Reviews tagging 'Racial slurs'

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

47 reviews

yourbookishbff's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

Wuthering Heights is a stunning, claustrophobic nightmare of a gothic novel that I appreciate more in my 30s than I did in my teens. I went into this with little memory of the plot - the entirety of my recollection of my senior-year English essay on the subject was “everyone’s awful.” But two of my childhood besties were game for an impromptu buddy (re)read, and there is nothing quite like revisiting a book you didn’t understand on your first read and realizing it’s actually more horrifying than you previously understood (as a parent, the generational cycle of abuse and the childhood trauma wrought by severe isolation, confinement and emotional manipulation color the story for me, now). 

Also on this read, I was more interested in the structure and style. The use of two unreliable narrators is so brilliantly done, where Mr. Lockwood’s diary-style narrative depends entirely on an abbreviated version of Nelly Dean’s narrative, which depends entirely on her retelling of events that happened to other people nearly three decades ago. The layers of bias between us and the events of the story create a feeling of always viewing the action through a fun-house mirror, with the melodrama rendered farcical and the broodiness of the characters and the moors deepening into supernatural terror. 

Ultimately, who but an isolated and introverted young woman confined to the English moors, writing under an alias, defying the strictures of her zealous Christian family members could have written a story even her own sister would later caution is maybe too dark? (Charlotte’s posthumous introduction to the novel is overly apologetic and explanatory to a degree that I really dislike, but her note that her sister’s writing was “moorish, and wild, and knotty as a root of heath” is perfectly said). 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Alcoholism, Adult/minor relationship, Violence, Physical abuse, Grief, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Death, and Incest

Moderate: Racial slurs, Death of parent, and Racism

Minor: Pregnancy

eva_vva's review against another edition

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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Pregnancy, Death of parent, Classism, Death, Domestic abuse, Grief, Racism, and Sexism

Moderate: Addiction, Misogyny, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Confinement, Mental illness, Racial slurs, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Suicide attempt, Stalking, and Self harm

hatofulbf's review against another edition

dark emotional sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racial slurs, Misogyny, Incest, Domestic abuse, and Racism

Minor: Animal cruelty

lakeofstars's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

i always come back to you and i am always angry

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Racism, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Racial slurs, Violence, Physical abuse, Chronic illness, Death, and Sexism

yujiarx's review against another edition

challenging dark slow-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Incest, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Death, Child death, Bullying, Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, Animal death, Sexism, Classism, Death of parent, and Toxic relationship

actiaslunasaturniidae's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Physical abuse, Grief, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Alcoholism, Alcohol, and Violence

ayphyx's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense 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

4.0

Everybody in this book fucking sucks and it’s great (except for you Hareton <3). This book is so much more enjoyable as a book about the cycle of abuse than a traditional romance.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Self harm, Toxic friendship, Violence, Abandonment, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Ableism, Child abuse, and Mental illness

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death of parent, Racism, Animal cruelty, Racial slurs, and Blood

nineinchnails's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

i wish i could articulate why i liked this so much better but it was a super cathartic read. the prose was beautiful and the characterisation was really good in my opinion. i find it infinitely more interesting and satisfying to read about flawed characters than mary sues or people with shortcomings that get no worse than “i love too hard😔” so this was really enjoyable. i think heathcliffs ethnicity was worked really well into the book and gave a lot of insight into his character. i went into this pretty much blind but expecting it to be more of a romance than it was but i was pleasantly surprised! i think this is a gothic novel, and if that is the case, it was a very good example of one! i might be slightly biased since it’s set in yorkshire (my homeland) and it feels somewhat nostalgic despite being written centuries before i was born.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Death, Racism, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Incest, Grief, Chronic illness, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Bullying, Classism, Confinement, Racial slurs, Terminal illness, Kidnapping, Infidelity, Violence, Abandonment, and Pregnancy

Minor: Animal death, Mental illness, Animal cruelty, and Physical abuse

roreadsbooks's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse

Moderate: Incest, Racism, Child abuse, and Racial slurs

Minor: Xenophobia

melancholymegs's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense slow-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

2.0

Switching to the audiobook improved my experience with the book overall, but in the end all I feel is a relief to have finished.  Despite having a certain understanding of the characters, that did not make me feel for them.

I honestly pumped my fist when Heathcliff finally died.

  However I did like Nelly (I enjoy gossipy characters), and towards the end of their character arcs Isabella and Catherine Linton also grew on me.  But not enough to redeem the time I spent reading this novel.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Racism, Animal cruelty, Toxic relationship, Violence, Domestic abuse, and Death

Moderate: Incest, Confinement, Death of parent, Misogyny, and Stalking

Minor: Blood, Kidnapping, and Racial slurs