Book Review: If only he hadn't spent so much time talking and enjoying life, think how many novels Wilde might have written! The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde's only novel, is a brilliant book of ideas, as if you're at a party with some of the sharpest wits around. Not as scandalous today as it was when written (tho it helped ruin Wilde's life). Most of Dorian's sins are only alluded to, tho they're easily inferred; he is evil or cruel at worst, and unkind or careless at best. Either way he is always beautiful and mostly charming. The book is saturated with Oscar Wilde, you always know who you're reading. His wonderful witticisms are all over The Picture of Dorian Gray, and at one time or another almost every character speaks like Oscar Wilde (or is given at least one of his delicious lines). Can I say scintillating? I do. Far be it from me to second-guess Wilde, but I wish Sibyl Vane's role could have been more developed. I wonder with which of the characters Wilde most identified? Lord Henry sounds most like Wilde with his epigrams and wit, but he mostly watches from afar (like a writer?). The painter Hallward seems most unlike Wilde, but he is an artist, is passionate, and adores the beautiful Dorian. But finally, maybe Wilde saw himself as, or at least hoped that he might be, the title character. No shrinking violet that Oscar, he's all of them. [5 Stars]
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