katiewilkins186

Dorian Gray is a beautiful and likable young man until presented with opportunity to remain unchangingly young. The influence of an immoral friend and the temptation to do wrong without showing any signs of his corruption soon prove too much for Dorian.

The most intriguing part of this story is the premise and it’s possible I would have enjoyed it more if each revelation of what was happening had surprised me. As is, I felt like there wasn’t much of a plot. There was a certain fascination to the beginning of the story, although it was a fascination I felt bad for, like I was watching a car crash. Even that interest want away after Dorian realizes what’s happening. The story becomes a lot of excessively specific descriptions of all of things Dorian collects mixed with excessively vague descriptions of what he’s actually doing.

Like many classics, the book was an interesting reflection on human nature. In addition to the plot itself, the characters have many conversations about morality and beauty. However, with no characters expressing a view of human nature I could agree with, I found those sections un-enjoyable as well. Despite the interesting premise, the book itself was turned out to be fairly bland and disappointing.

This review first published on Doing Dewey.