What Souls Are Made Of: A Wuthering Heights Remix

We go and sit with Isabella. The sugared tea is sweet on my tongue, and the cakes sweeter. I think of the first night I was carried into this parlor with a dog bite on my leg and was offered a little slice of a current scone by Edgar, his hands trembling. And how - how I put it onto my tongue, and it was like a vow I had made, a fairy thing. I had eaten here, and tasted sweetness, tasted what it meant to be rich, and now I could never run again for the craving of it, even it if would one day strike me dead.

Then I'll come back to the Heights, Cathy. Only then. I'll come back broken and twisted, wealthy and vicious. I'll come back and break Hindley better than he could ever have broken me. I'll come back and I won't be low any more. I show more won't be beneath you. But my love for you won't be this soft thing that fills me up and bleeds more than a heart ever could. It'll be cold waves, drowning me. And drowning you.

If this series of remixed classics by Feiwel & Friends is written as well as this one is than I will need another shelf for my TBR. Such gorgeous writing. This retelling solidly gives Heathcliff an Indian ancestry and also monkeys with Hindley's and Catherine's backstory as well. It informs some of the pain and trauma that all of them have going on. The timeline is following Heathcliff's departure but before Cathy becomes Mrs Linton. I think many who have problems with the original tale will like the changes that have been made for this one. I really enjoyed it and read it all in one sitting - simply captivating for a WH fangirl like myself. show less

If an author - or a director - chooses to reinterpret rather than retell a classic, then emphasising the message of the original text to deliver a history lesson to new readers is the way to go. Not merely repackaging fan fiction in froth and fashion, while whitewashing complex characters.

Tasha Suri has rewritten Wuthering Heights for a teenage audience, giving Heathcliff and Catherine the voices and agency they lack in the original, while also doubling down on the question of Heathcliff's race - here, he is the son of a lascar (Indian sailor), while Cathy and Hindley also become the biracial and illegitimate children of East India Company 'nabob'. I thought at first this was overkill slightly, but making both Heathcliff and Catherine show more 'other' does actually work, and strengthens their soul bond.

Does the YA approach dilute the original story? Yes, of course. There is no ambiguity and neither Heathcliff or Catherine are permitted any nuance - he is still abused and cast out by Hindley and Cathy's impetuous words, but his three years away from Yorkshire - back in Liverpool - are the making of him, in more than just money and polish. He learns where he came from and becomes part of a found family typical of YA novels - 'I think of Annie's charm. Hetty, hard as iron, keeping folk together. Hal, light on his feet, hellish brave. Jamie, too softhearted, gathering people up.' Heathcliff vows to help others with his new-found wealth, and when he returns to the Heights, Cathy is there to meet him, having cast off Edgar and her Linton-esque finery: 'We're going to do good things, aren't we? We're going to help people?' As I say, a little bit pat - and flat - but probably more inspiring than the doom laden original, which few readers can cope with.

I loved the author's language, especially when describing 'otherness' and feeling like strangers at home (Tasha Suri is British Asian author from London) and the distinct voices for Heathcliff and Catherine (not always a given in YA fiction!) Mostly, I admire that she did something creative and impactful with her retelling, rather than just cashing in on Emily Bronte's legacy. show less

Remixed classics are an area of literature I am always excited to access. Taking stories that have for so long been billed as universal and making changes aiming to make those works meaningfully more accessible to the majority of people who do not see their own experiences reflected is a worthwhile and necessary exercise. To be a part of what we consider to be the literary canon, I believe a work must constantly justify its continued relevance. This bold retelling of Wuthering Heights does exactly that. I've read Wuthering Heights many times and have loved it since my first reading, but that doesn't mean I'm blind to its flaws. This retelling preserved the most necessary and lively elements of the original text. Beyond that, it brought show more them into a contemporary understanding that allowed the characters to have deeper personal lives and engage with the inherent flaws of their society as a whole, which made the exploration richer.

