To influence a person is to give him one's own soul. 
 It's times like these when I'm glad that I rate books apples-to-apples. If the exact same characters from The Picture of Dorian Gray had shown up in a modern day book, I might have considered pulling a DNF. But I am glad that I stuck with it because now I have no more excuses to put off making a beautiful-word-porn shelf. 
 I was surprised to find quotes in here that I'd seen many times before, but had never attached to a specific work. I was surprised to find so many passages worth marking. 
 "They say that when good Americans die they go to Paris," chuckled Sir Thomas. 
 "Really! And where do bad Americans go to when they die?" inquired the Duchess. 
 "They go to America." 
 Dorian was a douche. He was a crybaby douche who was easily pushed around. I hated his character, and hated his PoV. 
 The reason why I liked the story is that it explored the notion of discounting what's expected of you and doing what you'd rather do instead. 
 While I am not a fan of the general concept of putting oneself above all else, some of the points made actually resonated with me, even when coming from a man who had absolutely no moral fiber. Am I perhaps a little twisted myself? 
 "Nowadays most people die of a sort of creeping common sense, and discover when it is too late that the only things one never regrets are one's mistakes." 
 I get that. 
 Dorian Gray was : twisted, dark, sometimes witty, and often deplorable. 
 I get that. 
 Dorian Gray was also : annoying as hell. 
 I get the reason for that. But I still didn't like the characters. 
 In the end, the word porn salvaged my opinion. I actually expected something more depraved, since I'd seen the movie first. This was surprisingly less shocking than I'd anticipated. I'll give Wilde credit for being a pioneer of his day though.