Reviews tagging 'Chronic illness'

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

50 reviews

wuthrinheights's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I first read this book a year or two ago, and I now hold two physical copies of it. This is a reread and I still harbor so much love for this story. When I was getting nearer to the ending, I was half glad, half saddened. I was excited to be finished with it so I could go on to read other books but I also didn't want to say goodbye to these characters. Seeing the story spread out for 20 years, I grew attached to them as if I was also a part of the moors. 

Although I do not condone their behaviours, I was still so fascinated and amazed by the intensity of the love held between Catherine and Heathcliff. They were wild and reckless and passionate, which hurt not only each other but the people around them and others that came after them. My favourite parts of the book were their love confessions spoken to Nelly. It was so intense and agonising, it plays so vividly if I were to think back on the book. 

My favourite character was Nelly. Everyone was always dramatic and taken by emotions, but Nelly was always cool and focused. Her deadpan deliveries cracked me up, which gave a lighter tone amidst the gloomy setting of the Heights. She often spoke the truth and would strive to do the right thing, even if her master(s) didn't like to hear it. 

It is still so mind-blowing that despite being written hundreds of years ago, Brontë was able to pen a story that covers abuse running through generational lines, when it probably wasn't that well studied back in those days. Emily was way ahead of her time and it's a shame she never got to see how well her book was loved after the publication. 

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nanc_282's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • 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

5.0


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cepbreed's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

"Time brought resignation and a melancholy sweeter than common joy."

This is a surprisingly consumable classic that I enjoyed very much! I truly appreciate Brontë's commitment to creating unlikeable characters. Through all of the evil acts and biased narration (provided by Lockwood and Nelly) the characters all emerged as feeling particularly human, Heathcliff specifically. He is made out to be this tragic character, a man filled with so much vitriol, yet he has this magnetism you can't help to be attracted to. The same goes for Hareton. Nelly portrayed him in such a negative light when he was first introduced, but you can't help but find sympathy for those types of characters. That said, and with all of the parallels between them, I  am struggling to understand why I was rooting for Hareton and Cathy (jr) with all of my heart, but couldn't find that same enthusiasm for Heathcliff and Cathy. Hareton and Cathy just had so much cute charm (ignoring the incest). Even when Linton was in the way I struggled to find it convincing at all. That said I don't really think of Wuthering Heights as a classic romance novel. The romance is just shrouded in so many layers of grief, class dynamics, etc. I also was surprisingly satisfied with the ending. Cathy and Hareton getting married and Heathcliff (crazy till the end) is able to end up with his Cathy in a way. I was dissatisfied with the lack of ghosts though. I feel like the first few chapters totally misled us...

The second half of the book was my favorite, I feel like it isn't mentioned enough! And why does nobody talk about the fact that Heathcliff isn't a white man!

Songs: 
  • Ghosts - James Vincent Mcmorrow
  • Knuckle Velvet - Ethel Cain 
  • Wuthering Heights - Kate Bush 
  • Shades of Cool - Lana del Rey  
  • Dark Paradise - Lana del Rey

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readingduckling's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.75

It's the mother of books about toxic relationships. And I think it's horrible it's marked as one of the romance novels. In my opinion it's at most a dark romance and more thriller because no one seems to have any kind of romantic feelings for one another. 
And on top of that there is a lot of incest in this book, in the third generation of "lovers". I think this is one of the books that you should not publish uncomented anymore. 
But I'm very impressed, that Emily Brontë was able to publish books at that time. 

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erebus53's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious sad 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

2.0

This is a book I was assigned to read in highschool.. and that, like every other read I was set, I quit at page 37. I resolved to one day pick it up and digest it in it's entirety. Verdict? Not very filling, a bit dry, not that satisfying. If I hadn't deliberately exerted myself, I wouldn't have bothered to finish it.

The setting is ostensibly spooky. It's a cold and desolate windblown house, with warped trees and harsh weather. The introduction sets the reader ill at ease with a new tenant imposing himself upon the landlord's household, only to meet with dour people and rude manners. Every attempt he makes to act toward them in a warm or overly familiar way is oh so cringeworthy, and disconcerting.

The narrative is told through word of mouth stories. The main narrator on the history of the characters is a maid servant, but yet further detail is fleshed out through recounting the content of letters and anecdotes of others... this method of telling stories inside stories I have seen before in things like Shelley's Frankenstein.

The Classism in this is predictably rampant. The use of a Yorkshire accent is disparaged and laughed at. Frustratingly for me, the narrator of the audiobook couldn't do the dialect any justice and she fumbled through all the parts that are written phonetically in rustic parlance. This took a lot more work for me to interpret than if it were read fluently. Gah! t'th divvel wet ye!

