Book Review: The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

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Title: The Picture of Dorian Gray
Author: Oscar Wilde
Released: June 01st, 1890 (Paperback)
Trigger Warnings: Ableism, animal death (hunting scene), antisemitism, blood, death, drugs, fatphobia, misogyny, murder, racism, sexism, suicide
Rating: ★★★★★
Why Haven’t I Read This Before: I hadn’t heard of this until I was a younger adult, truthfully, but it was mostly in passing. I’ve heard of Oscar Wilde but now that I could, I wanted to check this out!

Description: Written in his distinctively dazzling manner, Oscar Wilde’s story of a fashionable young man who sells his soul for eternal youth and beauty is the author’s most popular work. The tale of Dorian Gray’s moral disintegration caused a scandal when it first appeared in 1890, but though Wilde was attacked for the novel’s corrupting influence, he responded that there is, in fact, “a terrible moral in Dorian Gray“. Just a few years later, the book and the aesthetic/moral dilemma it presented became issues in the trials occasioned by Wilde’s homosexual liaisons, which resulted in his imprisonment. Of Dorian Gray’s relationship to autobiography, Wilde noted in a letter, “Basil Hallward is what I think I am: Lord Henry what the world thinks of me: Dorian what I would like to be — in other ages, perhaps”.

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Please keep in mind that this review contains spoilers for the entire book. Read with caution. If you click on “Read More”, it is under the assumption you either don’t care about spoilers or you’ve already read the book.

Book Review: The Boatman’s Daughter by Andy Davidson

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Title: The Boatman’s Daughter
Author: Andy Davidson
Released: February 11th, 2020 (Paperback)
Series: N/A
Trigger Warnings: Violence against women, self-harm, assault, sexual assault, blood, and gore
Rating: ★★★★★

Description: Ever since her father was killed when she was just a child, Miranda Crabtree has kept her head down and her eyes up, ferrying contraband for a mad preacher and his declining band of followers to make ends meet and to protect an old witch and a secret child from harm.

But dark forces are at work in the bayou. And when the preacher makes an unthinkable demand, it sets Miranda on a desperate, dangerous path, forcing her to consider what she is willing to sacrifice to keep her loved ones safe.

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Please keep in mind this review contains spoilers for the entire book. Read with caution. If you click on the “Read More”, it is under the assumption you either don’t care about spoilers or you’ve already read the book!

Book Review: Luck of the Titanic by Stacey Lee

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Title: Luck of the Titanic
Author: Stacey Lee
Released: May 04th, 2021 (Hardcover)
Series: N/A
Trigger Warnings: Discussions of alcoholism, racism, misogyny, xenophobia
Rating: ★★★★☆

Description: Valora Luck has two things: a ticket for the biggest and most luxurious ocean liner in the world, and a dream of leaving England behind and making a life for herself as a circus performer in New York. Much to her surprise, though, she’s turned away at the gangway; apparently, Chinese people aren’t allowed into America.

But Val has to get on that ship. Her twin brother, Jamie, who has spent two long years at sea, is on board, as is an influential circus owner. Thankfully, there’s not much a trained acrobat like Val can’t overcome when she puts her mind to it.

As a stowaway, Val should keep her head down and stay out of sight. But the clock is ticking and she has just seven days as the ship makes its way across the Atlantic to find Jamie, audition for the circus owner, and convince him to help get them both into America.

Then one night, the unthinkable happens, and suddenly, Val’s dreams of a new life are crushed under the weight of the only thing that matters: survival.

Book Review: Circe by Madeline Miller

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Title: Circe
Author: Madeline Miller
Released: April 10, 2018 (Hardcover)
Series: N/A
Trigger Warnings: Body horror, childbirth (with complications), rape, torture
Rating: ★★★★★

Description: In the house of Helios, god of the sun and mightiest of the Titans, a daughter is born. But Circe is a strange child – not powerful, like her father, nor viciously alluring like her mother. Turning to the world of mortals for companionship, she discovers that she does possess power – the power of witchcraft, which can transform rivals into monsters and menace the gods themselves.

Threatened, Zeus banishes her to a deserted island, where she hones her occult craft, tames wild beasts and crosses paths with many of the most famous figures in all of mythology, including the Minotaur, Daedalus, and his doomed son Icarus, the murderous Medea, and, of course, wily Odysseus.

But there is danger, too, for a woman who stands alone, and Circe unwittingly draws the wrath of both men and gods, ultimately finding herself pitted against one of the most terrifying and vengeful of the Olympians. To protect what she loves most, Circe must summon all her strength and choose, once and for all, whether she belongs with the gods she is born from, or the mortals she has come to love.

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Please keep in mind that this review contains spoilers for the entire book. Read with caution. If you click on “Read More”, it is under the assumption you either don’t care about spoilers or you’ve already read the book.