|
| |||||||||||
What are readers saying about Wuthering Heights?
|
A Reader posted a review at 2008-12-14 11:33:45.
(Language: English)
 
I started reading this book way I back in June when I was still in China, and only finished it in December and in the outskirts of Boston. But it is not because it is slow and boring (it's quite the opposite), just cause I started working reading for pleasure isn't what it used to be. However, it's quite depressing to start the book. As it give the grim side of the ending at the very beginning from the point of view of Mr. Lockwood, so reading story felt like watching a train speeding towards broken bridge. The characters have probably the most passionate exchanges I have ever read. And it has the ability to make me feel for characters involved; even though in reality, I wouldn't want to have any of them around for dinner. Don't know if I giving away the book, but I feel far less sympathetic for first generation of Heathcliff, Earnshaw and Linton than the second generation. The events and tragedy of first generation seems to be caused more by their own character flaws and the actions, but those the seconded generation are a by-product of their circumstances. For example, I regard Linton Heathcliff as tragedy his father’s desire for revenge, but Hindley Earnshaw is just an ass. But all in all, a great book with passionately written prose and a great story. I’m somewhat depressed after reading this book… As Mr. Lockwood gaze upon the three headstones, who would have known all the passion, desire and human emotions that was once so important to those whom lie beneath. Well, now I sound like Buddhist… Ps. Does anyone actually like the older Cathy? I can stand the younger Cathy (sometimes she’s nice), the older Cathy has to be the most selfish person I ever know, passionate, but selfish… 
|
Yes (1) 
No (0) |
|
A Reader posted a review at 2008-12-22 12:06:56.
(Language: English)
Extraordinarily written and engrossing. I loved this book from beginning to end and is the only "classic" I've re-read several times. The atmosphere is foreboding and constantly dark without being oppressive, and the style is wonderful. There's no flowery passages lingering on the unnecessary; each scene is depicted beautifully yet succinctly so that interest is never lost and one's mind is forever on the complex lives of the vivid characters. The pace of the novel is superb, which I wasn't expecting since books of this genre tend to plod, and not once did I hope the end would arrive sooner rather than later. The main attraction is, of course, the love story between Cathy and Heathcliffe, but Emily Bronte avoided falling into the inane romance synonymous with Jane Austen and instead gave us a depressing and tortured relationship between the protaganists. This is a novelty that has not worn thin over time and I doubt it ever will. A true masterpiece.
|
|
|
A Reader posted a review at 2008-10-07 08:54:30.
(Language: English)
Some things do only happen once...As love did happpen to Cathy..and shame overgripped her later,to denounce the 'Black Slave',whom she loved but yet was ashamed to accept before the others...And then there was Heathcliff...The rejected lover of his mistress...Hate,guilt,love,vengeance are all shown to their extremes in this ever-green saga of neglected and shamed love...\ \ The love Catherine had for Heathcliff was a love which might give love a bad name,yet it was so pure that it seemed to be coming from the garden of Eden...\ \ The revenge Heathcliff took from his master(not sparing even his children,can make even the hardest of souls to shiver)was justified in the way devil would be pleased to preach...\ \ Overall there always remains an element of insanity,in every character we come across...\ \ The moors of Devonshire create a background which is as scary as we have seen in "The Hound of Baskerville"...\ \ The story unfolds itself over three generations
|
|
|
A Reader posted a review at 2009-10-04 03:49:27.
(Language: English)
 
Okay, it may be a classic, but it is an annoying book. I had to FORCE myself to sit down and read this. I found nothing remotly interesting until the last few chapters. I get the basis of the story, but I don't think the perfect ending was worth all the suffering in the beginning. Let's face it, the characters are horrid people who do terrible things to one another. As Stephenie Meyer mentions in her Twilight books, "their love is their only redeeming quality." That statement it so true, it's painful. If you have a high patience level and an excelled vocabulary--go for it.The book was AH-MAZING! I have no complaint...except one: in the book, sometimes it got draggy and the point wasn't brought acrossed well. I respect it as a classic piece of literature all the same...
|
|
Sarah posted a review at 2010-02-21 08:02:52.
