• The Picture of Dorian Gray

  • By: Oscar Wilde
  • Narrated by: Peter Batchelor
  • Length: 7 hrs and 48 mins
  • 4.2 out of 5 stars (1,064 ratings)

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The Picture of Dorian Gray  By  cover art

The Picture of Dorian Gray

By: Oscar Wilde
Narrated by: Peter Batchelor
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Publisher's summary

A young man commits all types of sins, but only his portrait shows the ravages of his life. Oscar Wilde's Faustian classic. Gothic horror at its best.

Public Domain (P)2016 Trout Lake Media
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: LGBTQ+

What listeners say about The Picture of Dorian Gray

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Loved This One!

This book depicts much of what life is like today with the average narcissistic personality type. It's scary how current and ahead of his time the writer, Oscar Wilde was. I enjoyed this book and I'm certain it will be very good reading for others as well. Keep up the great work Audible!

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8 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

As awesome as the classic movie, & then some!

The old gothic movie of the same name has always been one of my favorites...a creepy dark tale that was made from the book with a strange & unique plot. Both the movie & the book are unforgetable classics, & Oscar Wilde is a genius as an author of the macabre.

BB & MM...Jade Dragon

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6 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Way more bearable in audio than in print

It's a classic so... it's as good as a classic ever is. For its era it must have been pretty edgy and dark, and, even in our modern cynical world, it is still kinda dark and surprising. Though I think by now the story "twist" is part of our popular culture so nobody is going to be very shocked.

This book is very difficult to get through in its print form as it has multiple descriptive tangents which drove me crazy, but as an audio, it was much less boring (guess I phased out during the boring bits)...

That all being said, I read this for a research project and, as such, it was one of the more bearable books I had to read. Though I would not read it again, nor would I read anything else by Wilde... I just don't care about wealthy gay men and their trials and tribulations as they screw their way across the city.

The narration is very good - and certainly made the story readable. It's a classic, so there is nothing adult or graphic in it, though there are lots of subtle suggestions of various types of debauchery.

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4 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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Disappointing narration of a classic.

The story as ever is a brilliant classic. Very gripping and entertaining. However the narrator was a poor choice. His character voices are at times hard to hear, nearly all sound the same, and make it hard to tell when a shift of speaker takes place. Read it yourself before listening to it here.

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Oscar Wilde is boring as hell

I will never try to rear or listen to Oscar Wilde again. The prose was annoying and unbelievable, like Gilmore Girls. The chapter that went on and on and on about ancient bedazzled clothing almost made me drive off of a bridge.

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painfully boring

the concept is much greater than the story itself. it felt like 6 hours of rambling and 45 minutes of actual story.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Thrilling and beautifully told.

This was a fantastic classic. It is not fast-paced like modern thrillers but has a beautifully woven plot and keeps the reader enthralled until the end.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Great narration, subpar story

The premise for this story is so interesting. Oscar could have done so much with the character, unfortunately nothing happens in this story. Literature tells us every story should have a lead up, a climax, and then a resolution. There is really no climax in this story though, and the event that Oscar probably considered the climax is so dull, it feels like a continuation of a rather dull story. Most of this story is English people standing around talking about high pretenses, which ultimately mean nothing. The talk is not even proper debate or philosophizing about life, more soapboxing about the so called merits of one's passions. Honestly, read the wiki summary about the plotline, it will save you 8 hours, and leave you with the same "huh, that's an interesting premise" and none of the regret of wasting 8 hours of time.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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What a Wilde read!

I read the book first about a while ago. It was a bit difficult as some parts of the book get very philosophical. I just listened to it again and it got a lot easier.

It was a crazy story. I don’t recall reading anything that’s even close. Dorian Gray is an example that lost his soul and ended up in self-destruction while pursuing vanity/senses/“beauty” endlessly. One sentence stirred me, “He was afraid of death however he was indifferent to life itself”. We should cherish the people and things in our life and actually LIVE our life in a way that’s worthwhile.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great Gothic Classic Literature

Oscar Wilde's only novel, "The Picture of Dorian Gray" is a Gothic character drama in which the protagonist makes a deal with the devil in his heart to keep this physical beauty while a painted portrait of himself absorbs the visual representations of his age and sins. The unfolding of Dorian Gray's corruption and the layers of changes seen in his portrait are done so well. This works as a narrative because it is relatively short, and solidly deserves its status among the ranks of classic literature.

Wilde once said that, "Basil Hallward is what I think I am: Lord Henry is what the world thinks of me: Dorian is what I would like to be--in other ages, perhaps". Basil Hallward is the artist who idolizes Dorian Gray as his muse, and the novel opens with Gray being painted by Hallward in his studio. Lord Henry is a libertarian aristocrat who is a friend of Hallward's that corrupts Gray's perspective with his flippant opinions of the world. Dorian Gray is only about eighteen at the beginning of the novel, but over the course of the narrative he spends years of his life indulging in all sorts of sensual pleasures, demonstrates cruelty towards others, and is indirectly responsible for leading many around him to ruin before he succumbs to fate by his own hand.

When "The Picture of Dorian Gray" was initially published, it was shorter and some of its more risque content was omitted without the author's knowledge. In subsequent editions, Wilde got his risque content printed by expanding other elements of the plot, such as Dorian's backstory and James Vane's revenge subplot, so Dorian's fall and ultimate demise is more prolonged and therefore more palatable to his contemporary readers. I think the additions Wilde made contribute significantly to the story, so I am glad versions we continue to study today have kept these changes intact.

In all honesty, I was slated to read this book in high school but didn't get around to it. I wish I had read it back then, but even more so, I am glad I read it at this point in my life. This is an excellently written piece of literature that deserves to be read and analyzed; it is still very much applicable to modern life and so is very relatable to what people are faced with everyday.

Lord Henry's lines are the best; he is absolutely ridiculous but his tongue-in-cheek digs at society and those around him are so funny. The narrator Peter Batchelor delivers his lines perfectly, and I found myself close to bursting out loud laughing more than once. It seemed like something Bilbo Baggins would appreciate; maybe it's a British humor thing.

Gender relations and Wilde's perspectives on women are NOT very savory here, but I let it slide because the stupid things said about women are perfect for the characters who say them. I do not remember this being so prevalent in Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest", for instance. There are definitely homosexual undertones in this work--which I loved--especially in how everyone loves Dorian for his good looks and every male character prefers homo-social company.

This is a great book, and I am so glad I read it! I seem to be a definite fan of Gothic literature. I also recommend to those interested in English literature, classic literature, 19th-Century literature, moral dramas, British society, and LGBTQ+ representation.

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