Sometimes I am sorry that I didn’t read some books when I was younger, a child or a teenager maybe. Those times would have been perfect for some of the books I read right now.
I recently finished The picture of Dorian Gray, written by Oscar Wilde and I liked the book, but didn’t love it. Were I a teenager at this very moment, I would have fallen in love with it, but as I’m 26 I wasn’t too impressed.
I loved the dialogues from the novel and felt that Wilde is extremely good at it. Just afterwards I found out that this was his only novel, and that he wrote more plays, not prose.
I found Wilde in his characters, mostly in Lord Henry. Next, I read the following on goodreads.com:
Of Dorian Gray’s relationship to autobiography, Wilde noted in a letter, “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.”
So that, as a conclusion, I am like the entire contemporary „world” of Wilde’s that had a certain opinion about himself, sign that some things never end!
At a certain moment, in the book, one of the characters spoke about death, the fear of it and the thoughts about it. And, behind the character’s voice, was truly and entirely Wilde, and it’s sad to think of it now, when Oscar Wilde is dead. It kept reminding me that we all, at a certain level or another, have this fear and that, after all, the end is unavoidable. Unfortunately. 😦
Another feeling I had while reading this book is that of expecting the unexpected: I waited for a climax, for something extraordinary!!! I turned the last pages of the book reading them in a very big hurry, curious about what was going to happen, but nothing reached my high expectations. I blame myself for that, too, beacuse I had an idea about the book inside my head and I waited for something heartbreaking or very curious to take place.
All in all, I recommend the book to teenagers. That’s the perfect age for it. 🙂
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