(Language: English)
I read this book last year for my AP English class. That was the ONLY reason that I finished this book. It was a huge task just to finish a page of Wuthering Heights; it was almost impossible to complete it. It is not a pretty love story; rather, it is swirling tale of largely unlikeable people caught up in obsessive love that turns to dark madness. It is cruel, violent, dark and brooding, and many people find it extremely unpleasant. And yet--it possesses a grandeur of language and design, a sense of tremendous pity and great loss that sets it apart from virtually every other novel written. As the novel coils further into alcoholism, seduction, and one of the most elaborately imagined plans of revenge it gathers into a ghostly tone: Heathcliff, driven to madness by a woman who is not there but who seems reflected in every part of his world--dragging her corpse from the grave, hearing her calling to him from the moors, escalating his brutality not for the sake of brutality but so that her memory will never fade, so that she may never leave his mind until death itself. Yes, this is madness, insanity, and there is no peace this side of the grave or even beyond. It is a stunning novel, frightening, inexorable, unsettling, filled with unbridled passion that makes one cringe. Even if you do not like it, you should read it at least once--and those who do like it will return to it again and again.
|
|
Bonita posted a review at 2010-02-02 12:45:55.
(Language: English)
Compare with Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen and Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte the latter is more attractive to me. I first read it as a junior in high school, although whenever I tell people Wuthering Heights is oen of my favorite book I usually get a strange reaction. Heathcliff and Catherine are both characters that are very defectived; Catherine is selfish and spoiled, Heathcliff is vindictive but they are obviously madly in love with one another. It reminds me that we all have bad sides but still we all deserve to experience love and happiness. I personally like it because it embodies all the things that love should be, blindingly passionate, maddening at times, and something we just cannot live without. My most love author is Edgar Allan Poe, therefore my second son is named Edgar.... hahaha..
|
|
Sarah posted a review at 2010-02-15 02:48:48.
(Language: English)
I am speechless, and drowning in my own tears right now! what a journey! this book has made me cry, laugh, love and hate, I LIVED IT, I felt it, I can safely say there was, is, will never be a book such as this! I understand now why is had to be taught in the western countries during their english classes! I had no such opportunity, but By God, this is legendary! I have no idea how I wasted my time reading trivial books and missing this masterpiece. I count on reading it over and over as many times as it allows me to remmeber the dialogue by heart, and what a dialogue! there is simply no discription enough for this epic story, how it was delivered in a way you can almost be pained to put it down! how can a writer make you love then hate then pitty then cry for the same person in those few pages! how she summed the story of two generations in a style you feel that you missed out NOTHING! It introduced me to this -new- intense weird complex way of love. and I will never forget it! I will recommend this book to anyone, and everyone I know can read!
|
|
|
A Reader posted a review at 2008-12-18 01:50:36.
(Language: English)
The scenery used int his book is so greatly emphasiszed that you can't help but feel how lonley and cold and barren the moors would be during the winter. It works wonderfully to symbolize the characters and the journeys they will make throughout the novel. At times the only warm place seems to be the kitchen but that too can only been seen as a bleak hellish place at most times. I agree that at times I wanted to tell everyone to stop being so naive and to get over themselves or give their heads a shake, but I DO think that Heathcliff and Catherine had a true love. It was so strong that when it was ignored it destroyed the lives of many around them and twisted them into ugly people as well. In reality, their only redeeming qualitiy was the strength of their love for each other..in all other ways theu were weak and petty. This book also gave me horrible nightmares. The thought of Heathcliff's grimacing face at the end of the book! or when he speaks of digging her up!..Brrr! goosebumps!
|
|
|
A Reader posted a review at 2009-01-01 10:12:33.
(Language: English)
I think this was a beautiful albeit somewhat dark story... and it is surprisingly endearing. And despite watching several movie versions, never found one that was as good as the book (although it is a bit of a slow read the first go around, and is one of those books that benefits greatly from a reread--not really complex or anything just a little hard to follow at moments due to the construct she chose). Bronte writes this in such a way that she essentially makes you appreciate and symathize with characters you likely might not otherwise. But I don't know how "romantic" I found it. I think the appeal there must fall to those who like the tortured longing for the forbidden bad boy who circumstances dictates as a no-go... but I guess I'm not quite that masochistic or something because while I felt for H, I would have had no desire to save and heal him in some romantic idealization. But whatever, it was still a good book... Worth the read I think.
|
|
|
A Reader posted a review at 2009-04-25 06:47:14.
