Reviews with content warning for Alcoholism - Wuthering Heights

Wuthering Heights is a stunning, claustrophobic nightmare of a gothic novel that I appreciate more in my 30s than I did in my teens. I went into this with little memory of the plot - the entirety of my recollection of my senior-year English essay on the subject was “everyone’s awful.” But two of my childhood besties were game for an impromptu buddy (re)read, and there is nothing quite like revisiting a book you didn’t understand on your first read and realizing it’s actually more horrifying than you previously understood (as a parent, the generational cycle of abuse and the childhood trauma wrought by severe isolation, confinement and emotional manipulation color the story for me, now).

Also on this read, I was more interested in the structure and style. The use of two unreliable narrators is so brilliantly done, where Mr. Lockwood’s diary-style narrative depends entirely on an abbreviated version of Nelly Dean’s narrative, which depends entirely on her retelling of events that happened to other people nearly three decades ago. The layers of bias between us and the events of the story create a feeling of always viewing the action through a fun-house mirror, with the melodrama rendered farcical and the broodiness of the characters and the moors deepening into supernatural terror.

Ultimately, who but an isolated and introverted young woman confined to the English moors, writing under an alias, defying the strictures of her zealous Christian family members could have written a story even her own sister would later caution is maybe too dark? (Charlotte’s posthumous introduction to the novel is overly apologetic and explanatory to a degree that I really dislike, but her note that her sister’s writing was “moorish, and wild, and knotty as a root of heath” is perfectly said).

Content Warnings

maayanaravot's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

This book is a total adventure to read. It has very dark themes of abuse and is filled with hate and revenge. Even so, the book is written so well and i found it enjoyabke to read. After i fished it, i didnt know what to make of it, what was the point? I wasnt sure how much i liked it. But over time ive grown to like the book more and see how it explores trauma and clinging to the past. Idk if id reccomend it to anyone tho, cuz its very tense.

The only character i really liked is edgar, he deserved better.

Content Warnings

cosmopsis's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.75

Content Warnings

riverofhorton's review against another edition

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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.

Content Warnings