The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde - UPDATED REVIEW

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde  Genre : Classics Blurb (on back of book) : Oscar Wilde’s only novel is the dreamlike story of a young man who sells his soul for eternal youth and beauty. In this celebrated work Wilde forged a devastating portrait of the effects of evil and debauchery on a young aesthete in late-19th-century England. Combining elements of the Gothic horror novel and decadent French fiction, the book centers on a striking premise: As Dorian Gray sinks into a life of crime and gross sensuality, his body retains perfect youth and vigor while his recently painted portrait grows day by day into a hideous record of evil, which he must keep hidden from the world. For over a century, this mesmerizing tale of horror and suspense has enjoyed wide popularity. It ranks as one of Wilde's most important creations and among the classic achievements of its kind. UPDATED REVIEW MY OPINION : ****** I would like to start out this review by stating that this is undoubtedly m

This Raging Light - Estelle Laure

This Raging Light by Estelle Laure
Genre: YA Realistic Fiction

Image result for this raging lightBlurb (on back of book): Can the best thing happen at the worst time?
Her dad went crazy. Her mom left town. She has bills to pay and a little sister to look after. Now is not the time for level-headed seventeen-year-old Lucille to fall in love. But love—messy, inconvenient love—is what she's about to experience when she falls for Digby Jones, her best friend's brother.

MY OPINION: **

I'M SO SAD BECAUSE I WAS SO EXCITED
And now I'm so disappointed

The entire premise of this book interested me. A teenage girl working to support her little sister after both of her parents abandoned her for their own reasons and in love with her best friend's twin brother. Wow, it had SO much going for it.

I'm going to break down what I liked and what I didn't like so that I can justify my opinion. I would like to start out by saying that there were parts that I really enjoyed but overall, it wasn't my cup of tea.

LIKES:
-I loved the realistic way that this book portrayed Lucille. Her mom completely abandons her to fend for herself and her sister after her dad "goes insane" as stated in the book. It's told over the span of days since her mom left and we get to see how she matures and learns from the beginning to the end. I love how accurate the struggles were portrayed and things weren't sugarcoated.

-I loved the simplicity of the writing. Although that generally isn't my favorite writing style, I think it really worked for this book and its story because it got the point across without elaborating on every little detail too much. I also loved how I could get through it faster (not that I necessarily wanted to but I've been scrambling to finish books after finals week).

-I liked the characters. All of them had different personalities and I felt like I could relate or understand most of them. I loved how they developed and matured throughout the story and it was a fairly obvious change that I could definitely sense happening.


DISLIKES:
-Well, my MAJOR dislike was CHEATING. I do not condone cheating. Now, I have never cheated/been cheated on in my short life, but from where I am now in my teenage brain, I believe that it's morally wrong. I could never do that to somebody because of the guilt and shame that I know I would feel afterward. AT LEAST BREAK UP WITH YOUR GIRLFRIEND FIRST. I get that Digby was confused about his feelings for his girlfriend, Elaine, and Lucille, but seriously, do we need a makeout session every time they see each other while he STILL HAS A GIRLFRIEND who he apparently has LONG TERM PLANS with and is already considering MARRYING?

Best friend's twin or not, Lucille should have known that it was wrong. I understand that she was in love with him but that doesn't mean that cheating is all right.

-Speaking of "love" I never felt the chemistry between Lucille and Digby and did NOT ship them at all. As their relationship is a large part of the story because it's what's keeping Lucille going through the dark times of her life, I would expect more relationship building. If I, always-reading-romance-reader, didn't ship these two, there is seriously something wrong. Thank God there was no love triangle.

-It went SO fast. There were so many times when I wish it had slowed down and gave readers time to absorb and adjust to all of the new material. The pacing felt off to me. At times it skipped 284081349 days and at others, we saw every single day. I wish it had been more steady, but maybe that's just me.

-The ENDING. It was SO unsatisfying. I definitely needed more closure, more details, and more tying up of loose ends. Like, what happened to Eden, Elaine, Digby, Wren, and Lucille? Did the parents ever come back? Do Lucille and Digby get their happy ending (It seems like they do by the last TWO PARAGRAPHS but I mean, we needed more than that!)

Overall, this book wasn't for me. However, I didn't hate it and I loved specific parts of it. I would recommend it to readers looking for a shorter young adult contemporary novel.

It seems that there's a sequel/spinoff of some sort and I'll try it out (maybe) and hope it's better!

Main Character: Lucille
Sidekick(s): Digby, Eden, Wren, etc
Villain(s): Abandoning, living alone, cheating, etc
Realistic Fiction Elements: This book was all very real to life.

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