Posts
That specific quote from the novel we are reviewing today has so much to do with humanity as much as it has to do with the book.
This is the first of the #StayClassyFeb reviews that I will be doing this month as February is dedicated to classics novels in the public domain that have reviews, but not a modern take on them.
I am hoping my review series provides you some insight into some of the old classics while also giving a clear picture on what to expect from the e-reader copy. Are you ready? I am. Let’s get some tea called in, be sure you tip your handsome driver and whatever you do, do not go into the room alone with the painting. Here comes a review of Oscar Wilde’s “The Picture of Dorian Gray”.
Opinion
For this first review I’m choosing the classic that I’ve used in I don’t know how many jokes or quips over the years. I have compared Dick Clark, Cindy Crawford and Joan Rivers to Dorian Gray. “I bet they have a painting in the attic somewhere” is something I don’t mind quipping when I see someone who is teetering on ageless and the societal perfection with something underneath. As always I am going to review this book not only on the book, but on the copy I read, and base this as if I had no idea what this book was about because I’m not sure everyone has read “The Picture of Dorian Gray”.
My first impressions of Dorian Gray all these years later is familiarity, but subtlety. If you have never read this book, it comes across kind of slow to begin, but that’s a trap. Oscar Wild I believe inspired writers to layer in foreshadowing carefully into their works ahead of time. This novel has a subtle layer of foreshadowing in the first and second chapters that take us through the whole book and adds some intrigue. The story and its beautiful layers are so important to what happens later, and if you are not closely paying attention to the first two chapters, it’s going to be very confusing later.
Critiques, and believe it or not this goes into the “Story Structure, Foundation and Presentation” part of scoring for my reviews. So there are MANY copies and revisions of this book, that one would think whoever is doing the e-books would be respectful and ensure their copy stands out. Well, alas, this one does not. The words are stuck together, the commas are on top of each other and I could go on. It’s tough to read. Whole sentences sometimes do not have spaces between them. It’s probably one of the poorest examples of an e-copy that I have seen in some time, and I review books from all sorts of writers and publishers.
I feel if Oscar Wilde had self-published, this would have been picked up immediately and fixed. “A Picture of Dorian Gray” deserves far more care and love than it got in its e-copy. Here’s an example:
Page 44
“Belgian brute, to insult his son-in-law inpublic-paid him,sir, to do it, paid him- and that thefellow spitted his man as if he had been a pigeon. The thing washuhed up, but, egad Kelso ate his chop alone at the club for sometime afterwards.”
That’s the bottom third of dialog on page 44 on the e-copy that I read on my Kindle. To verify it, I went back to this on my son’s Amazon Fire 7, downloaded the book, and it’s the same thing.
|
| From the Amazon Preview |
I’m also including on my blog a picture of the preview for this e-copy so that you all can see what I am talking about just in the first few pages.
I feel “The Picture of Dorian Gray” deserves more love and respect than this copy gave the story. I hope someone will go back in and fix the e-copy. This sadly impacted the score on the novel, and not because of Oscar Wilde, but because of the way it was put together on the e-reader.
Next, let’s go into some story critiques. Oh yeah, even Oscar Wilde cannot escape the catchy gaze of Mrs. Y. For the first of the story critiques, we return to “Story Structure, Foundation, and Presentation” and it’s pacing we are looking at. This book has some very dry and slow pacing at times. Chiefly, anytime they are talking about what Dorian Gray has in his house, or the way something looks, it’s a slowly paced sequence. Now, that doesn’t mean it’s not important, it simply is slow and it can be tedious to get through.
My next critique, we go into the “Lost in Translation” section of my scoring. While I am certain this was trendy and cool back in the day it was written, the fact that I have to stop to Google Translate French to understand what is going on is a tad on the annoying side. It’s not terrible, but I like to know what I’m reading. Frequently I suppose to make it fancier, there are sections of French poetry or even French sayings. I know just enough French to be able to order food in Louisiana, so this one was a bit of a struggle at times. If you are like me and you do not throw French prose into your sentences, you may find that Google Translate is your buddy. Also, good to note, if you have an Android device you can use the translation app to hover over the words and figure out what it says easier. I am not sure if Apple has an equivalent or not, but I know Android does.
For this part of the review let’s go into my favorite things about this book. This is a book we should read and reflect on in our times. This story has so much of a cautionary tale about entitlement versus gratitude and how that can shape a life, as well as ignoring things as we grow. Everyone grows up and when they are young there is so much potential. But in that potential, there is a desire or tendency to do impulsive things that can corrupt us. Over time that corruption becomes festering and digesting. That’s the point of the narrative. So thus, even though it seems like a long-ago book, it’s not. It’s still something that we can connect with even now.
There also is a lot to say about how you can’t run from your problems or hide them. At the end of the day, your problems must be dealt with or they become bigger problems. No drugs, no alcohol, not even running away makes them any less of a situation that must be addressed. I like that this story can put a glaring spotlight onto things we deal with even now.
The other part I enjoyed was the detail work and imagery of Oscar Wilde. Though his words are formal and older toned, they are profound and beautiful even to this day. There are beautiful descriptions, and then there is disgusting imagery in the narrative, that I even find beauty in their wake. Even the most horrible stuff, from the description of a hunting incident to the seedy docks and old opium dens, has a beauty to the description despite the grotesque subject matter.
Though this is an older book, it has so much to say about the influence of the “wise” to the “naive”, and why maybe it is better to listen to your heart instead of the words of others.
Lastly, the thing I like is the message of “Dorian Gray” and that message is ‘Know thyself”. Throughout the book there is an underlining question, will he fix this or will he continue his ways? This adds a kind of dynamic tension to the book and strings along everyone that is in Dorian’s life. But the thing that continues to happen is he listens to the wrong things or he thinks away the truth of the matter. Even in a situation where he could have done the right thing and by all rights believed so, the truth of reality comes around. That message is important. If one knows their own self, and knows deep down what it is to be a good human or a bad one, they can make the choices accordingly. It’s when they deny it in either way that things become murky.
My last thought about it, whatever happened to the picture? Someday if you want to debate me on that topic let me know in the comments below. I’d love to have a discussion about this book!
Score
What does the great Oscar Wilde get from Mrs. Y all these many years later? Does he get an automatic pass because this book itself is youthful in its age, or does this masterwork fall flat because of out of date situations?
The e-book copy took a hit. If I was scoring just the e-book copy without any story considerations it’d be a 62/100. However, considering the story and this specific version of “The Picture of Dorian Gray” by Oscar Wilde scored a solid 82/100 which is a 4-Star rating for Goodreads and Amazon.
Despite the errors with the mashed words, the overall story managed to bring the score back up even though the e-reader copy itself is in need of some love and affection.
Join me next time my friends, and I hope you have a lovely day!
