My Favorite Book

     Today's in-class assignment is asking us to write about our favorite book. Well, I honestly don't have a favorite book, but if I were to choose one at the moment, I'd probably choose The Picture of Dorian Gray  by Oscar Wilde. The book's setting is held in a serious time, and has this eerie feeling throughout the storyline. A friend of mine, Lauren, let me borrow the book, and I read the first hundred pages in one night.
     The opening scene of the book starts with an old painter painting a portrait of Dorian Gray,  wealthy, good-looking, young man. Dorian Gray is a gentle, kind soul, but something changes in him after he sees the finishing painting of himself. He gets angry and curses the world and time. He is envious of his portrait because as he grows older and less attractive, the painting stays the same.
     As Dorian Gray's life goes on, he becomes more and more bitter. His personality changes because he realizes that his good-looks are only temporary. He has teken the idea of hedonism quite seriously, and bases his life on the idea throughout the rest of the book. Part of this pleasure, Dorian Gray finds a love, Sybil Vane, who is a wonderful actress, but poor. Dorian Gray adores Sybil, and is prompted to marry her. They would frequently meet in secrecy and use code names for each other. Dorian Gray also loves Sybil for her acting; she can perform Shakespeare perfectly. After going to a show where Sybil's acting was less than impressive, however, Dorian Gray falls out of love. Sybil's reaction was suicide.
     The more immoral things Dorian Gray performs, the more it reflects on his portrait. His face in real life stays perfect and angelic, while his paining slowly rots. Surprisingly, this is where the fiction comes in. The portrait reflects Dorian Gray's soul. The more evil Dorian Gray becomes, the more the portrait will change. The portrait progressively begins to look more and more execrable and sinister-like. I don't want to spoil anything more (although I've already spoiled enough), so I'll stop there.
     The book kept me coming back for more. I couldn't take my eyes off the words for one second before burying my nose back into the pages of such a glorious piece of work. Oscar Wilde's novel was widely controversial during the time he wrote and published it. According to the preface of the book, many people looked at the book as an omen, a curse toward people: the devil's work. Others, however, found Wilde a literary genius. The Picture of Dorian Gray is a book worth reading. It's not like most books, and that is probably the reason I enjoyed it as much as I did.

The cover of the copy I read (Barns & Noble)