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24.1k reviews for:

Cumbres borrascosas

Emily Brontë

3.72 AVERAGE

dark emotional slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Navigating a messed up family with a crowd of very complicated characters that you simultaneously feel terrible for and despise. 
dark medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

real literature

A masterpiece? Yes, probably, but I'm not sure that I enjoyed it and I was glad to reach the end.
Most of the characters are extremely unpleasant, even revolting and this includes both Heathcliff and Cathy. It's a strange, weird and fascinating novel.
dark emotional sad slow-paced
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Let's get this out of the way--most of the characters in this book are awful. Catherine, Heathcliff, Hindley, etc., are extremely self-serving people who are also bad parents. However, it's hard to dispute that this book birthed both an aesthetic (love on the moors) and a genre (dark romance w/paranormal undertones).

Emily Brontë also arguably did Rashomon before Rashomon. With its avant garde format of shifting narration, we get the story of Heathcliff told through many perspectives... but never his own. The two most important relationships in his life--his obsessive love for Catherine, and his
paternal love for Hareton--
remain enshrouded, sparking room for debate and reflection. IMO,
Heathcliff's overheard realization that he loved Hareton and doesn't want to stand in the way of his happiness is the thing that allows Heathcliff to free himself of the mortal coil, enabling his reunion with Catherine at last. Hareton is more Heathcliff's son than Linton. Thus, in his own dysfunctional way, Heathcliff comes to fulfill the promise that Catherine and Hindley's father initially intended, i.e., for Heathcliff to become part of the family.
In all, this is a bleak and at times frustrating story that nonetheless haunts.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
reflective tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
dark emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes