3.78

1

Jun 29, 2007

I've tried it three times. I know people are obsessed with it. I hate everyone in the book - and I just can't care about a book where I actually hate the characters.

And, sure, I get the interpretation that as terrible as Heathcliff and Cathy are, it's their love that redeems them, and isn't that romantic.

No.

5

Feb 09, 2011

This is my favourite book. I do not say that lightly - I've read quite a lot from all different genres - but this is my favourite book. Of all time. Ever. The ladies over at The Readventurer kindly allowed me to get my feelings of utter adoration for Wuthering Heights off my chest in their "Year of the Classics" feature, but I now realise it's time I posted a little something in this blank review space. I mean, come on, it's my favourite book so it deserves better than empty nothingness.

So, what This is my favourite book. I do not say that lightly - I've read quite a lot from all different genres - but this is my favourite book. Of all time. Ever. The ladies over at The Readventurer kindly allowed me to get my feelings of utter adoration for Wuthering Heights off my chest in their "Year of the Classics" feature, but I now realise it's time I posted a little something in this blank review space. I mean, come on, it's my favourite book so it deserves better than empty nothingness.

So, what do I love so much about Wuthering Heights? Everything. Okay, maybe not. That wouldn't really be saying it strongly enough.

What I love about this novel is the setting; the wilderness. This is not a story about niceties and upper class propriety. This is the tale of people who aren't so socially acceptable, who live away from the strict rules of civilization - it's almost as if they're not quite from the world we know. The isolation of the setting out on the Yorkshire moors between the fictional dwellings of The Heights and Thrushcross Grange emphasises how far removed these characters are from social norms, how unconventional they are, and how lonely they are.

This is a novel for readers who can appreciate unlikeable characters; readers who don't have to like someone to achieve a certain level of understanding of them and their circumstances. People are not born evil... so what makes them that way? What torments a man so much that he refuses to believe he has any worth? What kind of person digs up the grave of their loved one so they can see them once again? Heathcliff was not created to be liked or to earn your forgiveness. Emily Brontë simply tells his story from the abusive and unloved childhood he endured, to his obsession with the only person alive who showed him any real kindness, to his adulthood as an angry, violent man who beats his wife and imprisons the younger Cathy in order to make her marry his son.

It would be so easy to hate Heathcliff, and I don't feel that he is some dark, sexy hero like others often do. But I appreciate what Emily Brontë attempts to teach us about the cycle of violence and aggression. Heathcliff eventually becomes little more than the man he hates. By being brought up with beatings and anger he in turn unleashes it on everyone else. And Cathy is no delicate flower either. What hope did Heathcliff have when the only person he ever loved was so selfish and vindictive? But I love Emily Brontë for creating such imperfect, screwed-up characters.

This is a dark novel that deals with some very complicated people, but I think in the end we are offered the possibility of peace and happiness through Cathy (younger) and Hareton's relationship, and the suggestion that Cathy (older) and Heathcliff were reunited in the afterlife. I had an English teacher in high school that said Cathy and Heathcliff's personalities and their relationship were too much for this world and that peace was only possible for them in the next. I have no idea if this was something Ms Bronte intended, but the romantic in me likes to imagine that it's true.

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5

Dec 18, 2010

I understand why many people hate this book. Catherine and Heathcliff are monstrous. Monstrous. You won't like them because they are unlikable. They are irrational, self-absorbed, malicious and pretty much any negative quality you can think a person is capable of possessing without imploding. They seek and destroy and act with no thought to consequence. And I find it fascinating that Emily Bronte chose them to be her central protagonists.

When this was first published it was met with animosity I understand why many people hate this book. Catherine and Heathcliff are monstrous. Monstrous. You won't like them because they are unlikable. They are irrational, self-absorbed, malicious and pretty much any negative quality you can think a person is capable of possessing without imploding. They seek and destroy and act with no thought to consequence. And I find it fascinating that Emily Bronte chose them to be her central protagonists.

When this was first published it was met with animosity because of how utterly repugnant these two characters were. The way they go about their business caring nothing for others but themselves was enough for me to shake my head in complete and total judgment, as if Catherine and Heathcliff could see me and are then effectively shamed by their actions.

Wuthering Heights is epic, in my humble opinion, because I believe that the scope of this story is monumental. Let me explain: it is a simple tale between two families that are bound in such a way that their fates are irrevocably linked. What affects one, affects the other. Its about Catherine and Heathcliff who fall in love and how their relationship ruins the lives of those around them. The book, all 400 pages of it, occur almost entirely at Wuthering Heights, the estate of the Earnshaws, and at Thrushcross Grange, the estate of the Lintons with only a couple of miles of land in between.

And yet it is not a small story.

The emotional magnitude of this book is great and far reaching. The provoking and unapologetic quality of Bronte's writing is seductive. The process of reading this story can feel so masochistic sometimes that its almost if she's daring us to stop reading and throw the book away. Like its a game of personal endurance to see how much we can take, how far we can go. She pushes at us, challenging us and all the while knowing that we have to keep reading because redemption awaits. It is nothing like its contemporaries.

The moors, the darkness of the moors, that curses the household of Wuthering Heights and its inhabitants is ever present. Nature is personified. It is its own character; its there, lingering and simmering ever so quietly, saturating every scene with its silent threats of doom...okay, I have to stop talking like this...what am I anymore?

There is poison in this book, but let me ease your mind by saying that it is balanced with goodness also. This isn't a perfect novel. There were still moments I found myself in perplexion (recently invented word). And while everything about Catherine and Heathcliff may be corrupt, there is hope in Wuthering Heights. If you can journey through the menacing forest of Emily Bronte's imagination, do it because the view is something to behold.

Ha ha ha, this review...what even is this? ...more

1

Jul 02, 2008

I never expected this book to be as flagrantly, unforgivably bad as it was.

To start, Bronte's technical choice of narrating the story of the primary characters by having the housekeeper explain everything to a tenant 20 years after it happened completely kills suspense and intimacy. The most I can say is that to some extent this functions as a device to help shroud the story and motives from the reader. But really, at the time literary technique hadn't quite always gotten around to accepting I never expected this book to be as flagrantly, unforgivably bad as it was.

To start, Bronte's technical choice of narrating the story of the primary characters by having the housekeeper explain everything to a tenant 20 years after it happened completely kills suspense and intimacy. The most I can say is that to some extent this functions as a device to help shroud the story and motives from the reader. But really, at the time literary technique hadn't quite always gotten around to accepting that omnipotent 3rd person narrators are allowed, so you'd have to have a multiperspective story told by an omnipotent 3rd person narrator who was actually a character in the story (e.g. the housekeeper Ellen). The layers of perspective make it annoying and sometimes impossible to figure out who is telling what bit of story; and moreover, because so much is related as two characters explaining things between themselves, the result is that we rarely see any action, and instead have the entire book explained in socratic, pedantic exposition.

The sense of place is poorly rendered and almost entirely missing. Great, the moor is gray.

But ultimately, the most damning thing is that the characters are a bunch of immature, insuffrable, narcissistic assholes with very little self respect. This isn't a story of great love and passion. It's the story of how child abuse perpetuates itself through the generations. The characters are either emotionally abused as children or, as in the case of Cathy I, they're spoiled and overindulged with no discipline and can't muster the restraint and self-respect to ditch abusive relationships. I kept waiting for any of the characters to be remotely worth my time, but I found no respite from the brutish abuse of the horribly twisted Heathcliff or from the simpering idiocy of Cathy I and II. Ugh. Not only are there no transformations or growth, but the characters aren't even that likable to begin with. How this book got to be a classic is beyond me. ...more

4

Oct 21, 2007

Certain novels come to you with pre-packaged expectations. They just seem to be part of literature's collective unconscious, even if they are completely outside of your own cultural referents. I, for instance, who have no particular knowledge of--or great love for--romantic, Anglo-Gothic fiction, came to Wuthering Heights with the assumption that I was picking up a melancholy ghost story of thwarted, passionate love and eternal obsession. Obsession turned out to be only accurate part of this Certain novels come to you with pre-packaged expectations. They just seem to be part of literature's collective unconscious, even if they are completely outside of your own cultural referents. I, for instance, who have no particular knowledge of--or great love for--romantic, Anglo-Gothic fiction, came to Wuthering Heights with the assumption that I was picking up a melancholy ghost story of thwarted, passionate love and eternal obsession. Obsession turned out to be only accurate part of this presumption.

Having an image of Heathcliff and Cathy embracing Gone with the Wind -style on a windy moor ironed in my mind, I was almost completely unprepared for the hermetic, moribund, bleak, vengeful, perverse, and yes--obsessive--novel that this really is. Don Quixote is not about windmills and Wuthering Heights is not really a love story. Heathcliff and Cathy's love affair (if it can be called that) is a narcissistic ("I am Heathcliff!" Cathy exclaims at one point), possessive, and imminently cruel relationship predicated on self-denial and an obsessiveness that relies not on passion, but rather borders on hatred. They are selfish, violent, and contriving people who have borne their fair share of abuses (mostly Heathcliff in this respect) and in turn, feel no compunction about raining similar abuses on those who they find beneath them.

Given this dynamic, it seems perhaps inevitable that these two characters would make not only themselves miserable, but everyone around them miserable--even after death. This is particularly easy to accomplish mainly because there are--with the exception of Mr. Lockwood, the tenant who rents a home from Heathcliff--no outside characters. Everyone in the novel (including the servants) is isolated, trapped between the same two homes, with the same two families, and have truly no chance of escaping any of the events and repercussions that occur.(One character makes a temporary escape, only to suffer all the more for it later.)

More important, however, is the fact that Heathcliff and Cathy don't even need be present (although they usually are in some fashion) for their influences to be felt by the other characters. The sins of the father, are literally, inherited and distributed among the next generation. The children of Wuthering Heights are not only physical doubles of their parents (At least 3 characters look like Cathy, and one resembles Heathcliff), but they are also spiritual stand-ins. They must suffer for past transgressions, and they must find a way to make amends for them. All, I might add, without the particular benefit of ever having the full story, the context that might be necessary to actually change their circumstances. Misery, it seems, is inevitable.

There is, of course, much more to be said about this novel. One could spend quite some time dissecting all the various repetitions and doublings, the narrative structure (the story is told by the housekeeper to the lodger who then writes it down as a diary entry), or the archetypal analogies and semi-biblical symbolism that seems to be implicit to every part of this story.

The point being, I suppose, that while Wuthering Heights may not be the wistful romance one (or maybe just I) expected to be, it is a particularly satisfying one for all of its dark and layered surprises. ...more

5

Dec 03, 2009

"all i care about in this goddamn life are me, my drums, and you"...

if you don't know that quote, you're probably too young to be reading this and isn't it past your bedtime or shouldn't you be in school or something?

but that quote, hyper-earnest cheese - that is romance. wuthering heights is something more dangerous than romance. it's one long protracted retaliation masquerading as passion. and goddamn do i love it. i can't believe i haven't reviewed it before - i mention this book in more than "all i care about in this goddamn life are me, my drums, and you"...

if you don't know that quote, you're probably too young to be reading this and isn't it past your bedtime or shouldn't you be in school or something?

but that quote, hyper-earnest cheese - that is romance. wuthering heights is something more dangerous than romance. it's one long protracted retaliation masquerading as passion. and goddamn do i love it. i can't believe i haven't reviewed it before - i mention this book in more than half of my reviews, i have a whole shelf devoted to its retellings, so why the delay?? but better late than never.

no, it's not a perfect novel; it's a flawed structure revealing the actions of seriously flawed people. the framing device-within-a-framing-device? totally awkward. having nelly dean tell the story even though where was she for most of the action? totally wrong move, bronte; it makes the beginning such a slog to get through. but that's just stale loaf - the good stuff is all the meat in between.

and oh, the meat... the swarthy stranger of mysterious origins being raised in a family of sheltered overmoist english mushrooms, all pale and rain-bloated, the running wild, two-souls-against-the-world adolescence...childhood indiscretions... vows and tantrums, bonding, unspoken promises, yes i will yes i will yes i will. oh, but wait, what's this??...it's blond and it's rich and it's whats expected of me. very well then. see ya, heathcliff...

it's just textbook gothic from here on out: revenge-seduction, overheard conversations, mysterious disappearances, murdered puppies, swooning, vindictive child-rearing, death, ghosts, moors, phoar...

but this to me, is a perfect love story, even though it's more like torture. the unattainable is always more romantic than the storybook. i don't like an uncomplicated ending, and a story is more impactful with nuanced characters, preferably heavily unlikeable throughout. (this is where i plug head-on - one of my favorite movies ever. do it.)this story just makes me feel good. and i'm well over my teenage fascination with the "bad boy"; i realized pretty quick that "bad boys" are usually pretty dumb. so i moved on to "emotionally disturbed", which is the same thing, really; plenty of drama, and they will leave you drunken "presents" on your lawn (road signs, carousel ponies..), but not complete burnouts, at least. but my teenaged dating pool is neither here nor there, the point is that heathcliff can be romanticized as this victim/villain without having to correspond to the ideal. it's about the level of passion, the size of the grand romantic gesture. devoting your life to destroying the people who kept you from your true love is an amazingly grand gesture.

come to my blog! ...more

5

Jun 14, 2016

How can I find and put together the suitable words and write a review about one of the most iconic creations in World Literature? One of those books that provoke such intense feelings that either you worship them or you utterly hate them. There is no middle ground. Every year, I revisit Wuthering Heights for two reasons. First, it is one of my personal Christmas traditions and secondly, I prepare extracts to use in class for my intermediate level students. This year, I finally felt confident How can I find and put together the suitable words and write a review about one of the most iconic creations in World Literature? One of those books that provoke such intense feelings that either you worship them or you utterly hate them. There is no middle ground. Every year, I revisit Wuthering Heights for two reasons. First, it is one of my personal Christmas traditions and secondly, I prepare extracts to use in class for my intermediate level students. This year, I finally felt confident enough to write a text. I will not call it a review, but a summary of what this masterpiece means for me, what I feel each time I gaze upon its title.

I was 12 when my mother made me a special gift. (I have a mother that gave me a book about self-destructive love and a father that gave me Crime and Punishment a year later. I know, they rock!) It was a thick volume with a dark cover. A cover as black as the night scene it depicted. A young couple running in the moors against the wind, and a black, foreboding mansion looming in the background. To this day, that cherished Greek edition of Emily's only novel is the most beautiful I've ever seen. I read it in a single day. I remember it was a windy day, a summer torrent rain that lasted all afternoon. It left me speechless. It shaped me. It shaped my reading preferences, it shaped my love for eerie, dark, doomed, haunting stories with twisted anti-heroes. It even shaped the choice of my profession.

When I was 15, one of the best teachers I've ever had gave us a project. She divided us into groups and asked us to make a presentation of our favourite book. She put me in a group with two classmates. Such kind and charming souls they were but would never open a book if their lives depended on it. I didn't care, I was happy because I'd get to choose the book. We left our teacher crying buckets in the classroom, marking a heroic A+ on our papers. During the 3rd year in university, we had to complete individual assignments. I'll let you guess the theme and the book I chose. My professor had to interrupt me at some point, kindly but firmly. ''Yes, thank you, Amalia, this is great, but there are others waiting, you know.'' Were they? Anyway, you get the point. My level of obsession with this novel equal Heathcliff's obsession with Cathy.

Emily Brontë's novel may not be for everyone. It doesn't matter. Nothing is for everyone. But, she has created an eternal tale -or nightmare- of a love that is destructive, dark, twisted and stranger than all the other sweet, lovey-dovey stories that have been written. She has created one of the most iconic couples in Literature, she has provided the first and finest example of the Anti-hero in the face of Heathcliff. She has ruined many girls' expectations, because who wouldn't want to be loved as fiercely as Cathy was? (For years, my notion of the ideal man was Ralph Fiennes as Heathcliff in the 1992 film. The best adaptation of the novel, with Juliette Binoche as Cathy) How many writers who have written only one novel can claim to have accomplished all these?

One of the reasons I became a teacher was to have the opportunity to teach this book. It is my greatest satisfaction when I see its impact on my teenage students. They are familiar with the bleak and twisted tales of our times, nothing shocks them anymore. They love it unanimously, it is a rare case where boys and girls love the same book equally. So, mission accomplished.

''I cannot live without my life! I cannot live without my soul!'' For me, this book is my soul. It lies there, making the question ''What is your favourite book?'' the easiest ever.

P.S. Please, God, when I die, put me in a sector where I can meet Emily. You can keep Shakespeare, Austin, Tolstoy and Dostoevsky. I prefer long talks with a disturbed, fragile, wild girl... ...more

3

Jan 15, 2009

Ah the classics. Everybody can read their own agenda in them. So, first a short plot guide for dinner conversations when one needs to fake acculturation, and then on to the critics’ view.
A woman [1:] is in love with her non-blood brother [2:] but marries her neighbor [3:] whose sister [4:] marries the non-blood brother [2:]; their [1,3:] daughter [5:] marries their [2,4:] son [6:]; meanwhile, their [1,2:] elder brother marries and has a son [7:]. Then everybody dies, 1 of bad temper, 4 of Ah the classics. Everybody can read their own agenda in them. So, first a short plot guide for dinner conversations when one needs to fake acculturation, and then on to the critics’ view.
A woman [1:] is in love with her non-blood brother [2:] but marries her neighbor [3:] whose sister [4:] marries the non-blood brother [2:]; their [1,3:] daughter [5:] marries their [2,4:] son [6:]; meanwhile, their [1,2:] elder brother marries and has a son [7:]. Then everybody dies, 1 of bad temper, 4 of stupidity, 3 of a cold, 6 because he’s irritating, 2 because he’s mean and tried to rise above his station. 5 and 7 are the only ones left, so they marry. The women are all called Catherine, the men are mostly called Earnshaw, and through intermarriage everybody is a bit of a Heathcliff.

