“One should absorb the colour of life, but one should never remember its details. Details are always vulgar.”

this book makes me feel a little crazy, and it's one of my favorite classics for a reason. i could read it a million times, and each time i feel the same way i did as the first time i read it. there's just something about it.

i'm a big fan of corrupted characters. especially when they're written well. dorian's descent into madness is perfectly executed. from the beginning he's a little self absorbed, too into himself, so it makes sense when he starts to spiral and become completely and utterly obsessed with his image, so much so, that he'll destroy others just to keep his own intact. the painting representing his soul and true horrific self is such a great detail. it's a shame that this is wilde's only novel, as it's written so well.

aside from dorian's corruption, there is basil and dorian's relationship. i love the idea of being destroyed by what you love, or in this case, killed. they're just written phenomenally. there are multiple instances in the novel when dorian is away from basil, and will make offhand comments regarding him, almost as if he loved him & was thinking about him often. dorian truly shows how far he descended into madness towards the end, having felt completely betrayed and ruined by basil, when it was all himself. something can be said about the way he pinned all of his suffering onto basil; his rage and anger and self loathing for basil essentially having created his "true" self, and dorian couldn't bear to see it, nor live with it.

obviously i feel completely normal about this novel, and couldn't ramble about it for hours. but seriously. this is a great beginner classic. i wouldn't say it should be THE first one you read, but if you've read a couple and can understand the language & formatting, then it should be cake.