A tale of passion set in the bleak Yorkshire moors in mid 19thC, far from the Victorian uprightness, Wuthering Heights depicts the mutual love of Catherine and Heathcliff till destruction rends the narration; yet cruelty is only to be met with forgiveness in the following generations. Romantic, impassioned and wild, it is also a dark journey in the human soul.
Review of 'Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
I forgot how phenomenal this book is.
Listened to the audiobook this time and Joanna Froggert absolutely knocks it out of the park, her voicing of the younger Linton managed to perfectly capture how hilariously horrible he was.
Can't believe Emily Bronte - a young woman from the 1800's who lived her whole life at her rural house with her brother and father the only male contact - could better capture the complexity of masculinity than most modern authors.
And gotta give a shout out to Heathcliff, one of the great villains of literature. On the one hand, yes, a monster. On the other, I've never related to a character more.
At least he also channeled his obsession into a very respectable property portfolio in West York.
I really liked this book, except that it should have gone on a little further, but I suspect that that is a common thought for well-liked books. The plot was quite involved and twisted, but clearly not overly so for the story. I really liked all of the main characters and a couple of supporting characters, and I felt like striking out at others, fully knowing that anyone doing so would be counterproductive. The plot itself included many emotions and secrets but not un-rightfully so. I generally don't like books or stories that go back and forth between periods of time, but Anm Bennett did it so naturally and seamlessly that I didn't mind; actually, it was necessary for the story and for the telling.
Hey, while this is obviously available on Project Gutenburg (and elsewhere) make sure you have an edition that explains the trickier transliterations of the Yorkshire accent.
I just can't with these books, yet I continue to read them because they were free and they fit challenges I am in.
We are back in Come-By-Chance, which is the dumbest name for a town ever. But first we are in Chicago, and Emily just happens to come across a man being strangled to death in an alley, and skips town. She's an orphan, naturally, so it's logical that she would just hop a train to anywhere and meet another woman, also named Emily. There is some nonsense conversation on the train and rich, spoiled Emily, who was headed to Montana to impulsively be a mail order bride after one letter decides to go home and let poor orphan Emily take her place. Yes, this is the actual plot and I am not messing with you right now.
Anyway, more nonsense happens when she arrives, they never really resolve …
I just can't with these books, yet I continue to read them because they were free and they fit challenges I am in.
We are back in Come-By-Chance, which is the dumbest name for a town ever. But first we are in Chicago, and Emily just happens to come across a man being strangled to death in an alley, and skips town. She's an orphan, naturally, so it's logical that she would just hop a train to anywhere and meet another woman, also named Emily. There is some nonsense conversation on the train and rich, spoiled Emily, who was headed to Montana to impulsively be a mail order bride after one letter decides to go home and let poor orphan Emily take her place. Yes, this is the actual plot and I am not messing with you right now.
Anyway, more nonsense happens when she arrives, they never really resolve the switched identity plot point, because why would they? And they all lived happily ever after, which is my favorite kind of "ever after" but with these books, who cares?
These books are nonsense, but I will probably read another one because I will literally read anything for a challenge, they are short, and they were free. 1.5 stars. I hope Come-By-Chance gets wiped out in a tornado.
Wuthering Heights must be one of the first novels where the protagonists can be considered antagonists or anti-heroes. It’s a story of love turning into bitter hatred. The orphan Heathcliff and Catherine were in love but when Catherine’s parents both die, Heathcliff runs away from Wuthering Heights. A few years later Catherine married Edgar and Heathcliff comes back (later that same year). In attempt to hide his broken heart Heathcliff marries Isabella but the pain continues to consume him turning him into a violent and emotional abusive man. The story follows the bitterness towards both families. The wounds were deep and their children Catherine and Linton were faced with the difficult task of mending the families division.
Emily Brontë really knows how to paint a picture with her writing. Wuthering Heights, though very dark is full of passion, love, hate and all emotions in between. The book keeps hinting at …
Wuthering Heights must be one of the first novels where the protagonists can be considered antagonists or anti-heroes. It’s a story of love turning into bitter hatred. The orphan Heathcliff and Catherine were in love but when Catherine’s parents both die, Heathcliff runs away from Wuthering Heights. A few years later Catherine married Edgar and Heathcliff comes back (later that same year). In attempt to hide his broken heart Heathcliff marries Isabella but the pain continues to consume him turning him into a violent and emotional abusive man. The story follows the bitterness towards both families. The wounds were deep and their children Catherine and Linton were faced with the difficult task of mending the families division.
