Love anything from Great Illustrated Classics series. ( )

A great classic, I believe. It was as much an accurate social critique when it was published as it is now. I was sad, though, that Dorian never learned his lesson. ( )

Regrettably, this review is for the "Great Illustrated Classics" edition of the story. By "regrettably" I mean that I'm pretty sure this book fails to deliver even an iota of the essence that made this book a classic, as it has been re-written, but this is the version that I had on hand and I honestly didn't realize there would be so much of a difference.

From this edition I did get the basic gist of the story. Even told bare bones as it is without Wilde's own personal touch it is easy to see it is probably a pretty horrifying tale. Dorian Gray, innocent and beautiful agrees to sit for his portrait to be painted by a close friend. The painter introduces him to Lord Henry, who whether by plan or in ignorance, plants the seeds of ego and self-gratification in young Dorian. Dorian for his part wishes that instead of growing old himself, that the portrait would take on his age and sins. This is a classic tale of how getting what you wish for isn't always the best thing.

Since I have never actually read anything by Oscar Wilde I think I will have to pick up a copy from the library. I'd like to get a better sense of how the tale was really meant to sound, although melodrama and horror aren't my usual preference and I’ll probably limit my reading to skimming. ( )