The Marxist critic: the oppressed and underprivileged [2:] revolts to improve his lot in life, but fails to make allies and loses everything, as always.
The Post-colonialist critic: once again the rich [1,3,4:] meddle with the lives of the poor [2:] under the pretense of improving them, in fact wrecking havoc.
The Feminist critic: if only the Catherines had read The Feminine Mystique…
The Freudian critic: repeated intermarriage and border-line incest make for such good stories!
The Shakespearean critic: Much Ado About Nothing
The Entertainment Weekly executive: stories told by sources close to the protagonists always sell well, because most people live vicariously. And dinnertime has always been the perfect slot for gossip. ...more

2

May 31, 2016

This is a review I never imagined I’d write. This is a book I was convinced I’d love. I just have to face the facts, Emily is no Charlotte.

I’m going to start with the positives. The characterisation of Heathcliff is incredibly strong. He is a man who is utterly tormented by the world. As a gypsy boy he is dark skinned and dark haired, and to the English this rough, almost wild, look makes him a ruffian. He stands up for himself, and bites back; thus, he is termed a monster. In a very, very, This is a review I never imagined I’d write. This is a book I was convinced I’d love. I just have to face the facts, Emily is no Charlotte.

I’m going to start with the positives. The characterisation of Heathcliff is incredibly strong. He is a man who is utterly tormented by the world. As a gypsy boy he is dark skinned and dark haired, and to the English this rough, almost wild, look makes him a ruffian. He stands up for himself, and bites back; thus, he is termed a monster. In a very, very, Frankenstein’s monster like sense, his perceived outer image begins to permeate his soul. Call a man a monster, and eventually he may start acting like one.

“He’s not a rough diamond - a pearl-containing oyster of a rustic; he’s a fierce, pitiless, wolfish man.”

He is a very complex man, capable of great cruelty and kindness. The world has made him bitter, and in a way ruined him. He reaps revenge, but revenge always ends the same way; it doesn’t solve problems but creates more. So he becomes even more tormented, this time by his own actions. He is very Byronic, and by today’s standards a little bit of a bad boy. He has all the standard tropes of an anti-hero, one that becomes a figure that can be sympathised with and hated. He’s a very complex man.

The Bronte’s were directly affected by Byron’s poetry. Rochester is Charlotte’s portrayal of a similar, albeit less vengeful, character. Love is the key torment in both works. Heathcliff has been rejected, as Rochester cannot open his heart because of his secret wife. But, rather that overcome his personal loss, and subject the world to his dark and broody personality, Heathcliff actually seeks to do others harm. He is a very sensitive man when it comes to his own emotions, though he lacks any real empathy. He does not care that he is creating more pain for others. He spends his life spreading more hate into the world. His only redeeming quality is his love for Catherine, but that doesn’t excuse his tyranny. He knows how nasty he is:

"She abandoned [her home] under a delusion," he answered, "picturing in me a hero of romance, and expecting unlimited indulgences from my chivalrous devotion. I can hardly regard her in the light of a rational creature, so obstinately has she persisted in forming a fabulous notion of my character and acting on the false impressions she cherished."

He's so self-centred:



So I rather like his character, well not like but appreciate the complexity, though the novel’s structure itself was abysmal. I have quite a few problems with the narrative.

Why is a servant telling us this story as she speaks to a visitor of her master’s house? Why are we hearing someone’s interpretation of the events rather than the events themselves? Why is it twenty years later in the form of an extremely long conversation? Why is the servant still actually working for Heathcliff? She would have left. Nobody would choose to work for such a man. It just doesn’t make a lot of sense. At times it felt like the credibility of the story was stretched to breaking point. Nelly (the servant) actually being in some of the scenes was almost laughable. Often it was followed by a terrible explanation attempting to justify her presence. It sounded very desperate to me.

This leads perfectly on to my next point. Half way through the story (the start of volume ii) we are told that the conversation has ended. We then hear the visitor’s description of the servant’s narrative about Heathcliff’s life. I mean seriously? So there are three layers of storytelling. Isn’t that completely unnecessary and overcomplicated? Why not just have Heathcliff tell the story or at the very least have the servant tell the story from start to finish in one story arc with no time shifts. For me, it felt like Emily wrote herself into a corner with her choice of narrative and desperately tried to write herself out of it to the point of ridiculousness. How much of the story can we believe? How much bias is in the narratives?

Then there was the dialogue overloads. Large parts of the novel were entirely conversational. The narration was minimalistic and bare. The only character whose thoughts we were privy to, again Nelly the servant, was completely irrelevant to the plot. Who cares about the servant’s emotion and reactions? This isn’t her story; thus, the dialogue was packed out to the point of unnaturalness to fit in the thoughts of characters whose minds we weren’t privy to. Simply put, the characters said things people wouldn’t realistically say in conversation. It was overflowing with emotions and private thoughts. It was awkward. I’m not talking about private conversations, those don’t happen as Nelly is awkwardly present for every single event, but announcements or decisions (that should be internal) announced to a group of people. This is why plays have asides and soliloquies. And this is why novels aren’t told from the perspective of a random servant.

There is clearly a great story here. Plot wise the novel is wonderful. But the way in which Emily told her story was nothing short of disastrous. It felt like a wasted opportunity. I’m absolutely horrified at how poor it is. This novel needed to be taken apart, re-wrote, and put back together again. Perhaps then it would have been worthy of the story it failed to tell. I’ve never been so massively underwhelmed in such a blatant lack of skill in a canonised piece of literature, one that has immense critical reception. ...more

1

Sep 21, 2007

If you think that spitefulness is romantic, and that people destroying their lives is dramatic, go ahead and read this book. But don't say I didn't warn you.

5

Feb 26, 2007

I first read this in AP English Literature - senior year of high school. This book is dense and thick and confusing, and with a class full of haters, it was hard to wrap my head around it. I subsequently read it three or four more times for classes in college and every time I read it, I loved it more. I always found some new, fascinating piece of the story I had never picked up on.

The last time I read it, I suddenly realized that there were many hints and clues that Heathcliff could, in fact, be I first read this in AP English Literature - senior year of high school. This book is dense and thick and confusing, and with a class full of haters, it was hard to wrap my head around it. I subsequently read it three or four more times for classes in college and every time I read it, I loved it more. I always found some new, fascinating piece of the story I had never picked up on.

The last time I read it, I suddenly realized that there were many hints and clues that Heathcliff could, in fact, be black. A quick shot at research into Liverpool, where Mr. Earnshaw found the urchin, shows that it was the home to a thriving slave trade. This theory completely changes the story, in my opinion.

Or the thought someone brought up in our seminar on the Brontes - what if Nellie is in love with Heathcliff and subsequently altered how she told the story? You do find Nellie to be coincidently involved in many key scenes throughout the text. What if she isn't the good guy most readers assume she is?

Wuthering Heights is one of the quintessential novels in history. There's nothing else you can really say about it, except that it's one of the best pieces of writing to ever be created. It's just that incredible.

Finished for the 5th time - 11/25/2014 ...more

1

Feb 07, 2008

I read this book for my AP Literature class. I loved the teacher, loved the subject matter, and loved pretty much everything else we had read, so I had high hopes for this book. I must say, I made a genuine and sincere effort to like this book, I really did. I got half way through with no hope in sight, yet I perservered, hoping the second half would show promise in the next generation. No such luck. Although nothing tops the finale "love scene" between Heathcliff and Katherine, with Heathcliff I read this book for my AP Literature class. I loved the teacher, loved the subject matter, and loved pretty much everything else we had read, so I had high hopes for this book. I must say, I made a genuine and sincere effort to like this book, I really did. I got half way through with no hope in sight, yet I perservered, hoping the second half would show promise in the next generation. No such luck. Although nothing tops the finale "love scene" between Heathcliff and Katherine, with Heathcliff foaming at the mouth and a verbal battle of "no, YOU killed me" "no, you killed yourself" (a stupidity hiterto unknown since the "no YOU'RE prettier" battles). Eventually, the final pages came into view and I was desperate- there must be some redemption for this junk! Some message, some ending sequence, SOMETHING that makes this worthwhile. The characters are so self-absorbed and posses an unprecendeted lack of intelligence, yet are still portrayed as intelligent by the literary world, that it seemed like the only fitting ending would be the characters realizing their stupidity and engaging in a mass suicide. No such luck. Every last word was idiotic and as empty as the first. But you know what grinds my gears even more than the fact that I wasted a week on this worthless pseudo-classic? It kills me that people not only mistake this hoax for real literature, but reference it for ROMANTIC value! Foaming at the mouth, marrying someone you don't love, wow.... now that's a level of romance lovers fantasize about achieving. ...more