Emily Brontë really knows how to paint a picture with her writing. Wuthering Heights, though very dark is full of passion, love, hate and all emotions in between. The book keeps hinting at a silver lining but often holds it back making you want it more. Emily didn’t hold back when writing this book, she really puts a spot light on emotional abuse and hatred, even used the word ‘slut’ a few times in the book. The depiction of mental and physical cruelty in this book will make it difficult to read for some; you’ll either love or hate this book. While not all full of darkness, there’s a beauty in the story sometimes missed in books nowadays.
Review of 'Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë (Amazon Classics Annotated Original Edition)' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
After almost 170 years of popularity, there is nothing I can hope to add. But it's still a great book to discuss with friends!
I didn't know what to expect when I started reading it. I didn't remember why I had downloaded it years earlier. Perhaps it was free? I only knew it was old. It starts as a horror story, which was quite unexpected.
Then it turns out not to be a horror story, but a family drama spanning three generations (30-40 years). The story and characters were probably revolutionary at the time of writing, but I think have diffused so much in our culture by today, that they hold little novelty for a current reader. (They are still interesting though.)
What I enjoyed the most is the language of the book. I forgot to take notes, but especially when the extremely dramatic characters talk about their feelings, every …
After almost 170 years of popularity, there is nothing I can hope to add. But it's still a great book to discuss with friends!
I didn't know what to expect when I started reading it. I didn't remember why I had downloaded it years earlier. Perhaps it was free? I only knew it was old. It starts as a horror story, which was quite unexpected.
Then it turns out not to be a horror story, but a family drama spanning three generations (30-40 years). The story and characters were probably revolutionary at the time of writing, but I think have diffused so much in our culture by today, that they hold little novelty for a current reader. (They are still interesting though.)
What I enjoyed the most is the language of the book. I forgot to take notes, but especially when the extremely dramatic characters talk about their feelings, every line is a gem that you could use in everyday life. One line I remembered to highlight is:
The red fire-light glowed on their two bonny heads, and revealed their faces animated with the eager interest of children; for, though he was twenty-three and she eighteen, each had so much of novelty to feel and learn, that neither experienced nor evinced the sentiments of sober disenchanted maturity.
It is a challenging read for a non-native speaker, but very rewarding.
It seems everyone finds a different meaning in the book. For me it was that the sins and tragedies of one generation will not necessarily spoil the life of the next. Heathcliff won. He had the children of his enemies in his hands, free to continue exacting revenge on them even after the enemies, and perhaps himself, were all dead. But he found no motivation to do so. Happy end!
This is my all-time favourite book. It absolutely defies categorization and it's new every time I read it. I once recommended it to a male friend, who objected: “Isn’t that a love story?” Well, yes. Yes, it is. But it’s the weirdest love story you’ll ever read. (My friend loved it, by the way.)
Review of 'Wuthering Heights (a Classics Novel by Emily Brontë)' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
I admit it. I picked up this book when I was 19 because my mother said, "I can't relate to Catherine because she's too willful!" and she always called me willful, too. ;)
Emily's sisters were both Victorian social novelists, but Emily was a Romantic--as in Romantic poet, not as in Romance novel. I make that distinction because I don't think we're supposed to sigh over Heathcliff and Catherine, I think we're supposed to see something that would be natural and positive if it hadn't been blasted and twisted into something dark by the social pressures that kept them apart.
One of the things I like about this novel is the way Emily wasn't afraid of ambiguity, the way she would build up something as being possibly supernatural and then carefully pull that possibility apart, unravel it so that it's all up to the reader. She's also not afraid of …
I admit it. I picked up this book when I was 19 because my mother said, "I can't relate to Catherine because she's too willful!" and she always called me willful, too. ;)
Emily's sisters were both Victorian social novelists, but Emily was a Romantic--as in Romantic poet, not as in Romance novel. I make that distinction because I don't think we're supposed to sigh over Heathcliff and Catherine, I think we're supposed to see something that would be natural and positive if it hadn't been blasted and twisted into something dark by the social pressures that kept them apart.
One of the things I like about this novel is the way Emily wasn't afraid of ambiguity, the way she would build up something as being possibly supernatural and then carefully pull that possibility apart, unravel it so that it's all up to the reader. She's also not afraid of being ugly and dark and sick, and devoid of socially redeeming value.
It's also an interesting book structurally--sort of a first person narrative inside a first person narrative, and neither narrator is reliable.
