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jubsrabellogs's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
I don’t think I’ve ever been so angry, terrified and miserable over a book before. I’m still struggling to understand the point of it all. At first, it was like a soap opera, a huge melodrama. Then, it felt like a study on the human capacity for evil and for its endurance. And, finally, at the end, it felt like the triumph of good over evil. Even with that ending, nothing on this world would persuade me to approach the titular estate! Time and time again I wondered if the soil itself was not cursed and responsible for Hindley and Heathcliff’s degradation, for Catherine, Edgar, Isabella and Linton’s declining health, etc. It felt even worse than The Overlook Hotel at times.
I cannot say it was a pleasant read, but it was a captivating one, and I couldn’t put it down until I finished it. And it kept me engaged in the question of nature versus nurture. Although, by the end, it looked like Emily Brontë was firmly on the former’s side. And how curious it would be that the unknown “gipsy” child is the one with a despicable nature… (yikes, Emily!)
If I was made to choose between this and Jane Eyre, I would choose the latter without second thought. But this book was still a haunting and worthy piece of gothic literature, and it certainly scared me more than Dracula and Frankenstein ever did (although I do love both).
I cannot say it was a pleasant read, but it was a captivating one, and I couldn’t put it down until I finished it. And it kept me engaged in the question of nature versus nurture. Although, by the end, it looked like Emily Brontë was firmly on the former’s side. And how curious it would be that the unknown “gipsy” child is the one with a despicable nature… (yikes, Emily!)
If I was made to choose between this and Jane Eyre, I would choose the latter without second thought. But this book was still a haunting and worthy piece of gothic literature, and it certainly scared me more than Dracula and Frankenstein ever did (although I do love both).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Emotional abuse, Alcoholism, Grief, Physical abuse, and Confinement
Moderate: Cursing, Blood, Death of parent, Racial slurs, Racism, Death, Mental illness, Animal cruelty, Bullying, and Misogyny
coffeecass's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Classism, Child abuse, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Death, and Domestic abuse
Moderate: Stalking, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Murder, and Racism
alishamegan's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
SPOLIERS!
I liked cathy 1 and 2, and edgar linton who is the only good male in the book, the soft boy. Heathcliffe is a psycho, and cathy 1 knew that. She loved him like a girl or woman might love the toxic abusive boy or man despite knowing his nature, and add to that fact that they grew up together makes it even harder for her to leave him. but SHE DOES. She chooses edgar bc she knows what's good for her, and I love that. she chose the healthy loving relationship over the unhealthy toxic one. GOOD FOR HER. also heathcliffe is a black man and I certainly saw that clearly. But also hate the obvious and predictable racism by all the white ppl.
CORRECTION
So I forgot cathy 1 hit edgar, so yes she is also abusive totally. And that cannot be excused at all. I still like cathy 1 bc of her choices, but I of course condemn that action against poor edgar. And edgar is awesome.
Also Nelly is a bum like i don't care her narration is not totally reliable and she meddled when she wanted and didn't meddle when she didn't. She was better than the other horrible servant though that did not help cathy 2 at all.
Also cathy 2 is a child througout and only 18 by the end and she is very brave and resilient.
Also mr lockwood is also a waste man and I'm glad cathy 2 did not marry him, as he like most Victorian white men wants his love to be an "angel". However I don't like hareton either bc abuse sooo. I wish she would have escaped but this is the olde times and she would have no cash and assets as a woman etc etc so that's no escape at all. She made the best of cards dealt to her, like her mom cathy 1. Good for her again.
It is also interesting to compare mr lockwood wanting cathy 2 to be an angel and thinking less of her when she acts like any human being would in her situation, and heathcliffe loving cathy 1 with or may be because of her roughness and continues to when she becomes a so called proper lady. Both also resist and doing the opposite of what their love interests expect and want from them which is fab.
Joseph is irritating af and enough said.
I liked cathy 1 and 2, and edgar linton who is the only good male in the book, the soft boy. Heathcliffe is a psycho, and cathy 1 knew that. She loved him like a girl or woman might love the toxic abusive boy or man despite knowing his nature, and add to that fact that they grew up together makes it even harder for her to leave him. but SHE DOES. She chooses edgar bc she knows what's good for her, and I love that. she chose the healthy loving relationship over the unhealthy toxic one. GOOD FOR HER. also heathcliffe is a black man and I certainly saw that clearly. But also hate the obvious and predictable racism by all the white ppl.
CORRECTION
So I forgot cathy 1 hit edgar, so yes she is also abusive totally. And that cannot be excused at all. I still like cathy 1 bc of her choices, but I of course condemn that action against poor edgar. And edgar is awesome.
Also Nelly is a bum like i don't care her narration is not totally reliable and she meddled when she wanted and didn't meddle when she didn't. She was better than the other horrible servant though that did not help cathy 2 at all.
Also cathy 2 is a child througout and only 18 by the end and she is very brave and resilient.
Also mr lockwood is also a waste man and I'm glad cathy 2 did not marry him, as he like most Victorian white men wants his love to be an "angel". However I don't like hareton either bc abuse sooo. I wish she would have escaped but this is the olde times and she would have no cash and assets as a woman etc etc so that's no escape at all. She made the best of cards dealt to her, like her mom cathy 1. Good for her again.
