Wuthering Heights Annotated

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.

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.

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.

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.