Book Review: The Picture of Dorian Gray

When I was a teenager, I used to make a regular habit of reading works of Literature. Not because I was made to, but because I genuinely enjoyed it. I read the whole of Les Miserables when I was 14. It took   me about two months, but I remember the sense of achievement when I finished it. Lately, however, I've found that my ability to focus has been steadily dwindling. Maybe it's all the time I spend on the Internet, maybe it's the amount of brain cells which seem to be left fully awake after a full day's teaching little kids (i.e. precious few). And so it is, that in an attempt to regain my teenage powers of concentration, I am making it a point this year to read more works of Literature.

My first book this year was The Picture of Dorian Gray. It is one of those books that's been on my To Read list for years and years, but somehow kept getting neglected. Well, I finally read it, and I thoroughly loved it! It reminded me why I am such a big Oscar Wilde fan.

I think most people are at least vaguely aware of the storyline: man makes pact with Devil/destiny/whatever and retains his youth eternally while a picture of him gets old. I didn't really know too much beyond that.  The book is incredibly disturbing without ever being explicit or gory. I'd been thinking what exactly it was that made it so disturbing for me, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. It definitely wasn't just the whole Pact With the Devil thing. And then it dawned on me; it is that at the start of the story, Dorian Gray is the loveliest of people, not just externally, but inside as well. It is almost like his very soul radiates its kindness to make him beautiful.

In other words, Dorian Gray is , if we are honest, what we'd all like to think we are to a certain extent: kind, compassionate, modest, well-loved, sociable, witty. He's the guy we'd all love to have as a friend. And the question is, if such a paragon of virtue can be so easily (and rapidly) corrupted, what is stopping us from becoming the same?

Favourite quotes:
She was a curious woman, whose dresses always looked as if they had been designed in a rage and put on in a tempest. - about Lady Henry. Such a vivid character description via her wardrobe!

There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written. That is all. - Preach, Oscar!!!