Hauts de Hurlevent

Por fin tengo un momentito para escribir esta reseña. Tenía pendiente esta novela desde que la compré para una sesión de #LecturasCasaArbol a la que al final no pude unirme, y parto de la premisa de que nunca había leído novela de época ni tampoco me interesan especialmente las novelas románticas. Y porqué digo esto? Porque pensaba que Cumbres Borrascosas era novela romántica, pero romántica de romance, y no lo es, o al menos no de la forma que yo esperaba. Aunque si bien no hay nada parecido al amor en esta novela, o al menos nada que yo llamaría amor (es básicamente un compendio de 1000 maneras distintas de ser un malnacido), sí es una novela romántica en el sentido romanticista del término, la pasión y el deseo se llevan hasta el extremo, gente dejándose morir, varias generaciones en guerra por el mismo romance imposible, dios mío! No conozco las convenciones del género, pero, por lo poco que he leído sobre este libro, tiene fama de que llamó la atención por por lo turbulento de las relaciones y no me extraña. Al margen de eso, la verdad es que al principio me costó entrar por la cantidad de nombres e información, pero una vez establecido el mapa mental de quién es quién, se volvió basante adictivo, es cotilleo puro y el haber visto el "presente" nada más empezar da muchas ganas de saber cómo se ha llegado hasta ahí. Por último, el narrador omnipresente en tercera persona encarnado en personajes que te van contando qué sucedió durante décadas me hace tambalear un pelín la suspensión de incredulidad peeeero no deja de ser un detalle mínimo y la narración funciona perfectamente. Me alegro de habérmelo leído finalmente, aunque no sé si volvería a leer algo del estilo xD

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.

Hated it. Every single character was unlikeable, I hated the relationships especially the extremely unhealthy relationship between Catherine and Heathcliff. I wish I'd never read it so I could continue to enjoy the quote "he's more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same". But it's ruined for me now and only makes me think of ghastly, spoiled, manipulative, awful people who abuse children and destroy lives.

I've seen people say that this is a large and sweeping story but I disagree completely. I've seen people call it a grand tale of two families. I'd also disagree with that. This is a small story of small people who learn nothing from their actions. I've seen family sagas done much better than this and with much more beauty even in the midst of pain and sorrow.

Didn't finish it but didn't want my 7 hours of effort to count for nothing so I marked it as read. I googled the ending so it totally counts.

As a classic i have wanted to read it for a while. However I have not had any real idea about the plot. And having read it now I am not sure I would have picked it up had I known the storyline. Long winded and some pretty questionable characters and actions. Can't say I enjoyed it really at all.

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.

What a dreadful bunch of people.

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.

No spoilers

Geez; how should I begin this review? Uhmm.. First of all there were a lot of old English words; Every 70 pages or so I had around 40 unknown words that I had to look up, this killed the flow of reading so it might influence me actually enjoying the book. I can see why it is beloved by many, it truly is a classic and written greatly; a great example..

So about the story: I enjoyed the story, a bit too long for my taste but the writing style kept me interested. I did found it absolutely boring at times and the characters freaking annoying. I really hated almost all of them they are fucking annoying. The only two I really liked are Nelly and young Catherine; I did find Nelly likable and I could understand her decisions and why she chose to do so. (it is difficult not to view it from a modern lens sometimes). As for young Catherine; she was quite an annoying child, I think Nelly had to punish her in different ways so that she won't do the stupid things she chose to do, but I liked the way it turned out. She is the ONLY really likable person in this novel.

I'm giving this 3 stars since I liked it, just simply liked it. But I didn't really liked it so I will give it a 3; I wish I could've really liked it...

Also, to most people this book is romantic but this book is romantic to everyone except the people suffering in this book; seriously get real, something to think about.

edit; the characters are greatly written they are so different from the city folk. I hate these two families, but it doesn't mean that I think that the book or the characters are badly written; they are not!

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.