4

Mar 24, 2009

902. Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë
In 1801, Lockwood, a wealthy young man from the south of England, who is seeking peace and recuperation, rents Thrushcross Grange in Yorkshire. He visits his landlord, Heathcliff, who lives in a remote moorland farmhouse, Wuthering Heights. There Lockwood finds an odd assemblage: Heathcliff, who seems to be a gentleman, but whose manners are uncouth; the reserved mistress of the house, who is in her mid-teens; and a young man, who seems to be a member of the 902. Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë
In 1801, Lockwood, a wealthy young man from the south of England, who is seeking peace and recuperation, rents Thrushcross Grange in Yorkshire. He visits his landlord, Heathcliff, who lives in a remote moorland farmhouse, Wuthering Heights. There Lockwood finds an odd assemblage: Heathcliff, who seems to be a gentleman, but whose manners are uncouth; the reserved mistress of the house, who is in her mid-teens; and a young man, who seems to be a member of the family, yet dresses and speaks as if he is a servant. ...
عنوان: ووترینگ هایتز؛ بلندیهای بادگیر؛ بلندیهای بادخیز؛ نویسنده: امیلی برونته (نگاه ، جامی) ادبیات؛ تاریخ نخستین خوانش: ماه جولای سال 1977 میلادی؛ بار دوم: سال 1998 میلادی؛ سومین بار در ماه می سال 2007 میلادی
عنوانها: تندباد حوادث یا ووترینگ هایتز؛ بلندیهای بادخیز؛ بلندیهای بادخیز (وودرینگ هایتز)؛ بلندیهای بادگیر؛ بلندیهای بادگیر (وادرینگ هایتز)؛ بلندیهای بادگیر (عشق هرگز نمیمیرد)؛ بلندیهای بادگیر (وادرینگ هایتس)؛ بلندیهای بادگیر یا عشق هرگز نمیمیرد؛ به رزاییه کانی به‌ربا؛ عشق هرگز نمیمیرد؛ عشق هرگز نمیمیرد (بلندیهای بادگیر)؛ واترینگ هایتز؛ بلندیهای بادگیر (تا انتهای پر رنج عشق)؛ عشق هرگز نمیمیرد (بلندیهای بادخیز)؛ هر یک از عنوانهای بالا بارها به زیور طبغ آراسته شده اند، البته که با کوشش مترجمین و دیگران از ارجمندان. اثری از «امیلی برونته»، شاعر و نویسنده ی انگلیسی است که بارها توسط مترجمهای نام آشنا جنابان و آقایان: عبدالعظیم صبوری - در 299 ص، در سال 1334 هجری خورشیدی، ولی الله ابراهیمی در سال 1348 هجری خورشیدی، داریوش شاهین؛ علی اصغر بهرام بیگی، پرویز پژواک؛ رباب امام، تهمینه مهربانی، حمید اکبری و زهرا احمدیان، فرزانه قلیزاده، نعیمه ظاهری، مریم صادقی؛ اکرم مظفری، فاطمه امینی، شادی ابطحی، فریده قراچه داغی (صمیمی)؛ مهدی سجودی مقدم، رضا رضایی، و نوشین ابراهیمی، مهدی غبرائی، هادی ریاضی، سمیه امانی و شهرام
قوامی؛ ترجمه و منتشر شده است
وادِرینگ هایتس در این داستان که عنوان آن، نام عمارت خانوادگی «ارنشاو»؛ و به معنی خانه ای ست، که روی تپه و در معرض باد ساخته شده است. داستان عشق آتشین و مشکل‌دار، میان «هیث کلیف» و «کترین (کاترین) ارنشاو»، و این‌که همین عشق نافرجام، چگونه سرانجام این دو عاشق، و بسیاری از اطرافیانشان را، به نابودی می‌کشاند. «هیث کلیف»، کولی‌زاده‌ ای ست، که موفق به ازدواج با «کاترین» نمی‌شود، و پس از مرگ «کاترین» به انتقام‌ روی می‌آورد. ا. شربیانی ...more

2

Feb 03, 2019

“People feel with their hearts, Ellen, and since he has destroyed mine, I have not power to feel for him.”
Okay, I know that Wuthering Heights is so many people’s favorite book of all-time, and so many people’s least favorite book of all-time, so I went into this not really knowing what to expect. I will be honest, I didn’t really love it, but I was for sure not expecting the wild ride that this story took me on. I just truly found all of the characters (Except for Ellen/Nelly) to be so damn

“People feel with their hearts, Ellen, and since he has destroyed mine, I have not power to feel for him.”
Okay, I know that Wuthering Heights is so many people’s favorite book of all-time, and so many people’s least favorite book of all-time, so I went into this not really knowing what to expect. I will be honest, I didn’t really love it, but I was for sure not expecting the wild ride that this story took me on. I just truly found all of the characters (Except for Ellen/Nelly) to be so damn insufferable.

But this is a story set in 1801, about a man named Mr. Lockwood, staying the night at Wuthering Heights. He meets a man named Heathcliff, who seems absolutely miserable, and he meets a housekeeper named Ellen Dean who will eventually help us figure out why Heathcliff is so miserable. Oh, and when Lockwood goes to sleep that night, he is awoken by a ghost! He then tells Ellen this, and she promptly throws us back into a flashback, where she becomes the new narrator, and we get to see what went down at Wuthering Heights many years ago.

Wuthering Heights, at its black heart, is a story all about abuse, and cycles of abuse, and how abuse can impact so many hearts and so many generations repeatedly. Abuse and cruelty truly breed violence, and Heathcliff and everyone he has been forced to interact with just showcase that theme over and over. Heathcliff was orphaned and taken in, but everyone reminds him that he constantly is an outsider. But this story focuses on him and the three young people he grew up alongside of, and they are all shitty in their own ways.

âž½ Heathcliff is shitty because he only cares for Catherine.
âž½ Isabelle is shitty because she only cares about Heathcliff.
➽ Edgar is shitty because he doesn’t care about his sister.
âž½ Catherine is shitty because she only cares about herself.

“Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same.”
And friends, it is a truly wild ride seeing these characters interact with one another. And we eventually get to see their children who (you guessed it) are shitty, too! Again, cycles of abandonment and abuse is truly heartbreaking in every aspect.

I don’t want to say too much more without spoiling, because I really do think the twists are pretty decent in this and figuring out more about the ghost was a big highlight for me. Also, the atmosphere was phenomenal, and the Yorkshire moors truly set a beautiful stage for this dark tale. And I feel like this is a little bit of an unpopular opinion; but I actually really liked Emily’s prose, too.

I do want to say that upon finishing this story, I immediately started to look up things about the entire Brontë family, and my heart just broke. The things that those sister, and their entire family, had to go through. I know 2019 is kind of a dumpster fire, but I am so thankful that I wasn’t born in the 1800s, good Lord. Also, reading about how closely tuberculosis impacted this story and Emily’s life truly fucked me up, especially because I’m close to Emily’s age when she died. Seriously, I have so much love and respect in my heart for these three sisters, originally writing their dark tales under male pseudonyms, who will now never be forgotten.

Overall, even though I didn’t love this story, this book was enjoyable enough to read. But you’re never going to find me romanticism anything that Heathcliff did. But I truly couldn’t wait to find out what happened next to all these insufferable characters. And I still firmly believe that Ellen/Nelly deserves the entire world. Also, I had the biggest giggle while reading about someone throwing hot applesauce at someone else, because like, just imagine that.

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Content and trigger warnings for use of the word g*psies, death, loss of a loved one, a lot of physical and emotional abuse, alcohol abuse, child abuse, animal abuse, humiliation, self-harm, and abandonment. ...more

