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What are readers saying about The Picture of Dorian Gray (Barnes & Noble Classics Series)?
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Tong posted a review at 2010-08-17 01:50:09.
(Language: English)
 
This is the first book I read from Oscar Wilde . I didn't expect too much of an literature but this one brings up lots of interesting discussion, particularly Lord Henry's pronouncements. Are the married couples become boring when losing their individual characters? We married because men got tired while women got curious? Do we see the ugly side of ourselves but we hide it like Dorian without knowing? Do all of those young generation leave their loved ones like Sibyl Vane who suddenly lost the character or talent they admire? This is one of the most interesting literature I have ever read.
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A Reader posted a review at 2007-12-31 07:31:55.
(Language: English)
Favorite quotes: Nothing can cure the soul but the senses, just as nothing can cure the senses but the soul. How pleasant it was in the garden! And how delightful other people's emotions were! - much more delightful than their ideas, it seemed to him. One's own soul, and the passions of one's friends - those were the fascinating things in life. In the wild struggle for existence, we want to have something that endures, and so we fill our minds with rubbish and facts, in the silly hope of keeping our place. But beauty, real beauty, ends where an intellectual expression begins. Intellect is in itself a mode of exaggeration, and destroys the harmony of any face. The moment one sits down to think, one becomes all nose, or all forehead, or something horrid. How perfectly hideous they are! Except, of course, in the Church. But then in the Church they don't think. People say sometimes that Beauty is only superficial. That may be so. But at least it is not so superficial as Thought is. To me, Beauty is the wonder of wonders. It is only shallow people who do not judge by appearances. The true mystery of the world is the visible, not the invisible... Humanity takes itself too seriously. It is the world's original sin. If the cavemen had known how to laugh, History would have been different. Ah! I have talked quite enough for to-day. All I want now is to look at life. You may come and look at it with me, if you care to. You know more than you think you know, just as you know less than you want to know.
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-09-02 11:17:44.
(Language: English)
There was a point while reading this book when I actually yelled at the book: "You're a 38-year-old man! Stop flinging yourself petulantly onto sofas!" Somewhere in this book, buried beneath ridiculous prose and insipid characters, is a somewhat interesting story, though not interesting enough to warrant wading through the ridiculousness and insipidness. I picked it up because I felt bad for being 30 and never having read it. I spent most of my time reading it thinking about how if I was in high school, I wouldn't be able to skim through the conversations, because somewhere in my future would be an exam asking me about the secret meaning behind any of the myriad idiotic conversations Lord Henry has with whatever duchess he's having tea with at that particular point in the story. Lord Henry just won't fucking shut up. And he has a lot of tea with a lot of duchesses.
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Melanie posted a review at 2008-09-26 03:12:57.
(Language: English)
Dorian Gray is one of the most beautiful people who ever lived- everyone thinks so. In fact, he is so beautiful that the famous painter Basil Hallward insists on painting a portrait of him. Dorian is unaware of his incredible beauty until he meets Lord Henry Wotton, a prominent nobleman who tells him to enjoy his youth and good looks. Lord Henry warns him that beauty is fleeting and claims that there is nothing more valuable in the world than a pretty face. When Basil finishes the picture, Dorian sees himself for the first time as beautiful and perfect. He understands that the picture will serve as a reminder of how beautiful he once was. "How sad it is! I shall grow old, and horrible, and dreadful. But this picture will remain always young. It will never be older than this particular day of June... If it were only the other way! If it were I who was to be always young, and the picture that was to grow old! For that- for that- I would give everything! Yes, there is nothing I would not give! I would give my soul for that!"Only after he breaks the heart of his first love (Sibyl Vane) does he realize that his prayer was answered- That his picture is the "most magical of mirrors." He comes home after breaking her spirit to the point she commits suicide, and notices that his beautiful face has an evil and horrible smile on it- that there are new creases around his mouth and the face looks dreadful. Dorian hides the picture, but checks back often to see how it has changed. He almost becomes driven to see the face get uglier and uglier as the portrait bears the burden of time and sin that Dorian commits. Meanwhile he is as young and beautiful as ever. Dorian ends up being cruel and selfish bringing disaster to all who love him. All except Lord Henry - the man who taught him all the principals he has.The portrait haunts him. Dorian is unable to achieve true happiness despite his many attempts at pleasure. By the end of the book he has committed murder of one of his only true friends, and been responsible for a few deaths as well. He wants his picture to stop haunting him... He even attempts to reform himself, but the portrait will not budge. Dorian Gray realizes "the soul is a terrible reality. It can be bought, and sold, and bartered away. It can be poisoned, or made perfect." He also understands that his has escaped his grasp forever. He blames Basil for painting the beautiful picture and believes all his failure is due to the picture changing and not him. He believes that it would have been "better for him [if] each sin of his life had brought its sure, swift penalty along with it. There was purification in punishment. " He escapes all of his evil unscarred, except the visual reminder of his painting, which is probably the reason he becomes so evil in the first place.In the end Dorian Gray decides to slash his portrait... the moment he does so, a horrible cry is heard by all the servants in the house, who then run upstairs to find an old withered man stabbed in the heart lying in front of the most beautiful portrait of their master Dorian. They only recognize his decrepit body because of the rings on his fingers.