(Language: English)
I had bought this book about a year ago and put it down after two chapters, unable to find the time to sit down and read it. I picked it back up a couple of days ago and started reading it again. Emily Bronte wrote such an atypical love story that a reader must finish it, just to find out the ends of Heathcliff. Upon reading this story, I am reminded of a favorite charcter of mine-Severus Snape, from the Harry Potter series. I wondered as I read it J.K. Rowling had fashioned Snape after Heathcliff, in terms of personality and his obsessive/possesive love of a woman from his childhood, whom he loses when she is young and has to face her child with the man she chose over him for the rest of his days. Heathcliff is a character that I wanted to hate, but couldn't help but admire and be intrigued by. He had no scruples and loathed just about everyone. I found he and Catherine to be the perfect match for each other and can just imagine that, had they ended up together, they would have lived quite secluded in Wuthering Heights, not caring if they saw another soul, as they had each other and that would be enough for them.
|
|
Mina posted a review at 2010-07-20 05:30:06.
(Language: English)
Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights - A Complex Victorian Novel of Dysfunctional Relationships & Abuse By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Inez_Calender]Inez Calender Emily Bronte published Wuthering Heights in 1847 and died in December of 1848 at the age of 30. Her singular novel was published under the pen name of Ellis Bell. Female Victorian writers were expected to present highly moral themes in their work. The issues presented by women writers of that time were expected t be resolved in a manner that offered readers a moral lesson and positive outcome. Good behavior was rewarded and the bad guys would be punished. Socially inappropriate behavior was depicted in a judgmental fashion and the protagonists of Victorian novels, in general, were supposed to learn a valuable lesson. In Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte offers her readers a protagonist who behaves terribly. Heathcliff, the orphaned waif taken in by Mr. Earnshaw begins his life at Wuthering Heights under the kind care of his adoptive father and becomes close with his foster sister, Cathy. But, Hindley, Mr. Earnshaw's son, receives the new addition badly. He torments Heathcliff without mercy and makes the orphaned boy's life a living hell. But the mutual affection between Cathy and Heathcliff goes beyond the bonds of a childhood spent running wild in the moors and turns romantic. When Mr. Earnshaw dies, the abuse escalates and eventually, Heathcliff is driven off. Meanwhile, Cathy marries the wealthy neighbor, Edgar Linton. When Heathcliff returns from his adventures a wealthy man, he eventually gains control of Wuthering Heights and rules over the alcoholic Hindley. When Hindley dies, Heathcliff takes revenge on Hindley's son, Hareton. The reader must ask several questions. Was Heathcliff a bad seed, a sociopath born to make trouble; a self-centered brute in search of victims? Or, was he the product of abuse, his sensibilities warped by the constantly cruelty of his foster brother? Perhaps, Mr. Earnshaw brought home his own illegitimate child. Why else did he suddenly, out of the blue, introduce this little stranger into his household? If that is true, the romantic bond between Catherine and Heathcliff is incest. Emily Bronte touched on a variety of complex issues, unusual for a female Victorian writer. The theme of abusive relationships would be seen, in those days, as inappropriate for a woman's gentle sensibilities. Indeed, despite the fact that Wuthering Heights was offered up to the public as a novel written by a man, critics met it with stern objection. Reviewers decried Wuthering Heights as unnatural. One reviewer could not imagine how anyone could have contemplated such a take without eventually committing suicide. Imagine what they would have thought if they had known that Ellis Bell was really a young woman. In fact, the publishers who accepted Wuthering Heights set it aside. It was not until Emily Bronte's sister, Charlotte Bronte published Jane Eyre with success, that Wuthering Heights was offered up to the reading public. Wuthering Heights was no best seller. It was not until many years passed that it was recognized as a classic. The book is a complex study of dysfunctional relationships with a multi-layered plot. The reader must question the intentions and behaviors of even the most innocent seeming characters, resulting in a story that has become a mainstay of English literature classes. Emily Bronte was a quiet, reclusive young woman of the Victorian era who spent her days cooking, sewing and taking long walks on the moors. But the impact of her only novel, Wuthering Heights, resounds 160 years later as a classic, a deeply meaningful and psychologically profound novel. Link to a biographical article on Emily Bronte with photographs http://hubpages.com/hub/EmilyBronte-theFreeSpiritAndVisionaryGeniusWhoWroteWutheringHeights Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?Emily-Brontes-Wuthering-Heights---A-Complex-Victorian-Novel-of-Dysfunctional-Relationships-and-Abuse&id=3670539] Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights - A Complex Victorian Novel of Dysfunctional Relationships & Abuse
|
|
|
A Reader posted a review at 2008-12-21 02:05:10.