4

Jun 08, 2008

902. Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë
Wuthering Heights is Emily Brontë's only novel. Written between October 1845 and June 1846, Wuthering Heights was published in 1847 under the pseudonym "Ellis Bell"; Brontë died the following year, aged 30. Wuthering Heights and Anne Brontë's Agnes Grey were accepted by publisher Thomas Newby before the success of their sister Charlotte's novel Jane Eyre. After Emily's death, Charlotte edited the manuscript of Wuthering Heights and arranged for the edited 902. Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë
Wuthering Heights is Emily Brontë's only novel. Written between October 1845 and June 1846, Wuthering Heights was published in 1847 under the pseudonym "Ellis Bell"; Brontë died the following year, aged 30. Wuthering Heights and Anne Brontë's Agnes Grey were accepted by publisher Thomas Newby before the success of their sister Charlotte's novel Jane Eyre. After Emily's death, Charlotte edited the manuscript of Wuthering Heights and arranged for the edited version to be published as a posthumous second edition in 1850.
بلندیهای بادگیر (عشق هرگز نمیمیرد) - امیلی برونته (نگاه ، جامی) ادبیات این کتاب نخستین بار در سال 1847 میلادی منتشر شد؛
عنوانها: تندباد حوادث یا ووترینگ هایتز؛ بلندیهای بادخیز؛ بلندیهای بادخیز (وودرینگ هایتز)؛ بلندیهای بادگیر؛ بلندیهای بادگیر (وادرینگ هایتز)؛ بلندیهای بادگیر (عشق هرگز نمیمیرد)؛ بلندیهای بادگیر (وادرینگ هایتس)؛ بلندیهای بادگیر یا عشق هرگز نمیمیرد؛ به رزاییه کانی به‌ربا؛ عشق هرگز نمیمیرد؛ عشق هرگز نمیمیرد (بلندیهای بادگیر)؛ واترینگ هایتز؛ بلندیهای بادگیر (تا انتهای پر رنج عشق)؛ عشق هرگز نمیمیرد (بلندیهای بادخیز)؛ تاریخ نخستین خوانش: سال 1977 میلادی؛ بار دوم: سال 1998 میلادی؛ و بار سوم: ماه می سال 2007 میلادی
هر یک از عنوانهای بالا، بارها به زیور طبغ آراسته شده اند، البته که با کوشش مترجمین و دیگران. اثر امیلی برونته، شاعر و نویسنده ی انگلیسی که بارها توسط مترجمهای نام آشنا: عبدالعظیم صبوری - در 299 ص، در سال 1334 هجری خورشیدی، ولی الله ابراهیمی در سال 1348 هجری خورشیدی، داریوش شاهین؛ علی اصغر بهرام بیگی، پرویز پژواک؛ رباب امام، تهمینه مهربانی، حمید اکبری و زهرا احمدیان، فرزانه قلیزاده، نعیمه ظاهری، مریم صادقی؛ اکرم مظفری، فاطمه امینی، شادی ابطحی، فریده قراچه داغی (صمیمی)؛ مهدی سجودی مقدم، رضا رضایی، و نوشین ابراهیمی، مهدی غبرائی، هادی ریاضی، سمیه امانی و شهرام قوامی؛ ترجمه و منتشر شده است
وادِرینگ هایتس، در این داستان، نام عمارت خانوادگی «ارنشاو» است؛ و به معنی خانه ای ست، که روی تپه و در معرض باد، ساخته شده است. داستان عشق آتشین و مشکل‌دار، میان «هیث کلیف» و «کترین (کاترین) ارنشاو»، و این‌که همین عشق نافرجام، چگونه سرانجام این دو عاشق، و بسیاری از اطرافیانشان را، به نابودی می‌کشاند. «هیث کلیف»، کولی‌زاده‌ ای ست، که موفق به ازدواج با «کاترین» نمی‌شود، و پس از مرگ «کاترین» به انتقام‌جویی روی می‌آورد. ا. شربیانی ...more

1

Apr 05, 2010

If you've been following my status updates as I read this book, you can probably guess what kind of review this is going to be. (answer: the best kind!) So let's get the good stuff out of the way first, and then I can start the ranting.

Good stuff: I liked some of the characters. Ellen was sweet, and seemed to be the only sensible person in the story. And lord, does she get put through a lot of shit. Girlfriend needs a hug and a spa weekend after all she's been through. I also liked Catherine II If you've been following my status updates as I read this book, you can probably guess what kind of review this is going to be. (answer: the best kind!) So let's get the good stuff out of the way first, and then I can start the ranting.

Good stuff: I liked some of the characters. Ellen was sweet, and seemed to be the only sensible person in the story. And lord, does she get put through a lot of shit. Girlfriend needs a hug and a spa weekend after all she's been through. I also liked Catherine II and Hareton - unlike their romantic predecessors (and believe me, we'll get to those two soon), they were likeable most of the time. Sure, they had their jackass moments, but considering their respective upbringings, can you really blame them? Also, they reminded me of Bender and Claire from The Breakfast Club. Like I said, kind of irritating and stupid, but sweet.
I also appreciated the incredible passion of the story (and the passionate emotions it raised in me) Sure, I hated Heathcliff, but even I swooned a little during his final scene with Cathy. Sure, Emily Bronte has written the most terrifying portrayal of a love story I've ever seen (Fatal Attraction? Pfft.), but she did it really, really well. Terrifying as it is. Which brings me to the next section of this review...

Bad Stuff: I cannot, for the life of me, understand why anyone thinks this is a love story. It's a horror story of love and passion gone horribly, horribly wrong, and Heathcliff is one of the greatest villains ever created in literature.
Notice I said "villain" and not "antihero." Heathcliff is not an antihero. He is a sociopath, and for the last fifty pages of the story I wanted to violently murder him so badly that my hands were shaking as I held the book. He is evil.
Cathy doesn't get my sympathy, either. She was a spoiled, unfeeling bitch during every moment she was present in the story, and it's only because she was dead by page 200 that she didn't make me as angry as Heathcliff did - she simply didn't have enough time.
But let's get back to Heathcliff - I cannot outline here all of the evil things he did over the course of the story, and to do so would probably be to give away spoilers. Let me just say this: I now understand completely why Wuthering Heights is being advertised in bookstores as "Bella and Edwards Favorite Book!". It should be. As I said in a comment on one of my statuses: Edward Cullen is good, but Heathcliff wrote the fucking book on Domestic Abuse Thinly Disguised As Love.
I don't know why so many readers get all fangirly over Heathcliff. He's an asshole, a sociopath, and even he knows how evil he is. As he says of Isabella, a girl he marries and then treats so horribly I can't even talk about it right now: "She abandoned them under a delusion...picturing in me a hero of romance, and expecting unlimited indulgences from my chivalrous devotion. I can hardly regard her in the light of a rational creature, so obstinately has she persisted in forming a fabulous notion of my character, and acting on the false impression she has cherished."

Hear that, Heathcliff fangirls? Even he thinks you're all morons for liking him.

And, just to end this on a good note: I've shared this webcomic before, but it fits here too because, let's face it, the Bronte sisters had terrible taste in men. ...more

5

Oct 18, 2012

Cathy and Heathcliff, a love story? At the beginning of our narrative Mr.Lockwood, a tenant of Thrushcross Grange, visits his landlord Mr.Heathcliff, at Wuthering Heights, four long miles away, across the cold, eerie, moors, people back then walked a great distance, they had few options, without much complaining, troubled Lockwood, wants to get away from society (he came to the right place). The setting is northern England, 1801, in the Yorkshire Moors, a vast, remote, desolate, and gloomy Cathy and Heathcliff, a love story? At the beginning of our narrative Mr.Lockwood, a tenant of Thrushcross Grange, visits his landlord Mr.Heathcliff, at Wuthering Heights, four long miles away, across the cold, eerie, moors, people back then walked a great distance, they had few options, without much complaining, troubled Lockwood, wants to get away from society (he came to the right place). The setting is northern England, 1801, in the Yorkshire Moors, a vast, remote, desolate, and gloomy grassland, beautiful and ugly at the same time, a haunting locale. Lockwood is the only person who likes Heathcliff, " a capital fellow", in the area, he sees something no one else does, on his mournful face, sadness, maybe even regret ? ( like himself). Later he learns the story of his landlord's tragic life, through Mrs.Nelly Dean, his servant at Thrushcross Grange, for three generations there, she tells him about the life of Heathcliff, found in the streets of Liverpool, hungry , crying, dirty, all alone, without anyone caring, at the tender age of two, but the compassionate Mr.Earnshaw, a wealthy man , Catherine's (Cathy's) father and takes him home. They never discovered the boy's true identity, but because of the child's dark complexion, everyone calls him a gypsy. The two, Catherine and Heathcliff, grow up as brother and sister, at Wuthering Heights, always together, Cathy and the unwanted orphan, playing on the lonely moors, they are soulmates . Resented by Cathy's older brother, Hindley, (who beats him many times) in fact everyone does, but the gentle Mr.Earnshaw, who loves the boy. Morose, showing no emotions, he can't afford to, still very angry underneath, because of how others treat him, as an inferior, Heathcliff, was never given another name. When teenager Cathy decides to marry Edgar Linton , from a respected, well off family , and Heathcliff hears about it , he disappears to parts unknown, the penniless man feels betrayed....Years pass and Heathcliff comes back from America, rich, nobody learns how, and he doesn't say either, probably not quite honestly, and seeks vengeance. The children of each estate, the Linton's of Thrushcross Grange and the Earnshaw's of Wuthering Heights, inherit their respective homes, Cathy wants to maintain a friendship and maybe more with Heathcliff, the weak Edgar of course hates the gypsy, but can't stop the two from seeing each other, the attraction is too powerful. The triangle will soon dissolve, people come and go but the moors abide. Strong novel, with a bittersweet plot... Love or despise this classic, you cannot help but admire its quality. ...more

5

May 05, 2014

SPOILERS

Behold the wild, dark side of love.

“I am Heathcliff – he’s always, always in my mind – not as a pleasure, any more than I am always a pleasure to myself – but as my own being.”

