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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Ethan Frome - Edith Wharton

Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton
Genre: Fiction

Blurb (on back of book): A marked departure from Edith Wharton's usual ironic contemplation of the fashionable New York society to which she herself belonged, Ethan Frome is a sharply etched portrait of the simple inhabitants of a nineteenth-century New England village. The protagonist, Ethan Frome, is a man tormented by passionate love for his ailing wife's young cousin. trapped by the bonds of marriage and the fear of public condemnation, he is ultimately destroyed by that which offers him the greatest chance at happiness.
Like The House of Mirth and many of Edith Wharton's other novels, Ethan Frome centers on the power of local convention to smother the growth of the individual. Written with stark simplicity, this powerful and tragic novel has long been considered one of Wharton's greatest works.

MY OPINION: ***

To be quite honest, I didn't really understand the point of this book. The man cheats on his sickly wife with her prettier relative and spends the entire book thinking about how he wants her more than he ever wanted his wife. And this was written by a woman??

I don't like to ever justify cheating, even if it's in a classic novel and even if there was a reason. It just doesn't sit well with me. While I wasn't immediately drawn to rating this one star because of the cheating, I did know this was never going to be a five star read. 

I don't know. I just don't think this book was for me. We follow the life of a very depressed man whose experienced lots of tragedies. He feels basically no love for his hypochondriac wife and is instead drawn to her cousin(?) Mattie. The entire book follows their tragic love story as you start to hope for him that he will find happiness (even if it is at the expense of his wife...) and then boom. Tragedy hits. I won't spoil but like it's well known that this is a depressing book so clearly something sad happens. 

However, to be quite honest, I wasn't really that depressed reading this book. The ending was a little laughable if anything. It was very unrealistic and was trying to give Romeo and Juliet energy but instead was giving soap opera. I'm sorry but I was not about to start crying. Also, I feel like there were ways it could have been even sadder but Wharton just decided not to go that path, I guess...

This book is incredibly short. I listened to it on audiobook so I'm not 100% sure how long it was in terms of pages but it took me one day to finish it on my walk to school and back. I'm loving these shorter classics that still manage to tell at least a somewhat interesting story, especially when they are available for free on audiobook. I've been meaning to read this one for a while (ever since AP Lit last year) and I'm glad I finally got around to it. While it wasn't fully what I was expecting, I still found interest in it and would not mind reading another such novella/novel from Wharton!

I'd recommend this book to readers looking for a short, sad romance classic. 

Main Character: Ethan
Sidekick(s): Mattie, etc
Villain(s): Cheating, desire, etc
Fiction Elements: This book was a fictional story. 

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