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Loading... Wuthering Heights (1847)by Emily Brontë
Work InformationWuthering Heights by Emily Brontë (1847)
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This review is for an audiobook I borrowed from my local library. Somehow, despite having an English degree and having a “classics” phase in my late teens I never read Wuthering Heights. In fact I think the only Brontë sister book I’ve read is Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë, which as a 15/16 year old I remember loving but I suspect I’d find it less “romantic” now twenty years later. That could be an interesting re-read project. In any case, it turns out I had some misconceptions about Wuthering Heights. I had an idea what this was a romantic love story with Heathcliff being some kind of sexy antihero. There would be heartbroken woman in a nightgown wandering on the Yorkshire Moors wailing “Heathcliffe!” in the wind and rain. I don’t know where got this mental image from, maybe clips from the movie or TV adaptions? Maybe I just made it up, or got it confused with something else! This is review, if I’m calling it that, is very much down to my own personal reading preferences. I absolutely agree with this book being considered a classic, and I do think it is a masterpiece of writing in many ways, it is just not one that jives with my taste and it didn’t have the elements that truly engage and excite me. Plot Though the novel was written during the literary Romantic period, and you could potentially classify it as a Gothic Romance, Wuthering Heights is not at all “romantic” in our modern sense. Any love found at the start very quickly turns obsessive, destructive and tips the line into hate. This book is filled with shocking cruelties, abuse and out-right violence. Actually the childhood “romance” portion of the book ends with my least favourite romance genre trope – miscommunication! And worst of all, the overheard conversation where the listener leaves half way through a sentence missing the true sentiment. This is the basis for Heathcliff’s supremely petty, decades long “burn it all the fucking ground” revenge plot. What follows is brutal and punishing for everyone unlucky enough to reside at Wuthering Heights or Thrushcross Grange. Characters The characters are all insufferable, but the worst of the lot are Heathcliff and Catherine. Even as children they are described as selfish, defiant, manipulative and moody little terrors, and neither mature in adulthood. They are both self-obsessed and generally awful to everyone around them, including each other. The second generation of Cathy and Linton are just as prone to histrionics as their parents, and Hareton (for all his misfortune) moulded to take after Heathcliff, is no more likeable in his brooding meanness. The only truly sympathetic character I found was poor Edgar Linton, who was too soft and daft to escape when he could. He probably shouldn’t have kept his daughter so isolated her only choices for husband would be either (or both!) of her first cousins. These melodramatic lunatics (in seriousness, there are definitely some untreated mental illnesses at play with Heathcliff and Catherine!) and the bizarrely destructive multigenerational revenge of Heathcliff made for a story I wasn’t particularly enthralled by. I just wanted to get away from them! Structure I also struggle when the narrative is told with a past first person perspective, and in this case it’s twice removed. We get the story first from new tenant Lockwood, a true outsider, and then from long-time housekeeper Nelly Dean telling him. Everything is filtered through Nelly and her judgements and assumptions, so we never can know the true thoughts and feelings of the subjects. I prefer to be there with the characters, getting a first hand account as they experience things. So this framing made the whole thing feel staged and inauthentic to me, because it is essentially the gossip of an old woman, who is hardly impartial as she has her own role in the story. It might not be to my personal reading tastes but I can understand why this has stood the test in time. It is a heck of a story, I just think I would probably enjoy it more as a campy movie. It is incredibly atmospheric, and feels both claustrophobic – everything takes place in or on the moors between the houses of Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange – and also curiously epic, despite the insular pettiness. The audiobook version I listened to was entirely performed by Joanne Froggatt and was excellent. She’s a fantastic audiobook narrator, and also of course is from North Yorkshire so can do the authentic accent. In fact the reason I found and borrowed this was because I was searching BorrowBox to see what else she had done after I’d loved her reading The Night She Disappeared by Lisa Jewell. I still plan to continue my little voyage into the classics of Gothic literature, so soon I will give Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier a go. Now tell me I am not the only one that didn’t know what the real plot of Wuthering Heights is? REVIEW SUMMARY I LIKED
