After moving to London, Dorian Gray befriends an artist named Basil Hallward who paints him a portrait. After living with the painting, Dorian soon agonizes over the fact that he will be aging while the painting of himself will stay youthful forever. Dorian will go to great lengths to prevent himself from becoming a different man than the one in the painting.
This was truly a magical read. I had heard about what an amazing writer Oscar Wilde was, but I had never read one of his works before. Let me just say that his writing is some of the best I have encountered in my life. Each sentence was beautifully crafted, and seemed like it could tell a story on its own. Something I loved was how Wilde dealt with building each character. He left certain aspects about them open ended, so the reader would have to decipher the meaning on their own. I especially liked this since each of the characters were morally grey in their own ways, and Wilde left it up to the reader to decide how they wanted to interpret their thoughts and actions. The only reason I am giving this 4 and not 5 stars is because the middle section of the book was a little bit slow compared to the beginning and the end, but nothing that would deter me from reading it or recommending it to others. If you are looking to get into classics, or just want a good read that deals with a wide range of deep subjects, definitely check out The Picture of Dorian Gray.