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-08-08 05:35:33.
(Language: English)
The Picture of Dorian Gray is a book I've been meaning to read for ages. When [info]wordsofastory pointed me in the direction of LibriVox, I decided to go for it. For those who aren't familiar with LibriVox, it is a site that, "provides free audiobooks from the public domain." In other words, volunteers recorded books with expired copyright dates and share them with the public. Though my recording didn't have the best narrator ever, he was passionate, which I appreciated. I definitely recommend LibriVox to anyone looking for a good read! There is an enormous selection. I'm considering listening to Dracula next, since I haven't before read it. The Picture of Dorian Gray was fantastic, though, as I realized after I finished it, was only a 13-chapter edition. After some double-checking, I found it was only missing a small subplot about a character's relative. The inclusion of this storyline would only have made the story better, since it was PHENOMENAL already. I highly recommend reading this. Can't go into more detail for fear of spoilers.
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-03-20 08:30:19.
(Language: English)
Oscar Wilde writes a beautiful novel cautioning against the sin of vanity and narcissism. The main character of the story is a beautiful man, Dorian, whose picture is painted by Basil, a man who is in love, and a little obsessed with him. Basil puts his whole soul into the painting and in the process captures Dorian's soul. Dorian, upon seeing the painting, makes a wish that he should forever remain as youthful as the painting and that the painting should grow older and colder. Unbeknownst to him at the time, his wish is granted. After behaving dishonorably toward a young lady with whom he is in love, he comes home to realize that he is still as youthful and beautiful as before the incident, yet, the painting has grown older and harsher. Both fascinated and repulsed, he continues to behave badly knowing that the consequences of his actions will be paid for by the painting. For the next eighteen years he lives life hedonistically with no remorse or consequence. Finally his bad deeds catch up to his conscience and it ends dramatically. The breakout star of the novel is Lord Harry. He is opinionated, irreverent, and incredibly cynical. Yet his irreverence and cynicism is portrayed in a very quick witted and intelligent way. Lord Harry is charming and can convince practically anyone, the reader included, that life is a detached game, and people are only here to amuse one another. His character is truly a stand-out character whose quips stay with the reader long after the novel is finished. However, Lord Harry doesn't detract from the main story of the novel - Dorian. The beautiful part of the novel is that Dorian's misdeeds are never explicitly detailed. It are left to the imagination. It is for the reader to decide how truly horrid he is. The book then becomes however little or much you read into it.
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-03-07 02:24:51.
(Language: English)
A novel questioning morality on the face of it!The Preface to the book is,in itself a masterpiece!!!HE artist is the creator of beautiful things.To reveal art and conceal the artist is art's aim.The critic is he who can translate into another manner or a new material his impression of beautiful things.The highest as the lowest form of criticism is a mode of autobiography.Those who find ugly meanings in beautiful things are corrupt without being charming. This is a fault.Those who find beautiful meanings in beautiful things are the cultivated. For these there is hope.They are the elect to whom beautiful things mean only beauty.There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written. That is all.The nineteenth century dislike of realism is the rage of Caliban seeing his own face in a glass.The nineteenth century dislike of romanticism is the rage of Caliban not seeing his own face in a glass.The moral life of man forms part of the subject-matter of the artist, but the morality of art consists in the perfect use of an imperfect medium.No artist desires to prove anything. Even things that are true can be proved.No artist has ethical sympathies. An ethical sympathy in an artist is an unpardonable mannerism of style.No artist is ever morbid. The artist can express everything.Thought and language are to the artist instruments of an art.Vice and virtue are to the artist materials for an art.From the point of view of form, the type of all the arts is the art of the musician. From the point of view of feeling, the actor's craft is the type.All art is at once surface and symbol.Those who go beneath the surface do so at their peril.Those who read the symbol do so at their peril.It is the spectator, and not life, that art really mirrors.Diversity of opinion about a work of art shows that the work is new, complex, and vital.When critics disagree, the artist is in accord with himself.We can forgive a man for making a useful thing as long as he does not admire it. The only excuse for making a useless thing is that one admires it intensely.All art is quite useless.
