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A review by julia_gets_lit
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
4.0
Wuthering Heights
Genre: Classic fiction, Gothic fiction, Tragedy
This is one big, fat slice of period piece drama. Perhaps even melodrama, but it is still thoroughly digestible because… it’s somehow believable. Bronte knows how to weave a story of childhood trauma into the psyche of the characters so that as we the readers watch them grow up, a wonderful character disaster of explosive volcanic proportions occurs. That is something so unnerving about this novel - that the characters were EVIL - diabolical even, but I still felt connected in an intimate way. Truly, sometimes this novel was more of a psychological thriller than a classic romance. In fact, I would NEVER classify this novel as a romance. There is just too much dysfunction. Heathcliff himself made my blood CURDLE. And Catherine actually spooked me so much I had a very vivid, unsettling dream after reading before bed.
This book touches on quite a few deeper topics: comparing the merits of wild unconventionality to decorous civility, touching on intergenerational abuse, exploring the politics of grand estates in the U.K. in the late 1700s, exposing the oppression (both physically and socioeconomically) of women. The whole story is told from the perspectives of the servants/tenants of the two featured estates/families in this novel, which offered a very interesting lens for the whole narrative. I haven’t read a ton of classics - so this may be why - but I’ve truly never read anything like this very sophisticated, twisted, thoroughly readable soap opera.
Roses: Recommend for people who like an escape back into time, a taste of tragic drama, an exploration of dysfunctional people, and prominent female characters
Thorns: Two of the main characters (Catherine Sr. and Heathcliff) are ridiculously selfish and their “romance” is actually extremely anxious attachment with a fun sprinkling of co-dependence. However, I think this was kind of the point. Bronte be like: they deserve each other. Also sometimes the older English would slow my reading (but I kind of liked the charm of it!).
4.0 stars
Genre: Classic fiction, Gothic fiction, Tragedy
This is one big, fat slice of period piece drama. Perhaps even melodrama, but it is still thoroughly digestible because… it’s somehow believable. Bronte knows how to weave a story of childhood trauma into the psyche of the characters so that as we the readers watch them grow up, a wonderful character disaster of explosive volcanic proportions occurs. That is something so unnerving about this novel - that the characters were EVIL - diabolical even, but I still felt connected in an intimate way. Truly, sometimes this novel was more of a psychological thriller than a classic romance. In fact, I would NEVER classify this novel as a romance. There is just too much dysfunction. Heathcliff himself made my blood CURDLE. And Catherine actually spooked me so much I had a very vivid, unsettling dream after reading before bed.
This book touches on quite a few deeper topics: comparing the merits of wild unconventionality to decorous civility, touching on intergenerational abuse, exploring the politics of grand estates in the U.K. in the late 1700s, exposing the oppression (both physically and socioeconomically) of women. The whole story is told from the perspectives of the servants/tenants of the two featured estates/families in this novel, which offered a very interesting lens for the whole narrative. I haven’t read a ton of classics - so this may be why - but I’ve truly never read anything like this very sophisticated, twisted, thoroughly readable soap opera.
Roses: Recommend for people who like an escape back into time, a taste of tragic drama, an exploration of dysfunctional people, and prominent female characters
Thorns: Two of the main characters (Catherine Sr. and Heathcliff) are ridiculously selfish and their “romance” is actually extremely anxious attachment with a fun sprinkling of co-dependence. However, I think this was kind of the point. Bronte be like: they deserve each other. Also sometimes the older English would slow my reading (but I kind of liked the charm of it!).
4.0 stars