I DIDN’T LIKE
This review and more on my blog! Years ago, I read and fell in love with Jane Eyre, and ever since then, I’ve wanted to read some of the Brontë sisters’ other works. Recently, I realized I could listen to the books, rather than try to find time to read them, so I downloaded a version of Wuthering Heights and had at it. I’m so glad I decided to listen, rather than read! I doubt I’d ever have gotten through it otherwise. I’ve decided that the draw for this book, if there is one, is the setting. I found many of the characters, and especially their actions, quite depressing, so that wasn’t a plus in my opinion. The setting itself, though, was fascinating—the moors’ bleakness and hopelessness was an interesting “character” in itself. This book is also an interesting study of human nature, as different characters act or react to others’ decisions. I doubt I’ll ever read the story again. I didn’t appreciate the language in the story, for one, but the violence and bitterness were the parts I really didn’t enjoy. I am grateful for that last chapter—if it weren’t for that, I’d have ended up a lot more depressed than I was, in the end! I appreciate dark stories at times, but this one was slightly too dark for me. In saying that, though, I’m glad to have had the chance to experience it, because it is the kind of book often referenced in literature. Recommended, if you don’t mind darker reads, and do want to check this classic off your list. Just be sure to have a lighthearted, happy book ready to follow up with after this one—you’ll need it! Belongs to Publisher SeriesIs contained inThe Complete Novels: Agnes Grey / Jane Eyre / The Professor / Shirley / The Tenant of Wildfell Hall / Villette / Wuthering Heights by Charlotte Brontë Villette by Charlotte Brontë (indirect) Vilette / Jane Eyre / Shirley / The Tenant of Wildfell Hall / Agnes Grey / Wuthering Heights by Charlotte Brontë The Brontë Collection: Includes Jane Eyre, The Professor, Shirley, Villette, Wuthering Heights, Agnes Grey, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Cottage Poems and More by Charlotte Brontë The Complete Novels of the Brontë Sisters (8 Novels: Jane Eyre, Shirley, Villette, The Professor, Emma, Wuthering Heights, Agnes Grey and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall) by Charlotte Brontë 6 Volume Set Jane Eyre, Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Wuthering Heights, Agnes Grey, Professor, Poems, Miscellanea, Shirley, Villete by Charlotte Brontë Brontë Sisters: The Professor / Angrian Tales and Poems / The Tenant of Wildfell Hall / Agnes Grey / Wuthering Heights / Jane Eyre / Villette / Shirley by Anne Brontë Agnes Grey / The Tenant of Wildfell Hall / Jane Eyre / The Professor / Villette / Wuthering Heights / Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell by Anne Brontë Villette / Shirley / by Charlotte Brontë (indirect) Villette (annotated): by Charlotte Brontë by Charlotte Brontë (indirect) Agnes Grey / Villette / The Professor by Anne Brontë (indirect) Is retold inHas the (non-series) sequelHas the (non-series) prequelHas the adaptationThe Graphic Canon, Vol. 2: From "Kubla Khan" to the Bronte Sisters to The Picture of Dorian Gray by Russ Kick Is abridged inIs parodied inInspiredHas as a reference guide/companionHas as a studyHas as a commentary on the textHas as a student's study guideHas as a teacher's guideAwardsDistinctionsNotable Lists
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Current DiscussionsWuthering Heights by Emile Bronte - BOOKS ILLUSTRATED 2017 in Fine Press Forum Popular covers
Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)823.8Literature English & Old English literatures English fiction Victorian period 1837-1900LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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The story is narrated by Nelly Dean for Mr Lockwood, the current tenant of Thrushcross Grange, who is curious about his landlord, Heathcliff, residing at Wuthering Heights. Nelly served both households over the years and provides an eye-witness account of events from Heathcliff’s introduction into the Earnshaw family at Wuthering Heights when Catherine was just 6 years old through to the novel’s present day. She is both go-between and confidante, devil’s advocate and peace-maker.
The intensely powerful and vivid descriptions of the harsh, unrelenting and unforgiving natural landscape are the perfect foil to Heathcliff’s wild and ‘wuthering’ nature and a stark contrast to the calm comfort of Thrushcross Grange, the ‘heath’ to the ‘cliff’ of Wuthering Heights.
An all-consuming love to the point of madness and acts of revenge against all who stand in the way. Extreme cruelty, abuse and neglect - malice, petulance and spite – tyranny, tears and temper - Emily Bronte’s imagination knows no bounds. Heathcliff is as intriguing as he is hateful which bears testimony to her superlative writing skills although I did find the local dialect rather challenging.
An unforgettable, all-time classic. ( )