(Language: English)
This dark, depressing, desperate and disturbing tale of human nature at it's worst left me with a cold, empty feeling. It's an anti-romance love story between Heathcliff, a ruffian little orphan, and Catherine, a well to do country girl, who go from playmates to soulmates. However, throughout the years, the fateful clash of the class system of the times, their pride and ferocious passion impede their ability to be together. In the beginning, I did find myself sympathizing a bit for Heathcliff, who suffers plenty of injustices in his youth, because of his "gypsy" background, and as a result his upbringing breeds an explosive, terrible, twisted sense of revenge, that spans through generations. He makes everyone's life around him that he touches a living hell. Basically, because his life sucked, and he didn't get the woman of his dreams, (and his nightmares), everybody's gotta pay for it. By the middle of the book, all sense of my compassion for him was totally extingished and I thought to myself, "you lousy son-of-a-bitch". There is really no "happy ending". I didn't like ANY of the characters. They were all for the most part pretty despicable, and if I were to meet any of them in person today, I would have an overwhelming urge to run them over with my truck. I did like the dog though, and the pony. Those poor things. I think they were the only innocents in the whole book. The semi-incenstuous marriages among all these cousins made me quite ill, and the "laws" and treatment of married women are sickening. Hell if we'd put up with that bullshit in our time, although sadly I'm aware that these kind of arrangements are still a reality for many women around the world today. The language didn't bother me at all, especially since certain editions such as the one I have include those nifty litttle notes on the bottom of certain pages to "translate" their Victorian like talk.
|
|
|
A Reader posted a review at 2007-11-22 08:30:53.
(Language: English)
Since a friend, who is also a sucker for romantic costume-dramas full of people bahaving in the stupidest fashion, absoluteli *insisted* I read his book, i finally took the bull by the horns, and read it... in China... which is probably the least suitable place to read such a quintessentially Western Romanticism book, in which rank moronic behaviour and unproductive musings wield the sceptre. And *still*! the book reads like a train and it almost seems ridicule that this was written almost two centuries ago. Anyway let's cut to the chase: heartstrings of protagonists with the emotional restraint of a hippo in distress are plucked by scythes of heaven and hell among the most fantastic of tormented landscape: the moors. There is in this book enough sweeping away, tearing apart, pressure on chests and pubescent behaviour to fill up a sturdy 90-story building that lookes like the 2001 monolith. That kind of book. And not a sympathetic soul to be found. Only after a while you start feeling for some characters, but not because of reasonable considerations, because the fundamentally unsympathetic nature of all protagonists has cut that short. So Bronte actually forces you to switch of your head and switch between repulsion and getting lost in their emo. The story is a tit uneven at times as some parts are slightly less interesting and not all chracters are given as much attention, but the writing is consistently brilliant, in that it fits perfectly with the story. This is rock n roll. But be not mistaken: there's lots more to it than Cathy & Heathcliff; in fact, that's just the tip of it, even though it's clear to whom the writer's heart goes... But the whole thing is bloody Sophocles. Downright classic. Thanks Eva.
|
|
|
A Reader posted a review at 2007-09-05 01:01:10.
