I have finished my A-Z Author Challenge 2015!! :)
I am so proud of myself, and to have completed it in 64 days is a special achievement, I believe :) I shall soon be bringing you my A-Z wrap-up, but for now, a review of my book read for W: Oscar Wilde's 'The Picture of Dorian Gray'.
I really like these Pulp covers of classics! I get that they're trying to modernise classics to make them more accessible to the youth of today (which is a category I still like to consider myself to be in!), so they totally worked for me! :) Let's be honest, I would have read this regardless of cover, but it's fabulous blue pages were the pushing factor which actually made me buy it! :)
I am sure most people reading this will know the story of Dorian Gray: he sits for a painting, and becomes overwhelmed by the realisation that he will never again look as young as he does in the picture! This thought eats away at him, and he wishes that the portrait could bear the burden of ageing, while he maintained his youthful good looks forever. Well, Dorian...be careful what you wish for!
I actually really enjoyed this book. In the first few chapters, Dorian makes friends with Lord Henry (Harry), who had some great things to say. He made some great observations and was extremely philosophical about life, and the human instinct, which I found really interesting. I loved the love story (can't beat the story of a strong man going weak for a girl), and it kept me really hooked!
The problem was, as the story hit about half-way, suddenly it seemed to lose its thread somewhat. At one point, there was almost an entire page listing different names of jewels which Dorian had studied, acquired or sold, and it became extremely tedious! I struggled to cling to the weak thread of the story, and although it did pick back up, I felt rather lost by this point, and almost had to crawl to the finish line. It's a shame really, because Wilde's writing showed such great promise in the first half of the book, which is why I felt guilty scoring it anything less than 4 starts on GoodReads!
What do you think of the story of Dorian Gray? As always, I'd love to hear your comments below! :)
The fact you enjoyed Lord Henry as a character insults me on a personal level. Although I'm glad you shared my thoughts that the middle is the bland filling in an otherwise nice sandwich.
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