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...
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Love, Rosie - Cecilia Ahern

Love, Rosie by Cecilia Ahern
Genre: Realistic Fiction

Blurb (on back of book): Sometimes you have to look at life in a whole new way...
From the bestselling author of PS, I Love You comes a delightfully enchanting novel about what happens when two people who are meant to be together just can't seem to get it right.
Rosie and Alex are destined for one another, and everyone seems to know it but them. Best friends since childhood, their relationship gets closer by the day, until Alex gets the news that his family is leaving Dublin and moving to Boston. At 17, Rosie and Alex have just started to see each other in a more romantic light. Devastated, the two make plans for Rosie to apply to colleges in the U.S. 
Love, Rosie: Ahern, Cecelia: 9780786891085: Amazon.com: Books

She gets into Boston University, Alex gets into Harvard, and everything is falling into place, when on the eve of her departure, Rosie gets news that will change their lives forever: She's pregnant by a boy she'd gone out with while on the rebound from Alex. 
Her dreams for college, Alex, and a glamorous career dashed, Rosie stays in Dublin to become a single mother, while Alex pursues a medical career and a new love in Boston. But destiny is a funny thing, and in this novel, structured as a series of clever e-mails, letters, notes, and a trail of missed opportunities, Alex and Rosie find out that fate isn't done with them yet.

MY OPINION: ***
Summer Reading Challenge 2020 #1: A book published the year you were born

I'm going to attempt to finish my summer reading challenge this year, unlike last year's failure. The problem for me is that I keep reading books that I didn't add to the original list so I never get around to those. Pray for me.

ANYWAYS

I'm going to start out by saying that I absolutely LOVE this movie. I watched it before I ever knew there was a book and adore it. Lily Collins and Sam Claflin are the perfect Rosie and Alex!

I found this book surprising. I did not realize that it was told in email, messaging, letter format! I thought it was just going to start out like that for a bit but then progress into the usual storytelling format of fiction. I've read a fair amount of books in this format, however, and I got used to it after a while.

My biggest problem with this book was the pacing. It went so slowly and seemed to drag on and on, though at the same time, we were moving years at a time in a matter of pages. The first 100 pages or so were the most interesting for me, personally, because it showcased Rosie and Alex's childhood and teenage years. The next 200 pages or so were painfully boring and didn't really need to be in there. The last 100 ish pages sped up a bit but were still dry and monotonous, especially since we all knew how it was going to end. 

I loved Alex and Rosie's relationship. I wish I had a friendship like theirs that lasted their entire lives. They met in Kindergarten and became fast friends all through their childhood and teenage years. Then Alex moves to Boston to go to Harvard University, leaving Rosie behind. She planned to move there with him but finds herself pregnant at eighteen by someone both she and Alex have always despised. Her entire life is derailed and the only constant is her friendship with Alex.

SPOILER Rosie never makes it to Boston, which I thought was a bummer. END SPOILER

They remain best friends through each other's marriages, divorces, children, career opportunities, lost jobs, etc. They have a few arguments, one of which results in them not speaking for a YEAR but always find their way back to each other. However, both of them have a little feeling in the back of their minds that they may not be just friends but choose to ignore it for half their lives.

SPOILER It takes them a full 50 years to finally admit to each other that they love each other! I would feel so depressed with my life if I wasted that much time avoiding something that was always there just because I was too afraid to say something. END SPOILER

I just wish that this book was shorter and told over a shorter time period like it was in the movie! I honestly liked the movie better than the book, mainly because of how much they cut out to make it into a cute, simple story like it should have been in the book. 

I LOVED Katie and Toby and found myself rooting for them way more than for Rosie and Alex because at some point, I got bored of Alex and Rosie's dancing around each other.

SPOILER I WISH WE HAD GOTTEN A BETTER ENDING. There, I said it. There was nothing! A SMILE?? No kiss? No marriage? No declarations of love??? END SPOILER

I would recommend this book to readers looking for a romance novel about what happens when life keeps getting in the way. 

Main Character: Rosie, Alex
Sidekick(s): Ruby, Katie, Toby, Josh, Stephanie, etc
Villain(s): Life, misunderstandings, etc
Realistic Fiction Elements: This book was all very real to life.

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