Passion. Desire. Love. Are they the same thing? If we are so intoxicated by someone as ending up seeing them as a mirror to our own self, is this love? It is. Sometimes. But sometimes it is sign not of devotion, but of egotism so strong that it stops us from seeing the actual person and we imagine a likeness that

SPOILERS

Behold the wild, dark side of love.

“I am Heathcliff – he’s always, always in my mind – not as a pleasure, any more than I am always a pleasure to myself – but as my own being.”

Passion. Desire. Love. Are they the same thing? If we are so intoxicated by someone as ending up seeing them as a mirror to our own self, is this love? It is. Sometimes. But sometimes it is sign not of devotion, but of egotism so strong that it stops us from seeing the actual person and we imagine a likeness that isn’t there just in order to fulfill our needs. I believe that Catherine loves Heathcliff, but I don’t believe she understands him or desires to. By believing he would agree to her plan she shows how little she takes into account what he actually is. She is so lost in her passion that she isn’t willing to admit the difference between them. It is a dangerous thing to be so absorbed by passion for someone that you don’t even care to understand and accept them for who they are. You just want to own them. By making the choice of marrying another man and keeping Heathcliff by her side as a lover whom she would support with her husband’s money she gives up on the very thing that has connected them so far, on the very thing that has stood at the core of their love. Freedom. They both grow up as captives of society that does not understand and accept them for who they are. He is the only one in front of whom she can be herself and she is the only one in front of whom he can be himself. But by choosing to dissemble and submit, Catherine loses that spark that initially connects them. She believes it is for their own good. He is heartbroken. When he comes back, he spends so much time and energy trying to bring back a girl who no longer exists. He cannot stand the woman she has turned herself into. In this case, is he still in love with her or merely in the memory of her? When the person we have loved loses the part that has held our affections, when should we give up on them and when should we devote ourselves to restoring that part?

"He’s more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same."

Their tragedy lies exactly in the fact that they are not the same. He wants freedom, she wants security. Benjamin Franklin says 'Those who surrender freedom for security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one.' I neither agree, nor disagree. I believe it is a very subjective matter. It isn’t that simple. But in the case of Catherine it really does turn out this way. In the end she has neither comfort, nor freedom.

How much do we know those who we claim to love? We all risk to see something that isn’t actually there or miss something that is. Either blinded by passion or by our desire to recreate the objects of our passion. If we cannot truly accept our loved ones for who they are and we try to change them, then do we truly love them or simply those we would like them to be? Can such a distinction be made? Or is it a little bit of both? Do we love only those parts of our partners that resemble ourselves or are we willing to love even those we cannot accept? Are love and acceptance the same thing? It isn’t uncommon for a person to try changing their loved one, but sometimes the good and the bad come from the same place and if we happen to succeed, we are at risk of destroying the good as well. Catherine tries to tame Heathcliff and in doing so, she destroys him. His passionate love turns into passionate hatred.

Feeling so close to someone as not to know where you end and they begin is either a sign of profound affinity or a profound delusion. Love is merciful and cruel, generous and selfish, sorrow and ecstasy. We all lose something and gain something by choosing to give into another person. Change is inevitable. Sometimes we get stronger, sometimes we are ruined. Sometimes it is a little bit of both. Some of us find their worthy partners, some, sadly, never do. But I believe that no matter on which side of the coin you turn out, staying faithful to yourself is always the right choice.

Read count: 2 ...more

3

Mar 12, 2010

Believe it or not, not a fan.

The story itself is unique & very original, a precursor for many Victorian thrillers & haunted house spectaculars. But there was no engine in my brain to ease down the process; reading this is like reading something that is altogether mandatory. I guess its a classic because enough people have read it to distinguish it from better books.

The character of Heathcliff is a vampire who sucks the life out of everyone in the household at Wuthering Heights & its Believe it or not, not a fan.

The story itself is unique & very original, a precursor for many Victorian thrillers & haunted house spectaculars. But there was no engine in my brain to ease down the process; reading this is like reading something that is altogether mandatory. I guess its a classic because enough people have read it to distinguish it from better books.

The character of Heathcliff is a vampire who sucks the life out of everyone in the household at Wuthering Heights & its neighbors. No doubt a good actor could play the hell out of him & get the Oscar.

The work is labyrinthine & sometimes just too difficult to understand. It has incredibly unbeautiful sentences (really!) & is altogether irregular, shapeless-- not a pleasure at all.

This, "Catcher in the Rye" and "On the Road" need to vacate the canon! ...more

5

Oct 14, 2019

"There are two wolves, and they are always fighting. One is darkness and despair, the other light and hope. Which one wins? The one you feed."
- Cherokee legend

I have to start by saying Holy cats! That was not what I was expecting.

This fabulous tale begins with bumbling Mr. Lockwood, who wishes to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city and looks forward to the beautiful country life. He’s on a mission to rent Thrushcross Grange from its owner, who also owns Wuthering Heights Manor. "There are two wolves, and they are always fighting. One is darkness and despair, the other light and hope. Which one wins? The one you feed."
- Cherokee legend

I have to start by saying Holy cats! That was not what I was expecting.

This fabulous tale begins with bumbling Mr. Lockwood, who wishes to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city and looks forward to the beautiful country life. He’s on a mission to rent Thrushcross Grange from its owner, who also owns Wuthering Heights Manor. He’s welcomed as much as anyone would welcome the plague and is met with harsh treatment, as well as pack of ill-tempered dogs who violently maul him. Add to that a snowstorm that puts him in his sickbed, this rural getaway is beginning to seem like a capital idea!

As Mr. Lockwood convalesces at Thrushcross Grange, he becomes acquainted with the keeper of the house, Ellen Dean. Treading lightly after his previous encounters with these inhospitable people he approaches Miss Dean with caution and inquires after the intriguing inhabitants of Wuthering Heights. Ellen - or Nelly, as she’s known- is of a kinder disposition. She rushes off to get her knitting and settles in to tell the tale of all of the broken souls who haunt the halls of these once-grand homes.

I’m snuggled in with my new friends engrossed in the saga of Heathcliff, the foundling gipsy child and Catherine, the daughter of his benefactor (and their magnetic attraction), eagerly listening to Nelly regale the history of the Earnshaws and the Lintons, her knitting needles clicking away, when she tells of Heathcliff's hasty departure! By now, I am completely captivated, and that’s when Nelly ceases the recounting, stating that Mr. Lockwood needs his sleep. Never mind his sleep! I grumbled. Lockwood and I don't need any sleep, woman! Get on with it!

I wanted to reach into the pages and shake her! Where has Heathcliff gone? And what is going to happen to Cathy? Those two are the Richard Burton and Liz Taylor of their day! Tell! Tell! And be quick about it!

Thankfully, Nelly returned to the story after some urging from my good man Lockwood, and we find that Cathy has married Edgar Linton! She’s living at Thrushcross Grange with Edgar and his sister Isabella, and they are as happy as clams.

Then the poo hits the proverbial fan back at Wuthering Heights.

Mr. Heathcliff comes strolling back into the picture, slick as you please, after three years away. He's looking all Rico Suave as he pops over to Cathy’s new digs, intending to stir the fire in her loins. And here she is married to another. Oh my! Next, the wilting flower, Isabella, upon laying her baby blues on ol' Heathcliff has a mighty yearning for the brooding bad boy, and all the while the devilish rogue is licking his chops at the thought of her juicy money. Cathy turns lime green with jealousy and Nelly is about to have a breakdown over the whole hot mess. It's code red over there!

The outcome for these dismally unhappy folks could hardly be a 'happily ever after' one ... Or could it? I won’t spoil Wuthering Heights for anyone who is yet to read this engrossing melodrama. The story is wild, dark and stormy, and I devoured it as if I was starving. The prose is so evocative as to create a movie in my mind that culminates in a spectacular finish. A story of vengeance, love, greed and the cost of evil deeds; but could there also be redemption?

One of my favorite lines; Cathy says of Heathcliff:
"He's more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same."

I would urge anyone who hasn’t read this dazzling novel, to please give it a try. I’m still reeling! ...more

3

Oct 29, 2016

Misery, duplicity, revenge, unhealthy family relationships - Wuthering Heights has it all!

Whenever I hear the name Brontë, I start thinking about classic books, with ladies and gentlemen courting each other . . . but, I guess I need to stop confusing Brontë with Austin.

This book is brutal. Every page is an argument, a dark plot, a deathly ill character, or an actual death. There is no joy in Wuthering Heights!

Writing wise, it was pretty good. Not my usual style, but I like to knock out a classic Misery, duplicity, revenge, unhealthy family relationships - Wuthering Heights has it all!

Whenever I hear the name Brontë, I start thinking about classic books, with ladies and gentlemen courting each other . . . but, I guess I need to stop confusing Brontë with Austin.

This book is brutal. Every page is an argument, a dark plot, a deathly ill character, or an actual death. There is no joy in Wuthering Heights!

Writing wise, it was pretty good. Not my usual style, but I like to knock out a classic every now and then. ...more

3

May 25, 2013

Not often do I decide to edit the review - and change the opinion of the book I initially detested - mere days after writing a 'why I hated it' opus. Emily Bronte, you mastermind!

