Review: Selected Stories by Oscar Wilde

Selected Stories by Oscar Wilde by Oscar Wilde
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Oscar Wilde is the most quotable author I have read. Within this collection of 11 stories, there are phrases and sentences that can easily be pulled out and be held up as model examples of humor and witticism. Wilde has a sense of dry satire to the way he writes everything. The humor is not "laugh out loud" funny, it will rather keep you smiling wryly and subtly as it infects every part of the stories themselves.

The stories are powerful. Their plots are thin, but the descriptions and insights they provide are really deep. They have a fable-like narrative style, which contrasts the vividness and humor of the minute descriptions. It makes for enjoyable prose, if a little long-winded. It's not effortless reading, but it's genuinely engaging if you're into it. To me? The style was a mix of freshness and nostalgia. That meant it was pleasant and I read it all in one go.

There aren't many page turners here, but they stories can get emotional in a unique way. They deal with love and death and idealism and poverty and suffering. Sometimes it's even poignant in that. Overall, it's fairly interesting.

However, it would be amiss if I did not mention that the plots and narrative arcs for most of these are, as previously stated, thin. They do not keep you turning the page, the characters aren't too relatable or interesting, and the morals of the stories aren't particularly eye-opening.

Still, if you enjoy the writing, it can be a really cool collection to read.

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