Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

14 reviews

veganecurrywurst's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious tense
  • 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

I disagree with the people saying that this is not a lovestory (although the predominant theme is revenge). I genuinely believe that Heathcliff loved Cathrine I and vice-versa. But they all were such toxic, irresponsible and egocentric people without boundaries that the being together only made it worse.
Most of the other characters even the narrator(s) are deeply flawed human beings.
I think the most "likable" are probably Catherine II and Hareton.
In oder to really appreciate this book, I recommend doing a bit of research on it first and listing to other people's thoughts on the book. I'm probably going to give this a higher rating after I reread it.

“He shall never know I love him: and that, not because he’s handsome, but because he’s more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made out of, his and mine are the same.”

“If all else perished, and he remained, I should still continue to be; and if all else remained, and he were annihilated, the universe would turn to a mighty stranger.”

“I have not broken your heart – you have broken it; and in breaking it, you have broken mine.”

“I’m wearying to escape into that glorious world, and to be always there: not seeing it dimly through tears, and yearning for it through the walls of an aching heart: but really with it, and in it."

“It was not the thorn bending to the honeysuckles, but the honeysuckles embracing the thorn.”

“I have to remind myself to breathe – almost to remind my heart to beat!”

“Treachery and violence are spears pointed at both ends; they
wound those who resort to them worse than their enemies.”

Some info-graphics I really enjoyed: https://www.theguardian.com/books/gallery/2018/jul/30/emily-brontes-wuthering-heights-in-charts

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scruffie's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I found this one very slow paced and reading it was quite the grind. Exceptionally dark though, so I naturally loved it.
Say what you will about the villain but I was impressed by his perseverance and how he uses the very same systemic techniques that oppressed him to oppress others, effectively perpetuating the misery.
Made me think of Philip Larkin's words:

"Man hands on misery to man.
It deepens like a coastal shelf.
Get out as early as you can,
And don't have any kids yourself."

Sidenote: I'd generously say that I understood about 30% of what Joseph says in the book. Didn't make a difference, really.

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therobinjoyce's review against another edition

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challenging dark sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? N/A
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

0.25

"𝙃𝙚'𝙨 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙖 𝙝𝙪𝙢𝙖𝙣 𝙗𝙚𝙞𝙣𝙜,' 𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙚𝙙; 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙨 𝙣𝙤 𝙘𝙡𝙖𝙞𝙢 𝙤𝙣 𝙢𝙮 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙮. 𝙄 𝙜𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙝𝙞𝙢 𝙢𝙮 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙩, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙤𝙤𝙠 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙥𝙞𝙣𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙙𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙝; 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙛𝙡𝙪𝙣𝙜 𝙞𝙩 𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙩𝙤 𝙢𝙚. 𝙋𝙚𝙤𝙥𝙡𝙚 𝙛𝙚𝙚𝙡 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙧 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙨, 𝙀𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙣: 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙨 𝙙𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙤𝙮𝙚𝙙 𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙚, 𝙄 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙥𝙤𝙬𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙤 𝙛𝙚𝙚𝙡 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙝𝙞𝙢: 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙄 𝙬𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙣𝙤𝙩, 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝 𝙝𝙚 𝙜𝙧𝙤𝙖𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙙𝙮𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙙𝙖𝙮, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙬𝙚𝙥𝙩 𝙩𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙗𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙙 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝘾𝙖𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙚!"

Wow, where to start. So this WASN'T the lovely gothic romance l was expecting and had been led to believe. Having slogged through this book for the last 6 days I feel as if I need to be contacting some kind of customer service department to after refund for the time I just wasted reading this book. 

If I hadn't agreed to Buddy read this with another person I would probably have stopped reading after two or three chapters. The language is difficult, yes but considering the time period in which it was written you can understand why it is so difficult to read. That was the type of language that they use and that was the type of language used in novels and the written work so I can overcome that and look past it and after a while you do stop seeing the different language than what we used today but still the themes and plot of this whole novel in my honest opinion ridiculous and there is no way a book of this calibre would stand should it be released in the modern day.

The entire cast is full of selfish, evil, narcissistic assholes who show no respect to anybody else and with no self-respect at all for themselves.  The whole novel is basically a combination of child abuse, over indulgence, emotional abuse, and unrestrained anger issues . None of this is healthy and that is amplified by the fact that almost every single character in this book ends up meeting and timely demise in one form or another.

I can understand why people call it a classic and, I suppose, if you enjoy reading about social classes and interactions between people of different classes and the way the world seemed to work back in those days, then you'd probably have a field trip with this book. But for any normal person, either going into this believing that is a romance or, looking for a nice classic book to read, I would recommend that you pick up something by one of the other Brontë sisters because Wuthering Heights is not enjoyable, not remotely intriguing, nor interesting, and has no other pull to it other than the fact that people have bigger it up for centuries.

That is the only reason this book is still around and still being talked about - because Emily is connected with Charlotte and Anne so the Brontë name stands out and holds her above the rest. And for the fact that this book has been around for centuries so people assume it is a classic and portrays a perfect picture of the world back then. I do not find this to be true and in all honesty, I would never recommend this book to anybody.

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nerdkitten's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0


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