(Language: English)
What a piece of shit. This bullshit is considered a classic? I nearly killed myself for having read it. I didn't even technically finish its so fucking horrible. I have never read a book more devoid of anything representing something resembling a discernable plot with a protagonist(s) who I actually care about. Nothing happened in this book. Its like from beginning to end it's just a series of boring exchanges between characters I have never cared about. Plus it is confusing as shit with how they skip back and forth between like 3 generations all of whom have the same fucking names! Fuck the book fuck the movies and fuck the Brontes. No wonder Emily Bronte died right after this shitfest. It was so fucking horrible. She probably killed herself for having taken the time to actually write such a God awful excuse for literature. The Little Engine that Could had a better fucking story. I fell asleep after about 10 pages. In high school I had to use Spark notes on this book and even those fucking things put me to sleep! Fuck everything that has to do with this book. It is the pinnacle of bad, the apex of crap, the zenith of excrement cause that's the only thing that this book is good for wiping your ass, or maybe as firewood. I would rather watch HOUSE OF THE DEAD than have to read one word from this Godforsaken book! Fuck it.
|
|
Valeria posted a review at 2008-09-06 08:13:32.
(Language: English)
This book has been on my TBR pile for quite some time and I finally got to it at the end of 2006, and I continued my themed reading by tackling Changing Heaven. This doesn't happen often, but despite hating almost all the characters (with the exception of nelly), I really enjoyed this book (I am sure not for the same reasons others like it, though).I have a hard time understanding why Heathcliff is considered a great romantic character by some. I don't care how much abuse you went through as a child, it does not give you the right to be nasty and evil to all people around you. The less evil characters were spoiled brats (Linton, Catherine the older, and Catherine the younger) and I had little sympathy for them. However, as I read the book, I couldn't put it down, it was like watching a train wreck. I also loved the descriptions of the moors.This was a great read and I would recommend it!After reading this book, I continued my themed reading by tackling Changing Heaven. This doesn't happen often, but despite hating almost all the characters (with the exception of nelly), I really enjoyed this book (I am sure not for the same reasons others like it, though). I have a hard time understanding why Heathcliff is considered a great romantic character by some. I don't care how much abuse you went through as a child, it does not give you the right to be nasty and evil to all people around you. The less evil characters were spoiled brats (Linton, Catherine the older, and Catherine the younger) and I had little sympathy for them. However, as I read the book, I couldn't put it down, it was like watching a train wreck. I also loved the descriptions of the moors. This was a great read and I would recommend it!
|
|
|
A Reader posted a review at 2008-07-23 07:12:17.
(Language: English)
La sola ragione di vivere per me è lui. Se tutto il resto perisse, e lui rimanesse, io continuerei a esistere; e, se tutto il resto rimanesse e lui fosse annientato,l 'universo si cambierebbe per me in un'immensa cosa estranea; non mi parrebbe più di essere una parte di esso. Il mio amore per Linton è simile al fogliame del bosco; il tempo lo muterà, ne sono sicura, come l'inverno muta gli alberi; il mio amore per Heathcliff somiglia alle eterne rocce che stanno sottoterra: una sorgente di gioia poco visibile, ma necessaria. Nelly, io sono Heathcliff! Lui è sempre, sempre nella mia mente; non come un piacere, come neppur io sono sempre un piacere per me stessa, ma come il mio proprio essere. Così non parlare più della nostra separazione:è impossibile, e..Tratto da Cime Tempestose (Wuthering Heights) di Emily BronteSe non lo avete ancora letto almeno una volta nella vostra vita...io vi consiglio di farlo..è un amore struggente..un capolavoro della letteratura inglese, passioni travolgenti proiettate in un gotico immaginario romantico ricco di ipnotizzanti suggestioni soprannaturali dai profondi risvolti psicologici e simbolici...il linguaggio è quello poetico i cui versi raccontano verità nascoste nell'anima di chi ama....(Manuela B.)
|
|
|
A Reader posted a review at 2009-11-20 01:25:12.
