The Picture of Dorian Gray: Classic Tales Edition

Written by Oscar Wilde

Narrated by B.J.Harrison

Dorian Gray embodies every artistic element for artist, Basil Hallward. But when Lord Henry reveals the phenomenal world experienced only to the young and beautiful, Dorian makes a devious deal.

Thus begins Dorian Gray's extensive journey into dissipation, while somehow maintaining every element of his youth and innocence. What is his secret? And why does he keep Basil Hallward's painting hidden from prying eyes?

• Language: English
• Publisher: B.J. Harrison Audio
• Release date: Feb 12, 2014
• ISBN: 9781937091989

Oscar Wilde

OSCAR WILDE (Dublín, 1854–París, 1900), poeta y dramaturgo irlandés, es considerado uno de los más célebres escritores en lengua inglesa de todos los tiempos, tanto por su provocadora personalidad como por su obra. Escribió relatos y novelas, como El retrato de Dorian Gray, poemas como el desgarrador La balada de la cárcel de Reading, y fue enormemente popular en el Londres victoriano por su exitosa producción teatral, como La importancia de llamarse Ernesto, y por su ingenio mordaz y brillante conversación.

Reviews for The Picture of Dorian Gray

[curlupandread · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I was really surprised by this book. It was better than I thought it would be I really enjoyed it.

[kemilyh1988 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

People get older and lose their looks. Don't whine about it. Moral of the story.

[maryzee_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Waited a long time to read this book. Glad I did.

[nikg83 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A brilliantly written novel enclosing important life lessons. A bit dragged out towards the end though.

[beezle176 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

exellent timeless classic...!

[lcrouch_9 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A fascinating study of beauty gone evil.

[bcrowl399 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I think Oscar Wilde was a genius, but some of his passages were too weighty for me.

[ukforever · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A fantastic plot buried under too many words (mostly coming from the mouth of Lord Henry). It would have made a gripping and terrifying novella or short story. To alter an accusation from Dorian and turn it back on Wilde, "You would sacrifice any reader, Oscar, for the sake of an epigram."

[themythbookshelf · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

There's something in nineteenth-century British literature that I am drawn to—there is a certain musicality or lyricism to it that I love, despite its inspirations often being delusional, fantastical and at times even fetishistic. So it is of little surprise that I found The Picture of Dorian Gray a sweeping read, and one that I had little dissatisfactions with, stylistically.When painter Basil Hallward first sets his eyes upon Dorian Gray, he is a young, captivating soul of speechless beauty. Combined with his social standing, his allure sets his name aflame across countless of social spheres within England. The story begins when Basil makes Dorian his muse, and asks him to sit for a portrait that, little do they both know, will become much more than the painter's magnum opus. Lord Henry, a wealthy friend of Basil, quickly enters the scene, instilling in the Adonis a roaring, dizzying passion for life: “the few words that Basil’s friend had said to him…had touched some secret chord that had never been touched before, but that he felt now was vibrating and throbbing to curious pulses” (21). It is the whimsical, at times paradoxical musings of Lord Henry that transform Dorian Gray, whose adoration for his own portrait become the root of the story’s unfoldment.This was my first proper exposure to Wilde’s work, and it surely was a pleasant experience. I do not know the reason as to why this was his only novel, but it certainly encapsulates his interest in the Aesthetic Movement (“Art for Art’s Sake”). Filled with a rather spiritualistic love for art, humor, and thrill it makes for a lovely (and easy) read, though it lacks the depth, the grittiness, that I was looking for. But this may very well be as a consequence of its loyalty to the values of Wilde’s movement, where art existed free of social, moral and even logical obligations. This novel lacks substance or a core, but ultimately our own conclusions, our own thoughts emerge out of it to appease our own sense of what good literature should be.

[angelag86 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I was kind of underwhelmed by this one. Some interesting ideas were brought up, but the story itself wasn't as riveting as I thought it would be.

[miss_scarlet_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A good book and a pretty easy read. Started out slow and wasn't quite what I expected. I expected a more grisly portrayal and the book was somewhat subtle. It may in fact be a good thing. The ending definitely made up for the dull moments in the story.

[brown9trout · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book is amazing. I had a hard time picking my favorite quotes because in every page I would find long sentences, numerous expressions, whole paragraphs to underline or highlight! My copy already looks like a coloring book.I loved seeing the Dorian Gray go down and decompose. It was fascinating to me.Oscar Wilde is, of course, the master of epigrams. Some of them I had to read three and four times to understand.

[crazymamie · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

"When one is in love, one always begins by deceiving one's self, and one always ends by deceiving others. That is what the world calls a romance.” This book has become a classic of gothic fiction, though it might not be the first or even the tenth novel to come to mind when thinking of the gothic style. Still, it fits, and I am surprised that it has taken me so long to get to it. It's good, and the story itself, I would even argue, is great - it suffers in the delivery. It's too long. Wilde really takes his time winding up the story and setting into place the plot device, which we know is going to be the portrait - I mean, it's right there in the title. Too much conversation that is not needed to move the story forward - the angst, the ennui, the rumination...WE GET IT. I would have set this one aside had I not really wanted to know the entire story. And I would have missed something great - once we get to the picture of Dorian Gray actually becoming relevant, the story takes off. That is, it takes off until chapter eleven where we come to a dead halt while we learn about how Dorian becomes obsessed with collecting one thing after another. Right. Obsession. Greed. Narcissism. Just say that, already. Almost twenty pages later, we are released from the eye-roll worthy cataloging of hobbies and interests. And again the story takes off and does not disappoint all the way to the end. So, this could be truly fabulous if only it had been edited to be tighter, more concise. And this is where I mention that I noticed that Audible has an abridged audiobook of this narrated by Stephen Fry. I never do abridged, and I always wonder why they would make an abridged version of anything - either read it or don't, but let's not desecrate it. However, now I get it. SO, if you do audio, I would recommend going that route because Stephen Fry and less book. If you opt to read the print version, just know that it is a slow starter and that chapter eleven runs away with itself, but the story is worth hanging in there through all of that. And my copy was the Penguin Deluxe Edition, which has deckled edge pages, so there was that.

[tadad_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Lush and sensual language, an extremely delicious (and malicious) wit, characters so well-drawn I could feel distaste and pity creeping over me—I wish Wilde had written more than one novel.

[kirmuriel-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Beauty and youth can become a deadly trap

[inky500 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Q. What's Dorian's least favourite spice?A. Basil. * ba-dum cha* Seriously though, it's an amazing novel. The world just needs to stop doing adaptations and focusing on queer culture IMO.