Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

239 reviews

krytykesa's review against another edition

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

3.0

Re-read

Continuing to reread books that should not have been picked up in adolescence, I came to this gothic-romantic classic. Unfortunately, this experience left me somewhat disappointed.

As a teenager, I was able to empathize with these heroes, at least on some level. As an adult, I saw an endless cycle of evil and violence that no one tried to stop. Like a great love story, all the couples lacked direct love.

Also, the reading process seemed very unpleasant and challenging due to the non-linearity of the plot, complex style, and unreliable narrators. In combination with everything, I leave this book on the shelf for the main characters of Twilight.

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flor_peredo's review against another edition

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

5.0


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freuadi's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-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

5.0

This book helps you dive into the complexity of Bipolar disorder (Catherine) as well as narcissistic personality disorder (Heathcliff). If dark psychological storylines interest you, this classic is a must-read for you. :) 

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lp961's review against another edition

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

5.0


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isayruusaybi's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-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

5.0


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uselesspirateraven's review against another edition

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challenging dark sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75


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spiderelsa's review against another edition

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5.0

What a journey! A good-faith, but unthorough, effort by one kind-hearted person rippled cruelty for three generations, all presided over by a Bible thumper servant. 

Everyone in this book needs therapy, a Warmie, and a new book they've never read before. 

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globgr's review against another edition

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dark sad 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

4.5


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bashsbooks's review against another edition

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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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vickyoyarzun's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Loveable characters? No

5.0

Los clásicos son clásicos por algo y esta definitivamente se lleva su puesto, no sé si es el éxtasis de recién terminar de leerla o si de verdad es de tal escala, pero actualmente, en este preciso instante, es mi clásico favorito.

Que triste que no pude leer esta novela en el ámbito académico porque el ensayo que hubiera hecho habría quedado exquisito, aunque aquí (en Good Reads) no sabría cómo empezar, quizás por mi primera intención en leer este libro que fue gracias a la maravillosa Mariana Enríquez y su libro “Nuestra Parte de Noche” que cita casi textualmente Cumbres Borrascosas y me dejó impactada con estos paralelismos que demuestran su propia pasión por la obra de Bronte: “Se lo había pedido, cuando estaba viva, una vez, casi en chiste imitando a un personaje de una novela, no me dejes solo, haunt me, no había palabras en castellano para ese verbo, haunt, no era embrujar, no era aparecer, era haunt, pero ella nunca lo había tomado en serio (…)” bastó con eso para que me obsesionara de tal forma con Cumbres Borrascosas hasta poder tenerlo en mis manos y poder leer el HAUNT ME, HAUNT ME de Heathcliff hacia Catherine.

Quiero aclarar que esa obsesión no era en absoluto por las implicaciones “románticas” que demostraban, siendo que en ambos libros (el de Bronte y Enríquez) se ve también el paralelismo de una relación más dependiente que amorosa, en Cumbres especialmente ese aspecto del amor infantil, de querer volver a ser esos niños corriendo en los prados, de reírse de las desgracias de los demás en vez de padecerlas, del egoísmo, la tenacidad y el deseo, que lleva a uno a la venganza (sádica y dirigida hacia los demás), y a la otra a la autodestrucción (masoquista y vuelta hacia sí misma). 

Podría escribir para siempre pero lo dejo hasta aquí, si les gustan las novelas violentas, góticas, con fantasmas, personajes crueles, chismes, naturaleza, enfermedad y encierro, pero sobre todo con la prosa maravillosa de tremenda escritora que fue Emily Bronte, la recomiendo muchísimo, especialmente la versión de Penguin Clásicos que tiene una excelente traducción de Nicole D’Amonville Alegría.

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