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-09-19 05:12:00.
(Language: English)
"The Picture of Dorian Gray" is one of the best books I have ever read. This classic literature indeed stands beyond time with a cautionary tale set in the period yet being incredibly modern in theme. I was first brought into a highly bisexual-implicated atmosphere introducing Dorian Gray in a British high society. Oscar Wilde had created such a character who is so effortlessly capable to charm, seduce and influence. I was immediately swept off my feet bedazzled by Gray's mysterious appeals. As the story progresses and twists, the protagonist would, from a promising yet pretentious young man, self-destruct (by choice no less) into denial, murder, insecurity and eventually isolation. You witness and would even feel for Dorian Gray who lived in misery and fear with a portrait that constantly reflected and haunted for his unspeakable secrets and sins. Author Oscar Wilde was truly generous to educate with words that not only painted a poetic vision, but also offered such sharp philosophy worthy of multiple awakenings. This is a fascinating read that teaches vanity, pride, corruption, and obsession. With no doubt, all readers will be rewarded.
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-06-15 05:56:52.
(Language: English)
Such beautiful work, Oscar Wilde was truly at the height of his powers when he wrote this. I heard somewhere that flower imagery is a metaphor for homosexuality, back in the days when it was in a cupboard in the closet, but its presence in this book made you feel like you were diving head first into a bed of roses. I love the psychology of it, showing truly the guilt associated when purely living for your own pleasure. The greatest thing about this book is that no one since its publication has been able to figure out what is satire and what is meant to be taken seriously. Now THAT is great writing. Loved this book! Read it for a 19th century class and it was so beautiful and compact. Read this book and take a long walk after - you'll need it to make you come back to reality!
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-01-17 10:40:39.
(Language: English)
I never read anything by Oscar Wilde before so I wasn't really prepared for this book! I liked it more than I thought I would because of the unique story line; mainly how he pin-pointed what true sinners look like beneath the skin. It was so disappointing how quickly Sybil's death led to the deterioration of Gray's once youthful soul, in terms of characterization that is. Despite her naivety, my favorite character from the book has to be Gray's ill-fated love Sybil Vane. I personally can relate to her in how she was too mesmorized by the fantastic ideal of plays and theater that she wasn't truly satisfied until she faced reality...that is until Gray brokeup with her for embarrassing him with her "mediocre" acting skills when his friends saw her play, leading to Sybil's suicide. Lord Henry seems like an interesting character also, in that he really studies human behavior without getting scientific. Although he seems to have the answers for "everything" in terms of psychology [which I personally don't think he's right most of the time] I was surprised that Gray hadn't murdered him by the end of the play. It's obvious that Lord Henry was responsible for Gray's sinning-streak and not Basil the artist. I did, however, enjoy the ending where you think Gray stabbed the hideously distorted version of his once beautiful portrait, but then witnesses found that the disturbing image of the portrait and Gray's mysteriously youthful body had been switched, revealing the "real" Gray lying on the floor with a dagger in his chest. It's about time!
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-09-22 06:08:26.
(Language: English)
After an artist friend, Basil, paints his portrait, handsome young Dorian Gray makes a thoughtless wish to stay forever young. He is gradually drawn into the darker side of life by another friend, Henry, whose cynicism fascinates Dorian. Influenced by Henry, Dorian sinks into depravity. Dorian expects his sins to show on his face, but he remains just as beautiful and innocent-looking as ever. Eventually, he begins to notice subtle changes in his portrait--a cruel twist to the mouth, a sadistic gleam in the eyes. Dorian is perpetually young, while his portrait grows older. Wilde's wit is in high form in this novel. The drawing room scenes and the conversations that take place within them make this book sparkle. One of my favorite quotes: "How dreadful!" cried Lord Henry. "I can stand brute force, but brute reason is quite unbearable. There is something unfair about its use. It is hitting below the intellect."
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-07-24 06:39:44.
