Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

Cumbres borrascosas by Emily Brontë

54 reviews

bashsbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Writing reviews for classics that I like is never easy - I always feel immense pressure to say something profound and original about a work that 1) I enjoyed and 2) so did everyone else. Of course, the trouble with such a well-liked book is that everything profound and original about it has already been said, more or less.

So let me say some basic and trite (but none the less true to how I feel) things about Wuthering Heights.
 
First and foremost, Brontë's toxic, passionate speeches from Heathcliff and Catherine (Sr.) about each other fuck severely. Catherine's "Nelly, I am Heathcliff" confession? Healthcliff's proclamation about the depth of Catherine's affection for him compared to Linton? The "You say I killed you - haunt me, then!" argument? All bangers. Go off, you absolute maniacs. 

Secondly, and speaking of the haunting by Catherine of Heathcliff, the thread of her ghost trying to get into Wuthering Heights throughout the tale is sewn into the story with just enough detail to be compelling without being overwrought - from the early scene Lockhood witnesses all the way to Heathcliff's death under the open window. I especially like the lack of concrete proof of the ghost and the skepticism of the storytellers themselves. 

And now, thirdly, the storytellers and the frame story in general have been fun to turn over in my head. From the beginning, I wondered, why are Lockwood and Nelly our narrators? I think there are dozens of valid answers to this question. Two of my favorites includeto create distance from the narrative to drop details & increase unreliability and to provide perspectives closer to the intended readers. I'm especially obsessed with Nelly Dean and the constant interjections of her opinions into her retelling. 

Something specific to the audiobook version that I listened to - the Spotify version read by Billie Fulford-Brown - is that it was read fantastically. Fulford-Brown clearly had a great handle on the text, reading all the dialogue with accurate emotion. She also gave the characters distinct voices without being over-the-top. Her performance made Brontë's mid-19th century prose much more accessible.

Anyway. There's a lot more I could say about Wuthering Heights - for example, Brontë's descriptions of the moors are a masterclass in thematic use of setting - but I'll cut myself off here, lest I write a whole paper. Let me end by saying it's fucked up that Kate Bush managed to successfully summarize and convey the main storyline of such a complex book in a 4.5-minute song after only watching the last ten minutes of a movie adaptation.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Classism

Moderate: Ableism, Alcoholism, Cursing, Racism, Terminal illness, Xenophobia, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Confinement, Racial slurs, and Kidnapping

-Various illnesses are described in detail (some fatal and some not).

asrasher's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

intense, absurd, bizarre, but I ended the book with a resounding emotion of "damn, I get why people love this book." 

it takes you on a truly immense character journey spanning 3 generations and 50 years - and doesn't start coming together till the last chapter or so. 

overall, completely worthy of its legendary status. I felt like honestly it could have been longer/more fleshed out at the end, that's my only critique. The wrap up of the younger generations story and the breaking of the cycle of trauma felt possibly like something EB struggled to write, or express. Which to be fair, makes sense.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Classism

Moderate: Incest

riverofhorton's review against another edition

This book is incredibly violent, with every kind of toxic relationship and abuse you can think of, with the kind of casual racism and misogyny that I have at this point come to expect from 19th Century fiction. That said, I may well return to this book at a later date, since there were a few scenes that I found to be quite thrilling, and I do find myself invested in the characters and their development. Right now just isn't the right time for me to be reading a book with this amount of violence.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

kjboldon's review against another edition

challenging dark medium-paced

4.5

Emily had a plan for this book but even after several readings, I'm not sure what it was. But it was precise and high minded, however debased her characters got. This one is definitely not for those who need a likes le character. Did she carry the Byronic ideal to its logical, ironic, conclusion?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

evgeorge's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

Violent, abusive, harsh, dark. A love story? no thank you

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Gaslighting, and Classism

abbyaxj's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Really enjoyed it, got more and more into it as I went. Not a book I could read when distracted due to the style of writing but gave a wonderful dark story from the 19th century

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

yujiarx's review against another edition

challenging dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Incest, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Death of parent, and Classism

evgeorge's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

2.0

If you have been abused, have experience with violent, neglectful alcoholic or controlling behavior consider reading something else. This a horror story of obsession, violence, the legacy of family trauma, alcoholism and abuse. Heathcliff is a nightmare model of coercive control. What he and Catherine have is not love it is passion, obsession and mutual distruction. They and everyone around them suffer. This story has influenced women for generations to believe that this is what love looks like.  A romance. A love story. No. It is beautifully written horror story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, and Classism

fran_gc9's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Qué libro más raro pero me ha gustado mucho, no le doy 5 estrellas porque me ha costado un poco engancharme. Me encanta que sea una conversación entre la criada y un extraño. Algunas escenas son realmente incómodas y me sorprende que una mujer escribiera así en esa época (ahora entiendo por qué tuvo que usar un pseudónimo masculino). Mis personajes favs son Hareton, Edgar y Dean. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Violence, and Death of parent

Minor: Animal cruelty, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, and Kidnapping

kattyenn's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

all of these people are horrible, god bless 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Kidnapping, Toxic friendship, and Classism

Moderate: Death, Racism, Sexism, and Death of parent

Minor: Domestic abuse and Rape