I read this book a long time ago, but after watching a movie adaptation, I wanted to read it again.
Dorian had a portrait made. He's a handsome, pure, young man. While he's with the painter one day, he meets Lord Henry. He is fearful that he'll lose his youthful appearance and makes a sincere wish he could remain the way he is, and the painting could age and reflect his sins instead. He briefly finds love, but she isn't what he thought, and he dumps her. She takes drastic measures, and his reaction to it is unnatural.
After her death, he dives into the world of corruption and sin. When he notices his wish has been granted, and the painting is changing, he feels like he's off the hook. Eventually, his sins will catch up with him.
For the most part, the book was pretty good, but I do have some issues. There are sections of the book that are unnecessarily descriptive. It'll get philosophical and stay that way to the point of confusion. Toward the end, I feel like the whole section describing (in great detail) Dorian's hobbies could have been summed up. I don't care about specific embroidery examples that fascinated Dorian. Also, the sins are hinted at. Instead of talking about art and beauty, I wish they had been slightly more specific about what he did. What was on the paper Dorian gave Alan?
Overall, the book is worth a read. I wish parts of it weren't there to make a smoother flow to the narrative, but it is still a Good Book! Side note: I'm not sure why the movie added a whole woman for Dorian. It softened his character in a way that didn't happen in the book. The paranoia and way he got into his own head was well done, and I really enjoyed this book. In case it got buried by my additional thoughts, I am giving this a Good Book! review.
RIP Basil.
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