In addition to learning truly horrifying things through the comments from my fellow lovely Goodreaders (people have told me that not only Heathcliff and Catherine's horrible story served as an inspiration for 'Twilight - a story that's paraded as a love story; and - brrrr - that "in almost all polls on most romantic
Not often do I decide to edit the review - and change the opinion of the book I initially detested - mere days after writing a 'why I hated it' opus. Emily Bronte, you mastermind!

In addition to learning truly horrifying things through the comments from my fellow lovely Goodreaders (people have told me that not only Heathcliff and Catherine's horrible story served as an inspiration for 'Twilight - a story that's paraded as a love story; and - brrrr - that "in almost all polls on most romantic literary figure, Heathcliff takes the lead") I read this comment from Teresa: "I think I read somewhere -- maybe in this book: Emily Bronte: The Artist As a Free Woman -- that she was creating her own world (and the book does seem claustrophobic with its two framing narrators), her own mythos. If one sees that interpretation, I think Heathcliff could be viewed almost as a Zeus-figure, another petty and vengeful 'entity.' ... a comment that, combined with her observation in another comment that "the names Hindley/Heathcliff/Hareton all started with the same letter, not to mention having two Catherines -- an enclosed world that repeated itself" led me to realize that yes, in a mind-blowing turn of events this book is a genius take on the completely secluded, isolated world that lives only by its own rules, ruled by its own godlike creatures, and bears little resemblance to and has little influence from the larger universe outside of it.

*

Two Catherines in this book - and both of them take a journey between the stops of 'Catherine Earnshaw', 'Catherine Heathcliff' and 'Catherine Linton' - because what other options do they have? Even young Cathy, so seemingly close to possibly leaving this enclosed corner of the universe thanks to sudden fascination Lockwood (a man of the outside world) takes to her, ultimately remains tightly tethered to the place she knows, remaining with an Earnshaw - her first cousin (because who else is there?)

Heathcliff, who could have had the world, comes back to rule the little universe into which he was adopted, unable to leave the country of grey moors.

And everyone else is a Linton - another link in the chain that connects everyone else. And the little world of this novel takes no one else in who is not a Linton, a Cathy or an incarnation of Heathcliff/Hareton/Hindley. Everyone stays together, their fates tied only to one another, with disregard to the world outside. Only Isabella (who never seems to have fit into this world anyway) manages to escape - but remains tethered to this world by her child, Linton Heathcliff, who - thanks to his names - is powerless to escape being sucked into this little corner of the universe and become a pathetic little villain.

And this world, free from the influence outside, just continues to go in its own little circle, being its own little - and terrifying - universe.

Ok, mindblowing. Enough to up my star rating by a full star.

Emily Bronte, your mind was darker than I gave it credit for. Touché.

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ORIGINAL REVIEW FROM LONG AGO (a.k.a. a few days - an eternity in the eyes of a fruitfly, however)
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Ok, I'll be honest - I decided to read this one really because the word 'Wuthering' had for a while been fascinating my non-native speaker brain¹¹ Basically, brain insists it should be 'wIthering.'
Computer spellcheck agrees.
And both of them are wrong. Plus, I have also been introduced to it by - of course! - pop culture, courtesy of Phoebe Buffay:


(In the remainder of this episode, Rachel ends up comparing 'Jane Eyre' to 'Robocop', to Phoebe's utmost delight.)
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Ok, back to serious now.

This book had one of the most promising beginnings in all the literature. No joke. The narrator's stumbling into Heathcliff's household leads to the opening chapter as surreal and creepy as a nightmare you really want to wake up from but cannot. Seriously, let's look back to the beginning of the tale - with Heathcliff, and the dogs, and the creepiest servant since Igor, and strange perplexing characters of Hareton and Cathy, all in the most gothic setting a 19th century mind could have conjured. Lovely, just lovely.But then a meddling self-righteous servant sat down to tell the story of Cathy and Heathcliff and everyone else caught in the destructive hurricane those two left in their selfish wake - and something changed, the magic dissolved. I was promised passion and wilderness. Instead I got a cold wearisome shower of egotistical, self-absorbed, shallow, destructive, prejudiced, reckless petty disregard for anyone else from everyone else, combined with clear cases of sociopathic, narcissistic, and spoiled to the core people damaging everything they come in contact with. It's not wild passion; it's self-absorbed selfishness and nothing more.

It's a spoiled brat in a grocery store flinging himself on the floor and throwing a raging, embarrassing tantrum because he just has to have that unnecessary piece of candy.

No, I'm not a fan of anger, revenge and possessiveness trying to masquerade as wild love and passion. Neither Catherine nor Heathcliff love one another; instead of love they might as well just selfishly scream, "WAAAAAANT!!!"


Heathcliff is not wild - he is a cruel sociopath. Catherine is not wild and passionate - she is a haughty and spoiled thoughtless creature.

And I cannot help asking, dear reader - What is the point?
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Yes, I understand the balls ovaries needed for making such repulsive personalities be the center of your story (actually, that's not just Cathy and Heathcliff being repugnant; think of Hindley, and Hareton, and - brrrr! - Joseph, and young Linton, and even young Cathy, and to a point the ever-meddling self-righteous unsure-where-her-allegiance-lies-but-probably-with-whoever-the-current-master-happens-to-be Nelly Dean), and to systematically beat out any possible feel-good moment in this book. It probably was not an easy book to write, and definitely is not an easy book to read.

But because of all that I could not bring myself to care in the least. What's worse, the little cringeworthy details peppered throughout the story became even more obvious in the light of me disliking the book:- Like the constant neverending out-of-character moments that all the action here seems to hinge upon (Heathcliff's sudden madness/death; Catherine's reaction to the argument between Heathcliff and Edgar; Cathy and Hareton's sudden feelings for each other; to name a few).

- Contrived happy-ish ending: a thought that young Cathy will end up with a man who has physically assaulted her in the past and be happy with him in a Stockholm Syndrome-like fashion - and for it (a) to seem like a good choice and (b) the violence presented as something she had coming for daring to have a 'saucy' tongue.

- Actually, constant violence, threats, marital rape - the stuff that would make even George R.R. Martin seem like a tender-hearted softie.

- Constant reminders of darkness of Heathcliff's character being tied to the darkness of his skin - while white paleness of the Lintons provides a contrast of civilization to the brute. Dark skin = evil, right? Ah, Miss Bronte, really?

- Constant nervous outbreaks and the destructive passion of feelings that after a while became much too repetitive.

- The predictable cycle of Heathcliff or Catherine wanting something --> rudeness --> physical violence to those they perceive to be their inferiors --> some contrived disease brought on by nervous exhaustion or something of the sort --> someone probably dies for no reason than the effects of wild passions --> rinse, repeat.

- Joseph's dialect. Need I say more?And, all throughout, I realized that I just could no longer care about the story that brought two English families living on the wild moors to the state that the narrator observes in such a promising beginning of this book. I think I was too exhausted with this story to care. It tried too hard to unapologetically be dark and brooding and bleak - and succeeded in just wearing me out.

2 stars and valiant attempts to dodge the shower of rotten eggs and rotten tomatoes heading my way. ...more

5

Sep 30, 2012

It is a testament to the overabundance of cliches clogging the realms of literature featuring romance, that readers widely associate the middle Brontë sister's tour de force with vindictive fury, abuse and emotional excesses rather than love. Because bestowing approval on an unnatural, obsessive love that devoured everything in its vicinity out of pure malice somehow throws our moral compass into a tizzy.

Last time I read this, Emily Brontë had cruelly crushed a child's enjoyment of a book much It is a testament to the overabundance of cliches clogging the realms of literature featuring romance, that readers widely associate the middle Brontë sister's tour de force with vindictive fury, abuse and emotional excesses rather than love. Because bestowing approval on an unnatural, obsessive love that devoured everything in its vicinity out of pure malice somehow throws our moral compass into a tizzy.