(Language: English)
Quoted Favorite quotes:Nothing can cure the soul but the senses, just as nothing can cure the senses but the soul. How pleasant it was in the garden! And how delightful other people's emotions were! - much more delightful than their ideas, it seemed to him. One's own soul, and the passions of one's friends - those were the fascinating things in life. In the wild struggle for existence, we want to have something that endures, and so we fill our minds with rubbish and facts, in the silly hope of keeping our place. But beauty, real beauty, ends where an intellectual expression begins. Intellect is in itself a mode of exaggeration, and destroys the harmony of any face. The moment one sits down to think, one becomes all nose, or all forehead, or something horrid. How perfectly hideous they are! Except, of course, in the Church. But then in the Church they don't think. People say sometimes that Beauty is only superficial. That may be so. But at least it is not so superficial as Thought is. To me, Beauty is the wonder of wonders. It is only shallow people who do not judge by appearances. The true mystery of the world is the visible, not the invisible... Humanity takes itself too seriously. It is the world's original sin. If the cavemen had known how to laugh, History would have been different. Ah! I have talked quite enough for to-day. All I want now is to look at life. You may come and look at it with me, if you care to. You know more than you think you know, just as you know less than you want to know.
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-11-02 09:04:21.
(Language: English)
What this book lacks in content it makes up for in brevity. I had long meant to read The Picture of Dorian Gray and I am very glad that I have because it means I will never have to read it again. To be fair to Mr Wilde, the book suffers from being familiar before one has even read it. To be just to Mr Wilde, it is not just familiarity that renders the book so dull and stodgy. Never one to use one word when a plethora will suffice, Oscar runs away with himself here. We are given intricate descriptions of sunlight on flowers, subjected to long passages which are little more than an receptacle for Oscar's undoubted talent for the classics, but when it comes to finding a soul within the book, despite its often being referenced, it remains stubbornly hidden. We never really know nor understand Dorian Gray. Lord Henry Wootton serves, or so it seems to me, as a mouthpiece for Wilde's own wit and "wisdom" and becomes more tiresomely one-note as the story unfolds. We know that he will always have an epigram, but his tragedy is to become a study in epigrammatic ennui. Basil Hallward is underwritten and serves as man most likely to become the ghost at the feast. Sybil Vane is little more than a pretty sacrifice, not written well enough to care about, not around long enough to be missed. Her brother James is a badly realised monster/avenger. In short, it is hard to care about or truly understand the personalities or motivations of the story's cast of characters. It is harder yet to understand what we are supposed to think or feel about the story itself. Too arch to be a morality tale, too dull to be sufficiently arch; Dorian does "bad" things, but aside from a trip to a seedy opium den and the murder of Hallward, we are not privy to the true degradation of his soul, nor exactly why he is so degraded. The story promises much and delivers little beyond a basic education in Classics and enough misogyny to make this female reader just a little queasy. The final denouement is quick and lacks thrill. Dorian grows tired of seeing his soul etched on a portrait; he attacks the portrait and as if by magic the portrait is restored to its former beauty and he lies dead on the floor beneath it. Fin. I wanted to love this book, but I could not. That, Mr Wilde would no doubt say, is my tragedy.
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-08-24 10:42:22.
(Language: English)
Wilde sees the world more clearly than any writer of fiction in the last century. It is for that reason that his work is so filled with countless paradoxes and contradictions that challenge the mind and titillate the senses. Wilde lived in an infinitely ironic age, when society had grown so influential as to crowd out the individuals that made it up. Today, we have taken for granted this incongruity and so our writers cannot express the kind of irony that Wilde mastered, despite the fact that we all know that something is amiss.‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ is filled with this irony. The plot shows us the ultimate irony of a man giving up his soul for the beauty of youth—the condition that is exalted in the modern age above all else, intellect, truth, justice, life itself. Interspersed are dialogues and epigrams that persist one hundred years later as some of the finest word handling ever recorded. Even a few samples should compel the potential reader:“The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about.”“Every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not of the sitter.”“A man cannot be too careful in his choice for his enemies.”“The only difference between a caprice and a life-long passion is that the caprice lasts a little bit longer.”“Men marry because they are tired, women marry because they are curious. Both are disappointed.”“I love acting, it is so much more real than life.”- “I am on the side of the Trojans, they fought for a woman.”- “They were defeated.”The mastery of wit that Wilde displays must be seen in its context. He was a decadent as much as the characters he portrays are. Ultimately, the disillusion that the decadent faces comes through in the story and the reader is left with a very uneasy feeling upon completing ‘Dorian Gray.’ Is life as absurd as it seems? Is there a solution? Or are we stuck with a life of paradox? Perhaps our current period of decadence will show us an alternative. Until it does, we can enjoy the astounding word play offered here.