(Language: German)
Ich habe schon von einigen Leuten gehört, dass dieses Buch so unglaublich romantisch sein soll und auch solcherart Kommentare im Fernsehen haben mir eine vollkommen andere Vorstellung von Sturmhöhe gegeben. Romantik habe ich allerdings so gut wie keine entdeckt... vielleicht habe ich auch eine andere Auffassung von Romantik, sodass ich diese nicht erkannt habe...wer weiß... Anstelle von Romantik wird man mit psychischer und physischer Gewalt konfrontiert. Stellenweise wurde sogar ich beim Lesen aggressiv, weil ich das Handeln der Protagonisten, vor allem Heathcliff nicht nachvollziehen konnte. Ich verstehe einfach nicht wie man so viel angestaute Wut und Hass in sich tragen kann und diese an allen Menschen in seiner Umgebung auslässt – vor allem über Generationen hinweg. War er mir im Kindesalter noch sympathisch bzw. konnte ich anfangs seine Wut noch nachempfinden, wurde dieses Mitleid im Laufe der Jahre (im Buch) immer weniger, bis ich ihn gar nicht mehr leiden konnte und ihn sogar hasste. Wobei ich es allerdings ziemlich interessant finde, wie sich die negative Stimmung im Buch auf mich übertragen hat. Meine persönlichen Lieblinge waren die junge Catherine (namentlich etwas verwirrend, also die Tochter Catherines) und Hareton. Der arme Junge hat ja wirklich das meiste abbekommen und hat die Welt nicht verstanden – wie denn auch, bei dieser „Erziehung“. Der Schreibstil hat mir sehr gut gefallen – allerdings erst auf Deutsch, da ich gestehen muss, dass ich mit der englischen Fassung meine Schwierigkeiten hatte. Trotz dieser anfänglicher Schwierigkeiten hat sich Sturmhöhe zum absoluten pageturner entwickelt, da ich zunehmend in diesem Sog aus Gewalt, Missgunst und Hass total gefangen war. Ich bin jetzt auch sehr froh darüber, dass ich nicht aufgegeben habe, denn ich finde Sturmhöhe wirklich sehr lesenwert, auch wenn ich mich zukünftig bei einem ReRead erst psychisch darauf vorbereiten muss. ;)
|
|
|
A Reader posted a review at 2009-08-18 07:21:21.
(Language: English)
this novel is special in its own way. it is not the typical romance or the dashing like "pride and prejudice." it is however the most powerful and dark book i ever read and not surprisingly will be my favorite. Heathcliff will have to be and always will be my favorite character ever. His dark and vicious motives are so admiring and appreciated because of what he went through to achieve his goals and that my friends i give him my honor. His is lovely when he speaks of cruel and why should he be the nice guy?? and as of Ellen Dean, she is the WORST character in the novel. she is hypocrite, annoying, mean, and absolutely have no sympathy from me. oh and the cruel Catherine, oh i will have to let you find out on your own because she didnt do to protect my love from harm, such an idiot. sigh, but this book showed another side of me i never had. and that my friends, it is a very dark side that i do wish to embrace. it is not always sunny and springy. this book will open your eyes to the most amazing theories of human beings. i love this book and it is my favorite. Emily Bronte did a good job after she died.
|
|
|
A Reader posted a review at 2007-07-09 11:09:18.
(Language: English)
"My love for Linton is like the foliage in the woods[…]time will change it [but] my love for Heathcliff is like the eternal rocks beneath – a source of little visible light, but necessary.†This story takes your classic regency love story and twists it and mangles it and contorts into something truly surreal, yet utterly fascinating. The main characters, Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw have a tormented love affair that stretches from childhood until death, and yet it goes unrequited as the troubled Heathcliff runs away in his teens, coming back only to find she has married a local aristocrat. However, their timeless, spaceless, bodiless bond persists and despite the fact that Heathcliff is a despicable, terrible, vile man, she loves him, and despite the fact that in all other aspects of his humanity he is a horrible person, he loves her - sincerely and deeply. This ironically endears us to them. The lives of Wuthering's characters are all tragic, all wrought with strife and suffering, and all perverse, corrupted - yet you cannot help but be engrossed by them, to sympathize with them, and to follow them throughout all their pains, agonies, cruelties, and finally: their tragic demises. You can look at this novel from a number of angles - a tragedy, social commentary -, however, I prefer to think of it as a twisted love story - but a love story nonetheless. If you like classy but not overly sentimental or formulaic reading, which is simultaneously real yet surreal, you might like this one.
|
|
|
A Reader posted a review at 2010-02-16 10:42:46.