It is also interesting to compare mr lockwood wanting cathy 2 to be an angel and thinking less of her when she acts like any human being would in her situation, and heathcliffe loving cathy 1 with or may be because of her roughness and continues to when she becomes a so called proper lady. Both also resist and doing the opposite of what their love interests expect and want from them which is fab.
Joseph is irritating af and enough said.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Misogyny, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Confinement, Sexism, Torture, Toxic relationship, and Violence
anniesher23's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Great windy vibes. Toxic relationship. You know the drill
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Mental illness, Domestic abuse, Death, Racism, Sexism, and Violence
livelaughomo's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Incest, Racism, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Child abuse, Death of parent, and Mental illness
Minor: Alcoholism
sarabookshelf's review against another edition
dark
slow-paced
3.0
I really struggled with this book, and I basically forced myself to finish it without actually enjoying it. Almost all the characters are terrible and selfish people, and the majority of the relationships are borderline toxic and abusive. By the end, I basically didn't care what happened to any of the characters, as I was not emotionally invested in the story at all. Maybe it's just not my cup of tea, but if you expect "the greatest love story of all time", you will not find it here.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Racism, Death, Domestic abuse, and Emotional abuse
remuslibrary's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Violence, and Death
Moderate: Racism and Child abuse
Minor: Animal cruelty
solliereads's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This book is pure brilliance in my sincere opinion! It took me a while to get stuck into it, but once I managed to, I could immediately see why this had become a gothic classic and has been considered a masterpiece on Brontë's part.
I think the biggest mistake you can make when reading Wuthering Heights is to misunderstand the story of Heathcliff and Catherine as a love story - it is a tale of love, but it certainly isn't a love story or a romance in any sense of the word. It feels like a warning, more than a romantic story, that one will live a miserable and miserly life if one lets themselves become bitterly consumed by passion and regret, and real tragedy lies in what could have been of them if Catherine had pushed aside her thoughts of "marrying beneath her", or even what Heathcliff could have made of himself if he had let Catherine go in peace from his mind and his memory. I also appreciate the fact that we never see to in depth into the minds of Catherine Earnshaw or Heathcliff themselves - they feel more so like the performers in a play, that everyone around them reacts to with their own narratives full of bias. It's honestly genius.
I've seen reviews that the writing style is longwinded and dull, and had prepared myself for it but I personally found it incredibly gripping and I think it's more of an issue somebody might have personally with the genre and literary style. It's really no less longwinded or dull than other classics that I've read and loved, such as Crime and Punishment or, by another Brontë sister, Jane Eyre. Overall, I absolutely recommend this novel.
I think the biggest mistake you can make when reading Wuthering Heights is to misunderstand the story of Heathcliff and Catherine as a love story - it is a tale of love, but it certainly isn't a love story or a romance in any sense of the word. It feels like a warning, more than a romantic story, that one will live a miserable and miserly life if one lets themselves become bitterly consumed by passion and regret, and real tragedy lies in what could have been of them if Catherine had pushed aside her thoughts of "marrying beneath her", or even what Heathcliff could have made of himself if he had let Catherine go in peace from his mind and his memory. I also appreciate the fact that we never see to in depth into the minds of Catherine Earnshaw or Heathcliff themselves - they feel more so like the performers in a play, that everyone around them reacts to with their own narratives full of bias. It's honestly genius.
I've seen reviews that the writing style is longwinded and dull, and had prepared myself for it but I personally found it incredibly gripping and I think it's more of an issue somebody might have personally with the genre and literary style. It's really no less longwinded or dull than other classics that I've read and loved, such as Crime and Punishment or, by another Brontë sister, Jane Eyre. Overall, I absolutely recommend this novel.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Physical abuse, Xenophobia, Child abuse, and Racism
esztertth's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Read it first when I was a teenager and loved it, and the re-read made me fall in love with the book even more. So bleak, so haunting, so gothic, exploring the dark sides of human nature and obsession.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Racism, Confinement, and Death of parent
Minor: Pregnancy
emtees's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
The writing in this book is gorgeous. The descriptions, the setting, the tone, the delineation of character traits and emotional arcs, all incredible. I’m saying this up front because I didn’t really like the book, but I can’t rate it down when it is so beautifully written.
The story is… honestly kind of ridiculous, until you remember that this is the gothic genre, and compared to most gothics, the story here is pretty straight-forward. What made me dislike it was that I didn’t care for any of the characters or worry about what would happen to them. I don’t mean that the characters were flawed or even bad people - they were, but that’s to be expected in gothics - but that they were just frequently very annoying. They all had occasional moments where you could feel sympathy with them for the ways they seemed trapped by the circumstances of their lives, but then they would do something cruel or malicious for no good reason and that sympathy faded fast. Usually in a story like this I would expect to have at least one character I latched on to, but that didn’t happen here.
The story is… honestly kind of ridiculous, until you remember that this is the gothic genre, and compared to most gothics, the story here is pretty straight-forward. What made me dislike it was that I didn’t care for any of the characters or worry about what would happen to them. I don’t mean that the characters were flawed or even bad people - they were, but that’s to be expected in gothics - but that they were just frequently very annoying. They all had occasional moments where you could feel sympathy with them for the ways they seemed trapped by the circumstances of their lives, but then they would do something cruel or malicious for no good reason and that sympathy faded fast. Usually in a story like this I would expect to have at least one character I latched on to, but that didn’t happen here.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Gaslighting, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Terminal illness, and Child abuse
Minor: Racism