Daily Archives: March 13, 2010

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

Buy on Amazon: The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

The Picture of Dorian Gray is another one of those classics that I’d heard mentioned in passing or read about but never actually sat down to read. It’s short, only 200ish pages long – but don’t let the short length of it deceive you, it packs a fairly powerful punch.

The premise fascinated me from the moment I read it. Innocent young man who manages to remain that way on the outside, but a portrait of him changes to reflect the corruption of his soul. Fascinating, no?

I’m positive that this book has been dissected and analyzed from all sorts of different points of view, so let me tell you what I got out of it.

I felt the tragedy, deeply. The corruption of a soul is something that is unpleasant to read, unpleasant to see and seeing the effect it has on others is difficult to deal with at times.

It’s interesting because I read this novel while I am still continuing to work my way through George Eliot’s Middlemarch. Whereas I am having such a difficult time relating to and feeling emotions from Eliot’s characters, there was such a wealth of emotion being poured out of Wilde’s it was almost overwhelming. I felt the passion of love and the despair when it was lost.

By the way dialogue was incredible, it makes the book, honestly. I highly recommend this book to anyone who hasn’t read it. And if you haven’t read it in a while, go back and read it now. It’s going on my “yearly re-read” shelf for certain.

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The Other Mr. Darcy: Did you know Mr. Darcy had an American cousin? by Monica Fairview

Buy on Amazon: The Other Mr. Darcy by Monica Fairview

I should have known better. Honestly, I don’t know what came over me when I requested this book. If you are anything like me though, Mr. Darcy and anything connected with him holds this fascination grip over you and it’s impossible to resist.

So I didn’t resist. Now, don’t get me wrong – Monica Fairview did a decent job of writing and preserved most of the spirit of the characters in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. Eliza was a sassy as always, Lydia as silly as always and Mary as pious. Mr. Darcy came off as harsh, unforgiving to others and completely indulgent toward his wife. The character I had the most issue with was one of the main ones, Caroline Bingley.

I thoroughly detested Caroline in P&P so I was curious as to how I would react to seeing a more softer side of her. What I got was a character full of contradictions. At one moment she seemed to be Austen’s Caroline and at the next Monica’s. And the two didn’t mesh well and it made for much confusion and an unclear picture of who this character really is supposed to be.

As for the rest of the story, it was predictable. A typical romance, mysteries that were easily seen through and nothing that really reached through and touched me – but again, this isn’t Austen here.. it’s a knock-off using the same characters and I couldn’t expect more from it.

Honestly, I was a bit bored and really struggled with lack of desire to pick up the book and continue reading, even though it was easy to read. But for a book like it’s supposed to be, it’s good. Just not my cup of tea.

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