Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

154 reviews

josefineisreading's review against another edition

challenging dark sad slow-paced

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

3.0

This was hard to read as there are no likeable characters and I thought I was going in to read a tragic romance. I think my downfall was the fact that I thought I might be reading something similar to Pride and Prejudice but it was nowhere near. 

There were parts that I liked and nearer to the end I found it easier to read. It felt like there was a fair bit of filler but I think it’s more because of the time rather than a fault of Emily Brontë. I’m writing this having finished it a few hours ago and I can say I won’t reread it but I do think it’s a pretty decent story. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Misogyny, Mental illness, Grief, Death, Child abuse, Bullying, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, and Chronic illness

Moderate: Child death, Suicidal thoughts, Incest, and Confinement

redheadorganist's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Classism, Toxic relationship, Confinement, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Mental illness and Pregnancy

books_because_why_not's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

2.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Grief, Death, Emotional abuse, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Alcoholism, Abandonment, and Animal cruelty

canyi's review against another edition

dark tense slow-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

3.5

Read as part of a buddy read among friends so it’s more recreational/ to mock it as a romance. But my final opinion is that its not a romance to mock because

Spoiler

it’s not a romance but more of a horror, the true romance is not the “main” couple, they’re the source of the horror. The true romance in this book is the end couple, I guess you could look at it as a romance that blossomed from the pure evil doings of Heathcliff but it really doesn’t feel like it’s the main point.

Personally I prefer to read books where I like or enjoy the main characters so honestly it wouldn’t be my go to pick. However once I got past that I found it was actually a really easy/ captivating read once I acknowledged (not a major plot spoiler)

Spoiler

that it was not a romance but more of a horror.

. 

Despite the slow moving plot I felt compelled to finish it, at least just because I wanted to see if

Spoiler

Heathcliff is ever stopped

. Although I was inclined to give this a one star because I absolutely despised most of the characters, I don’t think I was supposed to like them. Honestly it’s easier to hate a character you’re supposed to hate than not liking a character you’re supposed to like.

3.5 stars because it wasn’t a bad story

Spoiler

just terrible people, although I will admit the rating would be lower if it didn’t have a somewhat happy ending.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Grief, Chronic illness, Infidelity, Stalking, Bullying, Incest, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Violence, Classism, Death, Kidnapping, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Animal death, Torture, and Animal cruelty

Minor: Sexual assault and Sexual violence

maddypat's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective slow-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

4.5

I have a love-hate relationship with this book. I think going into it with the expectation that it would be a novel about primarily romance and love made me struggle to understand it. Really, it's a story about flawed people experiencing trauma and loss, and how that shapes their life and the lives around them. Love is there, and I'd even say it's still relatively central, but it's less about the exploration of that love and more about the results of it. I would have given it just three stars until I read the last two chapters -- when I promptly began to cry my eyes out!

It's a bit slow for me but I can fully see why it's a classic and would recommend it to anyone. 

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Animal cruelty

the_quickening_tree's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

Miserable plot, average writing, drags on more than is necessary. A classic, but not an enjoyable read

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Violence, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Alcohol, Death, and Grief

mistystar's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Domestic abuse, and Death

armand's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Infidelity, Racial slurs, Racism, and Grief

Moderate: Death

holly_jolly's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense 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

Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights tells the story of mainly two generations of characters that bring out the worst in each other.
What kept me hooked at first, were the eerie atmosphere and (MINOR SPOILER) the nightmarish apparition of a woman at Wuthering Heights, a moorland farmhouse, that made me want to find out who that woman was.
Getting to know the characters, I was constantly trying to figure out who of them was the worst. But although I did not like any, despised most and straight up feared some of them, I often felt for them. 
Emily Brontë created some exceedingly interesting characters here.

Spoiler

I absolutely love how she managed to turn around this absolute disaster, that kept getting worse and worse throughout the book, in the end.

Furthermore, the book offers opportunities for analysis, e.g. regarding the characters' development and the reliablility of the narrator as large parts of the story are told by a housekeeper.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Violence, and Child abuse

emmonsannae's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

Rereading this for the second time (the first 6 years ago), I was surprised at how much more I enjoyed it. Most of the story is a dumpster fire: the characters are terrible and only get worse, the drama is excessive, and the Victorian depravity is unending; but the prose is witty and vivid and it’s a dumpster fire I couldn’t stop watching. I really appreciated the story’s ending, after 400 pages of sheer brutality—it was a relief to able to watch the only pitiable characters in the novel consciously break every cycle of evil and choose goodness. (It gets bonus points for being a perfect gothic “ghost” novel which ends up having much more to say about the ghosts we make for ourselves.)

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Racism, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Death, Classism, Child abuse, and Mental illness