Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

95 reviews

elenaaurora's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

domestic abuse, alcohol abuse, class, education, money, revenge, love, work, the mountains, ghosts and tomb stones. 
don’t read this if you’re sad or too sensitive. 
 catherine haunting the narrative for the whole book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Grief, and Alcohol

readingwithkaitlyn's review against another edition

dark 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Infidelity, Self harm, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Minor: Child death, Eating disorder, Gun violence, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Murder, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury

toonkatie's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Gaslighting, and Classism

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Kidnapping, Stalking, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Xenophobia

andysanzz_'s review against another edition

dark reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Classism

serena_hien's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Grief, and Death of parent

ghostsversion's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This book really was… something. Compared to Agnes Grey, this was like going from learning how to swim to diving in the middle of the ocean. This is of course a different type of book so it isn’t really a shock. I was shocked though when finding out that

the POV of this book were a Mr Lockwood and Ellen Dean, and not at the very least Catherine Linton nee Earnshaw.

It was a really interesting read and I might have rated it higher if not for

the excessive amount of incest and the constant racism and stereotyping of Romani people.

Also to the people who consider this a romance, I hear you and I somehow get you but please don’t go looking for this.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Incest, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

lp961's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Domestic abuse and Death of parent

Minor: Animal cruelty, Incest, Racism, and Classism

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).

vickyoyarzun's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Incest, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and Classism

Minor: Abandonment

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