(Language: English)
Despite of being often mentioned as villain, Heathcliff had his share of pains and grief. To love someone with your entire heart and soul and see them spend the best years of their life with someone else, is a hard thing to do. It was not easy for Heathcliff too, and Emily Bronte clearly sums up his feelings and a major part of the story in this one paragraph said by Heathcliff, something which we lovers look up to for inspiration: "And there you see the distinction between our feelings: had he been in my place, and I in his, though I hated him with a hatred that turned my life to gall, I never would have raised a hand against him. You may look incredulous, if you please! I never would have banished him from her society as long as she desired his. The moment her regard ceased, I would have torn his heart out, and drunk his blood! But, till then - if you don't believe me, you don't know me - till then, I would have died by inches before I touched a single hair of his head!"
|
|
|
A Reader posted a review at 2008-02-06 04:28:20.
(Language: English)
I didn't choose this book as an assignment, but as a personal gratification read. I'd heard great reviews from many friends and I'd never gotten around to reading it or checking out the film. It started out intriguing and then started to spiral down into bizarreness. I will admit: I couldn't finish it. I found it to be disheartening and disappointing and I quit reading half way through to save my nerves. I wanted to finish it, but it was too depressing and just a … mood killer. And that may have very well been the idea of the author and if it was so, then she did an excellent job on that front. I didn't empathize with the characters, though it doesn't seem you are supposed to (how could you?), but I like to feel a connection to the character and how can you connect to such selfishness or empathize with a woman who is such… for lack of better words: a devious bitch. She was using everyone for her own personal gain. And Heathcliff was much too focused on revenge, more so than was deserved, I think. The writing itself was good, the story wasn't good.
|
|
|
A Reader posted a review at 2009-08-14 02:53:48.
(Language: Croatian)
Najdraži citati: "Iako nas ni bijeda, ni poniženje, ni smrt ni išta što bi Bog ili Sotona mogli poslati na nas, ne bi moglo rastaviti, ti, ti si to učinila svojevoljno. Ja nisam slomio tvoje srce... ti si ga slomila; i slomivši ga, slomila si i moje. Utoliko gore za mene što sam jak. Želim li živjeti? Kakav će to život biti kad... Oh! Bože! Bi li ti željela živjeti kad ti je duša u grobu?" i "Ja se molim samo jednom molitvom - ponavljam je dok mi se jezik ne ukoči - Catherino Earnshaw, ne nađi mira dokle god ja živim! Rekla si da sam te ja ubio - pojavljuj mi se onda kao duh! Ubijeni se, vjerujem, pojavljuju kao duhovi svojim ubojicama. Znam da duhovi umrlih lutaju zemljom. Budi uvijek sa mnom - uzmi na sebe kakav god hoćeš oblik, muči me do ludila! Samo me NEMOJ ostaviti na ovom ponoru gdje te ne mogu naći! Ne mogu živjeti bez svog života! Ne mogu živjeti bez svoje duše!"
|
|
|
A Reader posted a review at 2009-02-23 09:48:11.
(Language: English)
This book is classic literature at its best. Its incredibly insightful of the times it was set in and unlike a lot of romantic fiction the characters were deep and came to life in this book. I have to admit I didn't get Heathcliff. Not so much the character, I understood him fine but I didn't get what other people tend to think of him. You always hear about how he is one of the greatest romantics of literature, but how??? He is a violent moody man who spends all his time torturing the woman he loves because she doesn't share his feelings. Even when she dies he just switches his maliciousness to her family, making their lives unbearable. There was nothing romantic about reading about the things he did to hurt people, he was a complete barstard throughout the whole book. Take away the way other readers seem to see him and he is a great charachter, everyone loves a baddy. Lets face it, when we read Thomas Harris' Hannibal Lecter novels, we read them to read about Hannibal Lecter.
|
|
|
A Reader posted a review at 2009-04-30 06:31:43.