Last time I read this, Emily Brontë had cruelly crushed a child's enjoyment of a book much like Heathcliff remorselessly causes the universe stretching between the extremities of Thrushcross Grange and Wuthering Heights to implode violently. She had sucked me into a vortex of dark, inchoate feelings for a week or so from which I found difficult to extricate myself.
But this time? The pages flew by. My spirit soared every time Brontë breached a boundary of what the voices in favor of the status quo label propriety, demolished a stereotype, let her heroine roam the outdoors as freely as she could with the one person who never sought to reduce her individuality to a compilation of 'feminine' attributes. And the romance? It made me swoon. So pardon me if I shun those patriarchy-approved alpha males who infantilize their lovers, their false sheen of dignity and restraint, the promise of domesticated happily-ever-afters, and righteous, unidimensional do-gooders. I crave for Emily's brutal candour instead, her courageous glorification of this earth-shattering, all-consuming desire to melt, to unite with the one you covet, with nary a care for what it may entail. The love that heats up your blood and is food for your soul and percolates every fibre of your being.
But, Heathcliff, if I dare you now, will you venture? If you do, I'll keep you. I'll not lie there by myself: they may bury me twelve feet deep, and throw the church down over me, but I won't rest till you are with me. I never will!
Heathcliff and Catherine's relationship was beyond their own control and comprehension, a storm which wreaked havoc in the lives of those who sought to throttle it, a force of nature which subsided only when both its initiators were reconciled in death free to resume their wild, unchecked peregrinations across the stretch of earth which they claimed as their very own - the moors, which divorced from worldly considerations of wars, Empire and inequality, became the only utopia which could accommodate their calamitous passion for each other.
I cannot look down to this floor, but her features are shaped in the flags! In every cloud, in every tree-filling the air at night, and caught by glimpses in every object by day-I am surrounded with her image!
Sartre in his preface (passionate endorsement) to Frantz Fanon's The Wretched of the Earth says -
"...he shows perfectly clearly that this irrepressible violence is neither a storm in a teacup nor the reemergence of savage instincts nor even a consequence of resentment: it is man restructuring himself."
And that's as concise and succinct a defense I can provide for Heathcliff, his rage that won't be quelled and its devastating manifestations. The Heathcliff without a second name, the perpetual outsider in a white-washed society breeding manifold evils, the other, the 'thing' which Nelly Dean, Mrs Earnshaw, Hindley and even the infant Catherine see as nothing other than a dirty, smelly, baseborn creature deserving of contempt. A person of color stranded in a world increasingly being cleaved into virulent polarities of light and dark, Occident and Orient, powerful and powerless, colonizer and colonized, white master and black slave, abuser and abused. Violence is the language of the oppressed after all, especially because the oppressor teaches him no better.
I wish I had light hair and a fair skin, and was dressed and behaved as well, and had a chance of being as rich as he will be!
And Catherine? I disagree with Simone de Beauvoir when she asserts -
"She uses his words, she repeats his gestures, adopts his manias and tics. "I am Heathcliff," says Catherine in Wuthering Heights; this is the cry of all women in love; she is another incarnation of the beloved, his reflection, his double: she is he. She lets her own world flounder in contingence: she lives in his universe."
This certainly typifies heroines populating the wide spectrum of conventional romance novels in general. But I consider Catherine exempt from this pigeonholing. A few moments from her death she contemplates reverting to her sexless girlhood to be reunited with a childhood companion only with whom she had savoured true liberty, to travel back to a time when societal mores hadn't impressed upon her a catastrophic urge for conformity. And if Catherine finds herself to be interchangeable from her other half, then Heathcliff, too, wills himself to dissolve with her into the embrace of the earth which does not discriminate between the baptized and the heathen.
'...I dreamt I was sleeping the last sleep by that sleeper, with my heart stopped and my cheek frozen against hers.
'And if she had been dissolved into earth, or worse, what would you have dreamt of then?' I said.
'Of dissolving with her, and being more happy still!' he answered.
There. If Catherine is Heathcliff, then Heathcliff, too, is Catherine. Beings seeking to overturn the societal injunction against their individuation and find their salvation in each other. A salvation they could attain only when Emily ushers in the element of the paranormal, the much vilified, belittled 'gothic'.

So take away your insidious Rochesters and sanctimonious Jane Eyres and gentrified romances put on a pedestal. Give me Heathcliff and Catherine instead. Give me their petulant anger, their restlessness and their feral love. ...more

5

Jun 25, 2014

Memory is a treacherous monster.

How else can it make me remember this classic, which I read as a teenager, as a SAD LOVE STORY? It is quite impossible to explain the increasing surprise on my face, and the accelerated beat of my heart, after I lazily grabbed the new copy of Wuthering Heights that I bought for my daughter's birthday, and started reading. Inattentive at first, thinking I knew what was coming, I began to obsessively devour the story, finishing it in a frenzy.

What is this?

A Memory is a treacherous monster.

How else can it make me remember this classic, which I read as a teenager, as a SAD LOVE STORY? It is quite impossible to explain the increasing surprise on my face, and the accelerated beat of my heart, after I lazily grabbed the new copy of Wuthering Heights that I bought for my daughter's birthday, and started reading. Inattentive at first, thinking I knew what was coming, I began to obsessively devour the story, finishing it in a frenzy.

What is this?

A Genealogy of Yorkshire Monsters - as observed over three generations and various family branches? An ambitious writing project with the mission to create only bad characters? If so, who would win? Let's see...

Monster In Chief must be Heathcliff, as he deliberately destroys what comes in his way. Naturally, he is cast as the dark-skinned orphan with a mysterious past, brought up to feel his difference and underprivilege every single day, and strongwilled and energetic enough to take revenge on a world that never gave him a chance: biological and social ostracism combined against a powerful individual character. Mister Monster In The Making only awaits the two additional ingredients that are necessary to make the Molotov cocktail explode: unreasonable, hopeless love and deep humiliation.

So Heathcliff wins the Monster Prize, along with the Height and the Grange, but he has strong contenders for the title.

What about the two siblings Earnshaw (first generation)?

A sadistic drunkard and careless father, Hindley has a horrible role to play. A natural snob and bully, he delivers most ingredients for Heathcliff's explosion. And the lovely lady of the play? The sweet darling Catherine? Not so much. Meet entitled, spoiled rotten, fake-tantrum throwing Miss Earnshaw, who adds to the mix by rejecting her true love because it would make her feel "low", while marrying a weak, boring, yet rich and suitable young man gives her the power she yearns. And of course she must keep playing with the heart she has broken - until it snaps. Mrs Linton is barely better than her former self, Miss Earnshaw. And then there is Isabella - the victim of the rest of the egos? Maybe. But only because she is weak. If she had had more strength, she would have used it to display exactly the same amount of monstrous cruelty and egomaniac emotional bankruptcy.

Nelly? The sweet creature taking care of all the spoiled brats, one after the other? But she is also causing trouble, meddling, taking things in her own hands and generally acting according to her own favouritism of the moment rather than according to true compassion.

The Holy Joseph, then? The voyeur of evil, preaching hellfire without ever helping a victim?

Generation One is a wild bunch of characters if there ever was one. No wonder the next generation turns out weak and selfish and confused. After all, parenting matters.

So who is surprised that the anti-fairytale can be summed up with a "and so they died unhappily ever after"?

The hint in the end at the ghosts of Heathcliff and Catherine haunting the wuthering heights can hardly be any scarier than their living selves, in my opinion. May they rest in unpeace, but this novel is a riot! I am glad I reread it, and hope I will remember it now.

The exprience does cast some doubt on my memory of other teenage favourites, though. Is Anna Karenina really a SAD LOVE STORY? I really hope she is not anything like Catherine, to be honest. But I guess I will have to reread that one as well to be sure.

And last, but not least: I wonder if it was a wise choice to buy this for my twelve-year-old daughter. It is a WILD, WILD story. And she has an amazing memory. I am sure she won't forget the monsters once she gets to know them. ...more

5

Aug 02, 2017

First read: 2009, Rating: 5 stars
Second read: 2012, Rating: 5 stars
Third read: 2014, Rating: 5 stars
Fourth read: May 2015, Rating: 5 stars
Fifth read: August 2017, Rating: 5 stars
Sixth read: July 2018, Rating: 5 stars

I enjoy character-driven narratives and, so, adored this novel from the first time I read it, nine years ago. The reason this has remained such a firm favourite, and why I try to ensure I reread this at least biennially, however, is that in this intense and focused character study I First read: 2009, Rating: 5 stars
Second read: 2012, Rating: 5 stars
Third read: 2014, Rating: 5 stars
Fourth read: May 2015, Rating: 5 stars
Fifth read: August 2017, Rating: 5 stars
Sixth read: July 2018, Rating: 5 stars

I enjoy character-driven narratives and, so, adored this novel from the first time I read it, nine years ago. The reason this has remained such a firm favourite, and why I try to ensure I reread this at least biennially, however, is that in this intense and focused character study I found myself unaccountably and entirely drawn to every unlikable individual in it. I forgave every flaw and overlooked any ordinarily dislikeable quality in my blind adoration for these passionate creatures.

I was captivated by the raging emotions that dominated, throughout. The wildness of the characters and their uncontrollable fits of frenzy and passion - their deepest of despairs and their most ardent of desires - is also mirrored by the wildness of the landscape surrounding them, creating an eternal and external, extra character in this most infamous of love triangles.

I have reread this so often that I could probably quote every single page, but yet I never fail to find something new to discover on the moors. There is a feeling of never quite being on equal footing that dominates and permeates the entire text. This is a novel that distances the reader: it denies any simple pleasure such as happy-ever-afters or a brief respite from the altering high passions and utter, all-consuming bleakness. I will never feel at home here but I will always long to.

This has remained my favourite book from first reading until now, nine years later, and I think there's no better endorsement for a book than that! ...more