adeleighpenguin's review against another edition
3.0
Romeo and Juliet except Juliet dies halfway through and then one by one everyone dies of Sadness
jlkenneth's review against another edition
5.0
"I lingered round them, under that benign sky; watched the moths fluttering among the heath, and hare-bells; listened to the soft wind breathing through the grass; and wondered how any one could ever imagine unquiet slumbers, for the sleepers in that quiet earth."
Here it is, folks: Wuthering Heights is the quintessential gothic novel.
I've owned this book since I was 13, and have "read" it 4 times now—but this was the first time I managed to finish the novel. I always got in a *moody* teenage phase on a rainy day (we've all been there, right?), and would read 100 or so pages in one sitting, entirely entranced. Sadly, Colorado only gets rainy days once in a blue moon, and once my sad Victorian aesthetic had faded into glorious sunlight, I could never stand to spend more time with these atrociously volatile characters.
See, I think too many people approach Brontë's novel with the expectation of a) romance, and b) the stone-faced seriousness of a ~classic~ and end up missing a lot of what's actually going on here. I was shocked in revisiting this book to note the complexity of the narrative (21st-century lit major reads a classic and is surprised it's well-written. Ironic, I know). The narrative is intricate and complex, and as the novel unfolds, we are exposed to a shifting set of voices, one focalization winding into another in a fashion as labrinthine as the Heights itself. This was my first clue that, just maybe, I'd been misreading this book in thinking of it as a romance. I mean, surely a writer this adept in her narrative devices wouldn't actually mistake the hubris and selfishness of Heathcliff and Catherine for love, right?
Themes of devilry and haunting lead us further into the Miltonian inversion of society this book presents. We are first exposed to Heathcliff through the indignant eyes of Mr. Lockwood, a civilized Londoner who takes great offense at his treatment by Heathcliff, his new landlord. As the events of the past 40 years are related to him by his housekeeper at Thrushcross Grange, we see a hellish presentation of English society; the lord of the Heights is nameless and low-class, while the rightful heir is ignorant and uneducated. Love is replaced with selfish ownership and possessive rage is the standard for how these backcountry lords and ladies relate to one another. In place of manners and genteel company, we are left with the utter dregs of human passion, and watch as unchecked passions tear goodness and love to shreds.
If it's a romance, it's an infernal one, only fit for the inmates of hell. Wuthering Heights is an earthly hell, and the story which unfolds in Brontë's gorgeous prose and with unwavering psychological insight is more tragedy than romance. What Brontë does with this devilish inversion is utterly expose the hellishness just around the corner in every human heart; Wuthering Heights is the inverse of Jane Austen's parlour-room settings. It's eerie, haunting, and acts as both culmination and critique to the great romantic poets with their idolization of emotion and experience, and one I'll be thinking about for a long time.
Also I definitely think Game of Thrones' Robert Arryn, the creepy/sickly child ruler of the Vale, was inspired by Linton Heathcliff.
rebekah27's review against another edition
5.0
I was in a reading slump when I first started this but as soon as I got a few chapters in I could not put it down and I finished it in 2-3 days which is really fast for me.
severinam's review against another edition
4.0
INSANE.
the whole book was “how far will this go?” FAR ENOUGH. wild and totally worth it. the ending is so !!!!!!!! feels wrong but very right. i wanted to choke most of the characters, and it is the charm of this book. nelly, cathy and hareton get behind me please
the whole book was “how far will this go?” FAR ENOUGH. wild and totally worth it. the ending is so !!!!!!!! feels wrong but very right. i wanted to choke most of the characters, and it is the charm of this book. nelly, cathy and hareton get behind me please
leighash_87's review against another edition
3.0
Good but crazily disturbing. I'm not sure I've ever read anything like it.
levitatingnumeral's review against another edition
4.0
I don't really know how to review this book because I still feel unsure about it.
Admittedly, I thought I would hate it when I first started reading Wuthering Heights; I expected boring romance with weak characters, but everything was a huge surprise to me on that matter.
The story is mainly tragic and, despite revolving around characters that should be involved in a romantic relationship but simply can't, isn't dramatic in a way that could only be described as Mexican soap opera (meaning endless tears because one can't be with him/her they want). Nonetheless, part of the book is full of tears and wanting to be with one's beloved, yet the situation changes so drastically that I can't help but say I love that pairing (or how they're not meant to be and would never work together.)
The characters have great tendency of being proud, following a pattern, yet you can see huge changes (both in good and bad ways) for most of them. Furthermore, one of the most surprising characteristics of the book is that the women aren't weak and loving, as it would be expected since it's a story set in the XIX century; their struggles teach them to react and have their own opinions.
It isn't a story that changed me, but it was rather amusing and I cannot deny the prowess with which it was written, hence the four stars.
Admittedly, I thought I would hate it when I first started reading Wuthering Heights; I expected boring romance with weak characters, but everything was a huge surprise to me on that matter.
The story is mainly tragic and, despite revolving around characters that should be involved in a romantic relationship but simply can't, isn't dramatic in a way that could only be described as Mexican soap opera (meaning endless tears because one can't be with him/her they want). Nonetheless, part of the book is full of tears and wanting to be with one's beloved, yet the situation changes so drastically that I can't help but say I love that pairing (or how they're not meant to be and would never work together.)
The characters have great tendency of being proud, following a pattern, yet you can see huge changes (both in good and bad ways) for most of them. Furthermore, one of the most surprising characteristics of the book is that the women aren't weak and loving, as it would be expected since it's a story set in the XIX century; their struggles teach them to react and have their own opinions.
