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Title: The Picture of Dorian Gray (Penguin Classics) by Oscar Wilde ISBN: 0-14-086044-4 Publisher: Penguin Audiobooks Pub. Date: 01 September, 1995 Format: Audio Cassette Volumes: 4 List Price(USD): $23.95

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Average Customer Rating: 4.17 (179 reviews)

Rating: 5
Summary: A novel worth a thousand acclaims...
Comment: A tale of beuty, love, innocence and cruelty. Wilde did a wonderful job of telling the story of young Dorian Gray, a timeless beuty that never shows his age and whose face never displays his sins. He betrays close friends, is fuel for many a suicide, is down right cruel and unfeeling to any of his numerous loves, is selfish and self immersed; yet his young, beutiful face never shows a trace of ill being. Being in a room with him, drowns anyone with pleasure, peacefulness and charm- it is impossible to look at his face and believe that someone so sweet and innocent in looks would commit any of the evil he is rumored to have done. Instead of himself being affected, a portait of him as a young man endures the strain of his uncouth behavior.

This timeless tale, set in England at the turn of the century, would be an excellent story line for any modern novel and would make a wonderful movie. Wilde's writting style is proliferic, poignant and delightful. It captures the language of the time period, yet was easy to read and easy to relate to. Wilde conveys the evil of the aestetic world and how it can drive one to stop at nothing for fear of losing it. And though he hints at such controversial topics such as drugs and homosexuality; it is neither detailed nor graphic; and is only slightly touched on. Throughout the novel, Wilde creates an image and lets the reader fully develop it for himself. I absolutley adored this book and highly reccomend it to anyone. Not for a moment did I think it dull, or too wordy. It is a very easy read (which is difficult to say of such a classic), and incredibly enjoyable.

Rating: 5
Summary: Forever young
Comment: This sophisticated but crude novel is the story of man's eternal desire for perennial youth, of our vanity and frivolity, of the dangers of messing with the laws of life. Just like "Faust" and "The immortal" by Borges.

Dorian Gray is beautiful and irresistible. He is a socialité with a high ego and superficial thinking. When his friend Basil Hallward paints his portrait, Gray expresses his wish that he could stay forever as young and charming as the portrait. The wish comes true.

Allured by his depraved friend Henry Wotton, perhaps the best character of the book, Gray jumps into a life of utter pervertion and sin. But, every time he sins, the portrait gets older, while Gray stays young and healthy. His life turns into a maelstrom of sex, lies, murder and crime. Some day he will want to cancel the deal and be normal again. But Fate has other plans.

Wilde, a man of the world who vaguely resembles Gray, wrote this masterpiece with a great but dark sense of humor, saying every thing he has to say. It is an ironic view of vanity, of superflous desires. Gray is a man destroyed by his very beauty, to whom an unknown magical power gave the chance to contemplate in his own portrait all the vices that his looks and the world put in his hands. Love becomes carnal lust; passion becomes crime. The characters and the scenes are perfect. Wilde's wit and sarcasm come in full splendor to tell us that the world is dangerous for the soul, when its rules are not followed. But, and it's a big but, it is not a moralizing story. Wilde was not the man to do that. It is a fierce and unrepressed exposition of all the ugly side of us humans, when unchecked by nature. To be rich, beautiful and eternally young is a sure way to hell. And the writing makes it a classical novel. Come go with Wotton and Wilde to the theater, and then to an orgy. You'll wish you age peacefully.

Rating: 5
Summary: Bonafide classic
Comment: Beautiful on the outside, ugly on the inside. That's Dorian Gray and the symbolism couldn't be more relevant today. This is one of the reasons why this has remained and will continue to be a classic. I won't bore you with a summary of the plot. I'll simply ask that you please give this book a read. It's quick, it's short, it's exciting, it's thrilling, it's very well written and it's a good summer read - I promise.