SPOILERS:
Framing Cathy as capable of malicious and foolish choices but not irrational and still deeply sensitive and loving was consistent with a feminist reading of the text. However, making much of the subtext text was a strong choice that made her more engaging. Cathy came into her own, realizing that her father had tried to erase her heritage after taking baby Catherine and one of her two brothers back to Europe against their mother's wishes. Despite justifying many of his actions, the guilt of his complicity as an employee of the British East India Company explained the family's status and dysfunction. I can understand why lovers of the original book might miss how originally there was a senselessness driving many of the character's actions, but the Brontë version will always remain alive and well.
I am impressed that Tasha Suri created a story where she empowered the characters to make different choices than in the source material, but only with great difficulty and actual sacrifice. Reading this book was thrilling, and it clarified many of my thoughts about the value of modernizing literature. show less

A fresh reimagining of the story behind one of the most renowned couples in literature.

Author Tasha Suri takes the literary classic, Wuthering Heights, and reimagines the backstory of Heathcliff, Catherine, and her family, breathing new life into this polarizing tale of gothic trauma. The story is set when Heathcliff has fled The Heights, and Cathy has been left behind to agonize over where he's gone and what's happened to him. Events from the original tale are recounted and take on new life and meaning with the telling. Suri's story is presented from Catherine's and Heathcliff's points of view, giving an understandable heft to the reasons for their sometimes-murky relationship in the original. If you were left wanting after reading show more Brontë's story, this envisioning might give you some satisfaction.

Suri explores the shadowy details of the period Heathcliff is absent from The Heights, later revealed in the original story to be when he is amassing his fortune. The story follows him to Liverpool and into the seamy underbelly of the port city, where poverty and press gangs are all-encompassing. The author weaves the results of Britain's colonial history in India on its people into the story as Heathcliff comes to understand who he is. At the same time, Catherine also comes to realize her own hidden heritage as she and her brother, Hindley, attempt to lay the ghosts of their father's past wrongdoings.

The audiobook version is voiced by Becca Hirani as Catherine and Alex Williams as Heathcliff. They breathe life into these characters, imbuing each with a personality that gives the listener a fresh new perspective on what's driving their actions. The audiobook's cover is beautifully moody but depicts these two as older than they are during the story's events. As the story ends on a more hopeful note than the source materials, is this an additional nudge in the direction that things work out differently for them?

Touted as one of the greatest, most legendary love stories of all time, Wuthering Heights often eludes and disappoints modern young adult readers. Like many classic works, it has both its fans and foes. Depending on the reason for their dissatisfaction, Suri's version may very well ease some of the latter group into the former, with its updated dialogue and delivery, more revealing first-person points of view, and its fresh underpinning based on the main characters' secret, hidden ancestries.

I recommend WHAT SOULS ARE MADE OF to readers who enjoyed Wuthering Heights or wanted to but were left disappointed and those who enjoy YA historical fiction, especially that featuring a portrayal of the immigrant experience in 18th-century Britain.

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advanced Review Copy from the publisher through NetGalley. show less

While it wasn't one of my favorite classics, I once stayed at least somewhat intrigued enough by Wuthering Heights to read the whole thing.

In my younger days, I think I could stick with certain books better when, even if I didn't particularly care for the stories, I liked the fact that I was reading them and could understand them.

As a reader, I've changed since then.

Indeed, the cultural and historical basis of this remix was a huge draw for me, and the author has such an affecting, lyrical, haunting way with words.

I can do dark, somber, haunting reads on occasion if I'm gripped by the plot and pacing. However, the pacing of this story was just too slow for me not to find the darkness too depressing. I gave it more than an hour before I show more decided not to finish it.

On a different note, though, I really like the book cover. Especially the hero's look. show less

Wuthering Heights with Cathy and Heathcliff recast as Indian orphans adopted by a British merchant who made his fortune at the expense of the colonialized (for which he feels guilty).

I read to p. 50 but saw no reason for Cathy and Heathcliff to be so heartbroken over the other. Probably it would be explained in time, but isn't that ache and angst the whole point of this story? The recasting with Brown minorities could be interesting but I didn't really care to keep reading as it were.

So the first half of this book I struggled through. The second half though as there's more exploration of the characters is amazing. I love the exploration of race that this remix takes on.