn't what Dorian in the book starts out like at all.It is a fascinating tale, and the supernatural element of the portrait, and the secrecy with which it is kept by Dorian, makes you want to read more about him, his picture and his fate. It is interesting to read about Dorian's transformation from young innocent to experienced and corrupted soul. It also shows how easily we can all be led astray...much easier when by an articulate and intelligent man with a melodious voice and a way with words!I did enjoy the fanciful and melodramatic language used by the characters at first - it makes subjects that might be tedious otherwise rather interesting. I do however think that it was overdone, especially when used in page long monologues by Lord Henry on his backward theories of morality and life. It made my attention wander and after a while it gave me a dull headache! Also, the monotonous explanation of Dorian's interests and life pursuits, amongst other things, made reading slow and arduous.I did enjoy the ending, and I was happy it ended that way, but somehow I wanted to get more from the ending and from the whole book, in fact, than I got. I half-wish I could have enjoyed it more as it has all the elements of intrigue and suspense that a tale should have. ( )