Title: The Picture of Dorian GrayAuthor: Oscar Wilde
Original title: The Picture of Dorian Gray
Genre: Classic
Series: --
Publisher: Penguin Books
Format: Paperback
Pages: 256
Finished: 7/2/17
Summary: Upon seeing his own striking portrait Dorian Gray is bewitched and offers his soul if only the painting will age while he remains eternally youthful. Believing himself incorruptible, Dorian indulges in a life of pleasure and excess. But what has become of the portrait?
My thoughts: I never expected this novel to be as mind bending and mind blowing and mind boggling as it turned out to be. This is a book which, unlike many other classics I've read before, lives up to it's reputation, and with good margin. Sure, I was bothered by the blatant sexism often spoken by Lord Henry as well as the rather weak minded female minor characters (with few exceptions), however I've realised that sexism is an unavoidable theme in all classic novels written by men. So when I learnt to look past that, I found that this story is a treasure in many, many ways.
The characters are, if a bit over the top and dramatic, were believable and rather well developed. Especially the character development of Dorian Gray himself impressed and astounded me in its simplistic yet shocking probability. The character of Lord Henry was also one that I was charmed by in the end, despite his comments about the female sex. The amount of quotes that man produced in a little over 200 pages is remarkable, even more impressing is the author of the book himself, Oscar Wilde. Speaking of the gay and flamboyant Mr Wilde, there were indeed a lot of hints to gay intimate relationships throughout the whole novel. That made me happy while reading it.
The plot line itself is a wee bit on the slow side in the beginning of the novel, however I was rarely bored while reading. The only chapter I had problems with, and I'll warn you now; there might be a small spoiler here so watch out, was freaking chapter 11, which was about 20 pages long in this edition and dragged on for forever. All it did, in the end, was list different types of rocks and gems, types of music, embroideries, odours and fashion. Sure, I saw some point in it, but I feel like that chapter was meant to be a way for the author to show off his researching skills to the public as it didn't really add anything to the story but a lack of pace and intrigue.
I'll admit that it was all worth it in the end, though. The ending was the best it possibly could've been and I might have been a little bit heartbroken and I might have shed some tears, but it was okay because The Picture of Dorian Gray was worth my sorrow. Honestly, the only thing keeping me from rating the book 5/5 stars is the sexism and chapter 11. The rest of it was just pure amazingness (yes, that's a word now).
Rating: 4,5/5
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Title: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Original ScreenplayAuthor: J.K. Rowling
Original title: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Original Screenplay
Genre: Fantasy, Historical
Series: Fantastic Beasts #1
Publisher: Little, Brown
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 282
Finished: 15/2/17
Summary: When Magizoologist Newt Scamander arrives in New York, he intends his stay to be just a brief stopover. However, when his magical case is misplaced and some of Newt's fantastic beasts escape, it spells trouble for everyone…
My thoughts: I thoroughly enjoyed this, however I will keep this review short. I saw the movie a few weeks back at the cinema, and reading the screenplay was of course just like watching the movie all over again. This is one of those rare cases where the movie is equal to the book, and both are good. Really good. This was a quick read, filled with action, witty dialogues, magic vibes, good characters and excitement. Most of all, I can't wait for a continuation. So if you saw the movie and liked it, I strongly recommend that you give the novel a chance as well. And of course the cover is beautiful.
Rating: 5/5
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Title: Flickan med gåvorna (The Girl With the Gifts)Author: M.R. Carey
Original title: The Girl With All the Gifts
Genre: Dystopian, Adult
Series: --
Publisher: Ordfont
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 391
Finished: 19/2/17
Summary: Melanie is a very special girl. Dr. Caldwell calls her "our little genius."
Every morning, Melanie waits in her cell to be collected for class. When they come for her, Sergeant Parks keeps his gun pointing at her while two of his people strap her into the wheelchair. She thinks they don't like her. She jokes that she won't bite, but they don't laugh.
My thoughts: I read this for Swedish class with a small group of my chill classmates. I kid you not, this is probably the only dystopian novel I've ever legit enjoyed. More than that, it's the best dystopian novel I've ever read. I'm not at all a big fan of dystopian novels in general; I think the concept is limited and honestly quite depressing and boring. However this book was different somehow. Maybe because of the zombie theme. I mean, zombies are awesome. I also liked that the perspective was split between five, on different levels, major characters as we moved through the story. The characters themselves were very well developed and described, and their personalities didn't mix and sort of blend together; something that often happens with characters in YA novels.
The story was fast paced and incredibly thrilling. Not one boring chapter passed me by during the entire read. This was indeed a real page-turner. The only slight problem I had with the book was the awkward sexual tension between some of the characters. It kind of worked itself out in the end, but I was highly uncomfortable with it at certain points in the story. I also felt like part of the story was never fully completetd (spoiler alert, it was never explained what happened to vildarna). Those are the only things keeping the final rating from five full stars. But! It's still very much worth the read.
I will not watch the movie :(
Rating: 4,5/5
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