Based in the 80s gay pop culture, it focuses on the life of Dorian and his “closest friends.” This Dorian, unlike Wilde’s, is clearly much more depraved and “monstrous” from the outset. There is no build up to the culmination point of his madness. Rather, it is continuous. Self goes for sensationalism with this novel, and this is the one rather large downfall to this novel. It has some great lines, but I felt it was overshadowed by the sense that he wanted to shock. For example, every few pages there is a rather large description of their drug use. While this is the 80s-90s, and drug use and such were extreme, I felt that as a part of this novel, it took away from what could have been an amazing interpretation of the modern day Dorian. This might be more “real,” but this is only when put in perspective to Wilde’s novel.