Sunday, June 6, 2010

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë - Book Review #29

Sunday, June 6, 2010
Wuthering Heights
by Emily Brontë


Wuthering Heights", Emily Bronte's only novel, is one of the pinnacles of 19th-century English literature. It's the story of Heathcliff, an orphan who falls in love with a girl above his class, loses her, and devotes the rest of his life to wreaking revenge on her family.
From goodreads.com


This is one of the most disturbing novels I’ve ever read. I kept hearing that Wuthering Heights is one of the greatest romantic stories, so naturally that what I was expecting when I picked it up. Are you kidding me? If this is a romance then I don’t understands a thing about romance. In my opinion, this book is about ferocious revenge, hatred and child abuse with narcissistic, self-involved, vicious characters and nothing more.

I hated each and every one of this novel’s characters. They all deserve each other. At some point when I completely failed to understand as least one of them, I decided that they all must be insane because of the ongoing intermarriages and complete isolation down at England’s moors. Some people say that the trigger in this story is Heathcliff, but I completely disagree, all other characters have such a collection of qualities that they would torture each other without a Heathcliff even being there.

What else can I say? I didn’t like it, even though it made a great deal of impression on me. Maybe I just didn’t understand it, maybe one day it will came to me what so many people like in this novel… maybe… maybe not… and maybe it is just an overrated personal drama of Emily Brontë.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

haha I'm one of those people who LOVE Wuthering Heights. It's just one of those rare books that sucked me in SO much. I felt every emotion as they went through them. One thing though, didn't you at least like Isabella? If I remember correctly, she was a victim through and through, not a horrible person like the rest of them. Even Hareton was somewhat not to blame. That's my opinion on the story. lol I hope someday you'll like it.

BasalticCountess said...

Isabella seamed infantile and stupid to me. The only good decision that she made in her life was to run away from Heathcliff, though I’m still surprised that she was able to do that. I agree that Hareton was just caught in the middle of all this mess, but I kept wondering why he never rebelled against Heathclif, why he never tried to do anything. Well of cause, at the end he did, but it wasn’t his own motivation, Catherine II pretty much pushed him into that.

Anonymous said...

Oh, I think Isabella was just reaching out for some love. And plus, back then women would get married at almost the 1st chance they got! lol
yeah, I always wondered why Hareton never rebelled too. I think he was deprived of love, since his father didn't give him any. If you watch the BBC's 2009 movie, that seems to be there interpretation of him.
Thanks for writing this post, I always love to hear other people's interpretation of classic literature! I now have your blog bookmarked! :)

BasalticCountess said...

Thanks for your input. Yes, I’m planning to watch some of the movie adaptations, because I have a feeling that I missed something. I already saw 1939 version, but was unsatisfied, because they completely cut off the whole second generation. I also have been reading different critical essays on Wuthering Heights, but still sticking up to my opinion. :)

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