It isn't a story that changed me, but it was rather amusing and I cannot deny the prowess with which it was written, hence the four stars.
makaelin_'s review against another edition
3.0
liked the beginning, loved the middle, was bored by the end
im not smart enough to review this 3.5
im not smart enough to review this 3.5
decodethebooks's review against another edition
5.0
5 stars★★★★★
☞ Trigger warnings: *contains spoilers*
Spoiler
physical abuse, assault and injuries, racial discrimination, racial slurs, alcoholism, gambiling addiction, forced marriage, captivity & confinement, death, desecration of a corpse, death from starvation, death from childbirth, chronic illness, hallucinations & delusions, alluded to incest (non-biological relations but adopted), alluded to kidnapping/ bought from slavery and now in indentured servitude, mental illness, pregnancy, suicidial ideation, verbal abuse.I've come to an understanding with this book. I have sat with it, I have written an essay on it about the non-linear organisation of time and its connection with property, inheritance, marriage and how the lines blur between people and property. I have argued with myself about whether I even like it. I will definitely think about it for the rest of my life and it will be in fondness. For the latter reason alone, I have decided to 'award' this book, this microcosm of the worst of humanity and of the violence of love, of generational revenge and trauma, this critique on of gender, class, race and post-colonialisation, this book that has somewhat ruined my perspective and idea of what is good book and I have given it 5 stars. I don't think it should even have a rating but I'm beholden to my self-dictated system and I cannot just leave a book un-rated. Who am I if I do not rate a book that I have read. I don't know. I don't want to know. I'll probably be more anxious.
You know every time I read a classic I feel one more step towards Rory Gilmore-esque intelligence and I will never stop aspiring for that. Also makes me feel like I'm channeling Elizabeth Bennet.
Wuthering Heights is a Victorian novel about a tumultuous love story in the British countryside, during a time of slavery and colonisation. Heathcliff is a black man with no origin, no family and no name. Catherine, a white woman who has denounced her gender roles and expectations but subsequently was overcome by the prospect of rising above her class. This is a story about generational revenge, trauma and they cycle of violence that never ends. Its about a love that can transcend physical bounds, existing in a liminal place that will not separate them again.
Wuthering Heights is a straight up weird premise if you really think about it. Some guy shows up to rent a country house for like a year, tries to figure out the relations between the people living in the neighbouring house and gets like super sick from traipsing around in the cold and the house keeper just takes care of him and tells him the entire story of those peoples lives.
Time shifted around and so did my idea of who was my favourite. Here's a quick run-down:
☀︎ Heathcliff and Catherine (Earnshaw turned Linton) were running favourites until Heathcliff had to go and ruin it with his revenge plot and physical abuse towards his son, Cathy and Edgar. He became so unlikeable I was surprised no one tried to out-right kill him as if this was a cozy small town mystery book. It wasn't so he lived on to continue to torment the residents of Thruscross Grange and Wuthering Heights.
☀︎ Joseph continued to be unlikeable until all his hedonistic religious talk became funny anytime Cathy or Catherine just existed and he called them witches.
☀︎ Nelly, our narrator is such an unreliable narrator, with all her ideas of how people felt and the reasons for why people did what they did. She was such a mean nanny, and was constantly in peoples business.
☀︎ Edgar was just an original white soft-boy just trying to continue the institutional, systematic and social system that kept him, a white rich man, on top. I warmed to him by the end, and it was so interesting to juxtapose him with how the other men, who were fathers (Earnshaw, Hinley, Heathcliff) treated the children, their own and those under their care (Heathcliff, Catherine, Hinley, Linton, Hareton). People were being treated like possessions or property, and were being passed around, married off and used to circumvent laws.
☀︎ I certainly did not like Linton and Cathy at the end. Both were self-centered, mean, obnoxious and expected the world to move for them.
☀︎ Hareton was literarily the only shinning light at the end of this shit show of a family drama, and I was just so happy about him learning how to read, and just taking ownership and full bodily autonomy over his life. He deserves the world and I will fight anyone who says a bad word about him.
I could talk about this book for hours. I can now see why its one of my mothers favourite books. I like that I now have this in common with her.
Would I recommend this book?
Yes but, its not a book for everyone. It's non-linear narrative might make it annoying and all the racist connotations, the possession over women and their bodies, over Heathcliff and his body, over blaming children for their parents actions, its a heavy book.
Would I re-read this book?
Yes. Definitely. I cannot stop thinking about it now. I laughed, I gasped, I was in a rage and I contemplated my existence. It was an experience.
I'm going to go re-watch Pride & Predjudice again (the 2007 movie)...(obviously).
✧ 11th August ✧
I don't know what to rate this. It feels weird to rate it.
❤ Hareton my love ❤
While I think about my review and do my uni essay on this book here is a small playlist that just exude the general vibes of this book
✿ I Lost Something in the Hills // Sibylle Baier
✿ Wuthering Heights // Kate Bush
✿ No Face // Haley Heynderickx
✿ A Soulmate Who Wasn't Meant to Be // Jess Benko
✿ What He Wrote // Laura Marling
✿ Simmer // Hayley Williams
✿ Je te laisserai des mots // Patrick Watson
✿ Haunting // Halsey
✿ Roslyn // Bon Iver & St. Vincent
✿ Where's My Love // SYML
✿ In a Week // Hozier feat. Karen Cowley
Blog ✿ Goodreads ✿ Twitter ✿ Instagram