Another recurring theme is the whole cliché of dark and light. A dark haired, supposedly ill-bred orphan is taken to hearth and home, and of course fair haired, light eyed, pale skinned people are seen as morally superior. A bit of vanilla Racism to rub into the literature. Well.. the book is old.. but I don't have to like it.

Honestly confused at what a teacher would hope to gain from getting teens to vivisect a book like this.. the book is pale and dreary, a litany of ills and intergenerational abuse, of slow burning insidious revenge. I mean, I used to be a goth.. I've listened to Kate Bush.. this wasn't even romantic.

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issyd23's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

5.0

Holy fucking shit this nocked my socks off! The prose are phenomenal & moving. Not bad for a virgin with no friends who died at 30 from TB 5🪦

Joanne Froggatt also fucking slayed the audiobook 5🪦

NB Nelly doesn’t get paid enough to deal with all the BS from the Lintons + Earnshaws - get a better employer girl! 

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ismildlypoetic's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

Three stars means I liked the book! (tbh as i mull over it in the coming weeks, it'll probably grow higher)

Okay okay okay, so this needs a rant.
So I tried reading this book a few years ago, got ten pages in, and said nope. I just opened it again, and it took thirty pages of me Hating it, but I kept going anyways. I think I had a slow-burn relationship with this book.

If you're not used to reading classics, the language took a While to get used to.

Anyways, actual thought time: even for five-star books, it's very very rare that I care about how a book will end. But for some reason, this book had me Gripping the pages; needed to know how it ended and what becomes of the characters.

So even for how much I honestly didn't love 90% of the characters (they all pretty much annoyed me) and how I didn't care about certain plotlines, the tidbit of me caring how it ended stood out dramatically.

I also loved that it followed an entire family for like two generations. Stories like that, where you build a World, not just a couple moments, are my favorite, and I don't think I've ever actually read one before in a book.

I will say, my favorite characters were
Catherine (junior), Nelly, and most importantly, Heathcliff. I have no idea why, but even when Cathy Jr. and Nelly were annoying me, even in his absolute worst moments, Heathcliff had this depth to him that even if I hated, I cared for. He was the perfect villain (or anti-hero, in my case)
.

Alright, that was my rant. Would highly recommend if you're into classics, eh if you're not.

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josefineisreading's review against another edition

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challenging dark sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This was hard to read as there are no likeable characters and I thought I was going in to read a tragic romance. I think my downfall was the fact that I thought I might be reading something similar to Pride and Prejudice but it was nowhere near. 

There were parts that I liked and nearer to the end I found it easier to read. It felt like there was a fair bit of filler but I think it’s more because of the time rather than a fault of Emily Brontë. I’m writing this having finished it a few hours ago and I can say I won’t reread it but I do think it’s a pretty decent story. 

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canyi's review against another edition

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dark 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

3.5

Read as part of a buddy read among friends so it’s more recreational/ to mock it as a romance. But my final opinion is that its not a romance to mock because
it’s not a romance but more of a horror, the true romance is not the “main” couple, they’re the source of the horror. The true romance in this book is the end couple, I guess you could look at it as a romance that blossomed from the pure evil doings of Heathcliff but it really doesn’t feel like it’s the main point.


Personally I prefer to read books where I like or enjoy the main characters so honestly it wouldn’t be my go to pick. However once I got past that I found it was actually a really easy/ captivating read once I acknowledged (not a major plot spoiler)
that it was not a romance but more of a horror.


Despite the slow moving plot I felt compelled to finish it, at least just because I wanted to see if
Heathcliff is ever stopped
. Although I was inclined to give this a one star because I absolutely despised most of the characters, I don’t think I was supposed to like them. Honestly it’s easier to hate a character you’re supposed to hate than not liking a character you’re supposed to like.

3.5 stars because it wasn’t a bad story
just terrible people, although I will admit the rating would be lower if it didn’t have a somewhat happy ending.

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emmonsannae's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • 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

Rereading this for the second time (the first 6 years ago), I was surprised at how much more I enjoyed it. Most of the story is a dumpster fire: the characters are terrible and only get worse, the drama is excessive, and the Victorian depravity is unending; but the prose is witty and vivid and it’s a dumpster fire I couldn’t stop watching. I really appreciated the story’s ending, after 400 pages of sheer brutality—it was a relief to able to watch the only pitiable characters in the novel consciously break every cycle of evil and choose goodness. (It gets bonus points for being a perfect gothic “ghost” novel which ends up having much more to say about the ghosts we make for ourselves.)

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