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-01-21 05:34:43.
(Language: English)
It would be easy to dismiss this book. The writer and his characters, I think, lack the moral compass. That said, Oscar Wilde had something to say about what sin does to a person and how it can even affect one's countenance. There is no cure for a hard heart or a life lived only to watch out for one's self. Only tragedy follows such a path, as the lead character in this book learns. Dorian Grey once yelled out a heartfelt plea to remain for the rest of his life as beautiful as he was at that moment. His wish was granted and he never aged from that point. The painting that he had just sat for, however, did change...with each and every selfish act he committed. Dorian's actions were not always even meant to cause the amount of pain that they did, but they did nonetheless. His gilted, innocent lover even killed herself over her remorse at having lost his attention and respect over something so temporal and silly. From that moment, for Dorian, each hard and selfish act only lead to more of the same. Disaster continued to follow. Eventually he decided to change and live a life that was pure. After one selfless act of love he expected the portrait to have changed back to one of beauty and when it did not he chose to end his life. Originally I would have rated this book as 1 *. It took me about 80 pages, and a big devotion to go that far, in order to sort of get hooked by the book and its tale. Overall I like what the book says about a life lived not only IN sin but a life that even reveres sinfulness. For that I can finally say I am glad I read it and can understand its long-standing as a classic of literature.
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-02-19 04:39:19.
(Language: English)
The Picture of Dorian Grey is arguably the best work from the ever-quotable Oscar Wilde, this novel is a guide for how to live a life of pure decadence. It is packed with impeccable wit, clever one-liners and an excessive amount of egotistical vanity. The Picture of Dorian Gray is a tale of a youth whose features, year after year, retain the same appearance of innocent beauty while the shame of his abhorrent vices becomes mirrored on the features of his portrait. At the very least, this book will show you the glory and the pitfalls of being the best looking chap around. Im in love with this book I think it’s a book more suited to men, as the views expressed are well… read and see!!
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-09-24 05:18:08.
(Language: English)
I adore Oscar Wilde, and Dorian Gray, his only novel is definitely well-known in the literary world. It's strange that the man who brought us the tittering frolic of The Importance of Being Earnest brings us such an introverted horror of a story, so much like an Edgar Allan Poe creation. The concept is absolutely brilliant. I think that once you've read this book, the ideology behind it will stick with you. The debauchery of humankind, and one's sometimes heinous sense of self-preservation are themes that are still relevant today. Personally, I think Wilde's use of language didn't always gel with the subject matter at hand, and I wonder if the concept could have been better presented in the hands of a different writer. However, Dorian Gray is a masterpiece. It's a classic that just shouldn't be missed.
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A Reader posted a review at 2012-01-13 05:32:55.
(Language: English)
A very well written reflection on the darkest aspects of the elite within Victorian society, embodied in the social corruption and excesses of a young man. In many ways, it parallels Goethe's Faust: There's a pact with the devil to obtain the forbidden, and Lord Henry serves his role as a charismatic, age-appropriate Mephisto and guides Dorian past (what you assume is) the point of redemption. In so few words, the book manages to delve into the souls of its characters to depths that have rarely been recreated in the literary world. Even today, this book is not meant for the squeamish or the morally obtuse: nothing is off limits in it, and you will be appalled.
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-06-18 02:17:55.
(Language: English)
The picture that figures so prominently in Oscar Wilde's novel contradicts not the aesthetic doctrine of art divorced from morality but its more extreme offshoot: that of living life as an expression of making art, free of moral considerations. For it is one thing to insist that "all art is quite useless"--that is, without overt moral value--and another to direct behaviour in the real world towards others according to a creed of misinterpreted Epicureanism, for sensation's sake only. Wilde warned of the necessity for morals in the real world as separate from any idea of morality driving art, even though in his own storied existence he sometimes crossed that boundary. His triumph lay in using an art form, the novel, to moralize, while refuting the idea that art should be driven by moral considerations; he critiqued excess while expounding aesthetics in art. The painting's existence reveals the dangerous consequences of blurring the distinction between art and life by its unflinching reflection of Dorian Gray's moral decay; it frees him to live immorally yet exacts its price in pangs of subordinated conscience. But the picture is supernatural in the Gothic sense, an artistic device created by Wilde to illustrate a moral. As a work of art within an art form, it influences--and is influenced by--Dorian's behaviour, essentially tying together perforce themes of art and life that need not ordinarily be so entwined in real life. Full of ironies and ironic statements, the novel's overall context offers a repudiation of the kind of extreme aestheticism that entails living life by artistic criteria. A big work.