(Language: English)
This is a work of great ability, and contains many chapters, to the production of which talent of no common order has contributed. At the same time, the materials which the author has placed at his own disposal have been but few. In the resources of his own mind, and in his own manifestly vivid perceptions of the peculiarities of character in short, in his knowledge of human nature–has he found them all.... It is not every day that so good a novel makes its appearance; and to give its contents in detail would be depriving many a reader of half the delight he would experience from the perusal of the work itself. To its pages we must refer him, then; there will he have ample opportunity of sympathising,–if he has one touch of nature that 'makes the whole world kin'–with the feelings of childhood, youth, manhood, and age, and all the emotions and passions which agitate the restless bosom of humanity. May he derive from it the delight we have ourselves experienced, and be equally grateful to its author for the genuine pleasure he has afforded him. Heathcliff's gypsy inheritance could have come to him through his mother. This view could disregard the mutual unawareness simply by saying that Brontë advocated the part religion or evolution played in life even if it happened behind the scenes, and even in the absence of knowledge as a kind of test or proof of impossibility, that such proximity is practically inconceivable. In the same manner that you and I might say that Brontë's orientation was towards the implications of classes.
|
|
Christine posted a review at 2010-06-05 12:36:09.
(Language: English)
When I was still living in New Jersey, my local library in Hamilton was a great 70's-style monolith with a consistently well-stocked and cheap used book sale. I think I spent a good $20 over the course of a few months of $0.05 books. One of my acquisitions was a 1980's cheap paperback printing of Emily Bronte's classic Wuthering Heights, a must-read that had eluded me all of these years. Finally, around Christmastime 2009, I began reading this dense but juicy volume, and it's taken me the better part of 4 months to finish it, with my usual on-and-off reading habits. Wuthering Heights I had no idea just how very feisty and, quite frankly, dysfunctional, these characters would be. For those of you who haven't read it yet [potential SPOILER alert], it is about Cathy and Heathcliff, childhood best friends. Deep down, they love each other, but they refuse their hearts and go with their vanity and greed, respectively, and marry other people (a brother and sister, in fact.) Just like the trailer park stereotype (except set in a leisurely country mansion), Heathcliff and Cathy's brother Hindley fight like dogs, and even endanger the life of Hindley's baby with their escapades. Cathy is the picture of indecisiveness, and flutters between potential husbands until she finally chooses the richer of the two. Fast forward one generation, and Cathy's daughter dotes on Heathcliff's pathetic son. No, these first cousins aren't discouraged from their union based on blood relation. Eventually, they're allowed to marry. Long story short, little sick-man dies of a sniffle and Cathy marries her other first cousin. I enjoyed Wuthering Heights, but it was hard to get to the back cover. What I learned: Is there really that much of a lack of eligible bachelors in England? Some of my favorite passages (based on Bantam Classic paperback version shown above in photo): 'I was only going to say that heaven did not seem to be my home; and I broke my heart with weeping to come back to earth; and the angels were so angry that they flung me out into the middle of the heath on the top of Wuthering Heights; where I woke sobbing for joy. That will do to explain my secret, as well as the other. I've no more business to marry Edgar Linton than I have to be in heaven; and if the wicked man in there had not brought Heathcliff so low, I shouldn't have thought of it. It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff now; so he shall never know how I love him: and that, not because he's handsome, Nelly, but because he's more myself than I am. Whatever our soults are made of, his and mine are the same; and Linton's is as different as a moonbeam from lightening, or frost from fire.' (Cathy). Bella from Twilight totally quoted this too, despite her general inability to think outside of her own self. (73) -'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.' (Cathy) Another Bella melodrama. (74-75) -'The moment her regard ceased, I would have torn his heart out, and drank his blood! But, till then - if you don't believe me, you don't know me - till then, I would have died by inches before I touched a single hair of his head!' (136) Totally makes more sense here than in Twilight reference. -I used to draw a comparison between him [Linton] and Hindley Earnshaw, and perplex myself to explain satisfactorily why their conduct was so opposite in similar circumstances. They had both been fond husbands, and were both attached to their children; and I could not see how they shouldn't both have taken the same road, for good or evil. But, I thought in my mind, Hindley, with apparently the stronger head, has shown himself sadly the worse and the weaker man. When his ship struck, the captain abandoned his post; and the crew, instead of trying to save her, rushed into riot and confusion, leaving no hope for their luckless vessel. Linton, on the contrary, displayed the true courage of a loyal and faithful soul: he trusted God; and God comforted him. One hoped, and the other despaired: they chose their own lots, and were righteously doomed to endure them. (169) shoon (286) Whoa. Emily was right! Before "shoes" became part of common usage, "shoon" totally was the plural of "shoe." How awesome is that?!? *geekfest*
|
Share your views!
Similar books