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Christina posted a review at 2010-08-02 08:10:24.
(Language: English)
I wasn't too impressed with this book. Maybe my expectations were too high because I've heard quite a few people tell me how great it is. Some of the observations on human behavior were intriguing and Wilde definitely makes a strong point on vanity, which I appreciated. However, I found the whole plot line with the reality-defying painting to be a bit silly and I don't know that it was the best way for Wilde to make his point. I'm glad I read it but this book is not the great book I was expecting.
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-12-03 09:03:20.
(Language: English)
No other writer has reinvented Narcissus in their work after Oscar Wilde. Methinks, no one else can recreate Narcissus like Oscar Wilde. Not only is there the vanity and tragedy of Narcissus, but also the Faustian flaw to the character of Dorian Gray. The book is less dramatic than Dr Faustus, as there is no Mephistopheles and there is no deed, but there is a painting, a portrait, a masterpiece and alas, also a curse. It turns out to be a curse since Dorian might have indulged in his eternal youth, he saw the deterioration of soul right in her front of eyes. This book is an independent piece of work, its every symbolismism and metaphors are so dynamic, that the perception of the plot is left to the reader's imagination. With every reading of the book, it reveals something new or it will remind you of something that you had long forgotten.
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-07-16 09:18:31.
(Language: English)
I was impressed. Pulling to the last page, I couldn't wait to see what would happen. I don't know if anyone else felt this way, but I came to really hate Lord Henry. I don't know why. More than Dorian though. And not really for any specific reason. It also kept ticking on me about what Oscar Wilde said in the prologue. "Basil Hallward is what I think I am; Lord Henry what the world thinks me; Dorian what I would like to be - in other ages, perhaps." Maybe that's what put the slant on the entire book for me. I don't know. Definitely a good read, definitely worth it; the language he used was so beautiful... But I can't quite say it's a favorite. I'll probably mention it among them, but it's held back for some unknown reason.
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Patrick posted a review at 2012-07-15 06:25:30.
(Language: English)
With reading classics because they are so different to film and cultural interpretations, good study of human temptation. I will also take delight in being as pedantic as Stephan Fry from now on and (given any opportunity) point out that the picture wasn't in the attic but the school room.
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A Reader posted a review at 2011-03-26 12:20:21.
(Language: English)
An interesting read. I feel that the point of view of the narrator is to find meaning in life through art, even though there are cynical statements that art itself is a malady. I believe Oscar Wilde loves to write in paradoxes, which does lend humor and wit. The story started getting interesting when Dorian Grey makes his fatal mistake and soon afterwards the book seemed to have a darker tone. There seems to be almost no hope for repentance and forgiveness as the main characters seem to reject the idea even if they flirted with it at one time. This book revolves around mainly the privileged and "idle" classes of England and their own love of the finer things of life, which is the backdrop of the story with a character looking for beauty in life through beautiful things and exotic experiences.
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-02-23 09:10:14.
(Language: Vietnamese)
my most favorrite book. awesome! Không ngôn từ nào diễn tả được giá trị của cuốn sách này, trừ khi trực tiếp đọc nó. Mình tình cờ phát hiện ra nó trên kệ sách của ba, tò mò mở ra. Mình đọc cuốn sách này mất cả năm, 300 ngày uể oải rồi bỏ bê vì không hiểu được văn phong tiếng anh cổ điển. Sau đó là mua bản dịch tiếng việt nhưng thấy nó làm mất đi giá trị ngôn ngữ, và kinh khủng hơn là dịch có 2/3 cốt truyện. Mình quay trở lại bản gốc đọc từ đầu và càng đọc càng không dứt nổi. Nó huyền bí và lãng mạn, triết lí và tinh tế. Nó quá sâu và mình như bị chìm trong đó. Mình nghĩ nó đã đi được vào hết các khía cạnh của cuộc đời 1 con người, nhất là cái bản ngã trong cái phần “người” đó. Có lẽ mình phải mất hàng giờ để kể ra nội dung vì mình vẫn chưa thật sự hiểu hết được nó khi chỉ mới đọc 1 lần. Nó làm mình sợ không dám đọc lần nữa, và làm mình khi đọc đến đoạn kết thì hiểu rằng vì sao sau mấy trăm năm, cuốn sách vẫn bất hủ.
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