Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontรซ

10 reviews

znnys's review against another edition

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

5.0

It's been a while since I've read a book that I couldn't put down. I was very fortunate to come to Wuthering Heights knowing almost nothing about the plot, aside from what the Kate Bush song revealed. I was immediately drawn in by this book about miserable people treating each other like shit! The spiral of these two families, with Heathcliff at the center, orchestrating his vengeance. He's a simultaneous fascinating and detestable character, and viewed through the unreliable perspective of Nelly, you're almost inclined to believe he's this inherently. But Wuthering Heights is about how abuse begets abuse, and the seed is planted by something beyond the scope of the Earnshaws and the Lintons - it is the pervasive classism of semi-incestuous white English hegemony. It's no coincidence that she emphasizes Heathcliff's ambiguous ethnicity as the main source of his Otherness. It only makes sense, then, that Heathcliff's vengeance runs so deeply, when the prejudice against him was set into motion long before he was born. His transformation into a villain seems like he's fulfilling the prophecy expected of him by everyone around him.

Unpleasantly surprised to see the notion that "these characters are mean and it's not ACTUALLY a romance" so pervasive, as if it's an actual a critique. Yes, they're mean. Yes, nearly every relationship in this book is fraught, miserable, tumultuous, and toxic. I don't see how that makes the book bad? Sometimes books about people who suck are good and interesting! Literature would be incredibly boring if characters always did and said the right things. There would be no conflict. These characters felt like such well-rounded, multi-layered people to me. A good character is someone who you can like, and hate, and pity, all at once. I felt that for nearly every character in this book.

There's a lot more I could probably say about this book, but I'd be writing an essay. Ultimately I really loved it and will probably count it as an all-time favorite.

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ayphyx's review against another edition

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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 itโ€™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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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 clichรฉ 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 5๐Ÿชฆ

Joanne Froggatt also fucking slayed the audiobook 5๐Ÿชฆ

NB Nelly doesnโ€™t get paid enough to deal with all the BS from the Lintons + Earnshaws - get a better employer girl! 

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contrapasso's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad tense medium-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

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theasophie230303's review against another edition

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

4.25


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veganecurrywurst's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious tense
  • 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

I disagree with the people saying that this is not a lovestory (although the predominant theme is revenge). I genuinely believe that Heathcliff loved Cathrine I and vice-versa. But they all were such toxic, irresponsible and egocentric people without boundaries that the being together only made it worse.
Most of the other characters even the narrator(s) are deeply flawed human beings.
I think the most "likable" are probably Catherine II and Hareton.
In oder to really appreciate this book, I recommend doing a bit of research on it first and listing to other people's thoughts on the book. I'm probably going to give this a higher rating after I reread it.

โ€œHe shall never know I love him: and that, not because heโ€™s handsome, but because heโ€™s more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made out of, his and mine are the same.โ€

โ€œIf all else perished, and he remained, I should still continue to be; and if all else remained, and he were annihilated, the universe would turn to a mighty stranger.โ€

โ€œI have not broken your heart โ€“ you have broken it; and in breaking it, you have broken mine.โ€

โ€œIโ€™m wearying to escape into that glorious world, and to be always there: not seeing it dimly through tears, and yearning for it through the walls of an aching heart: but really with it, and in it."

โ€œIt was not the thorn bending to the honeysuckles, but the honeysuckles embracing the thorn.โ€

โ€œI have to remind myself to breathe โ€“ almost to remind my heart to beat!โ€

โ€œTreachery and violence are spears pointed at both ends; they
wound those who resort to them worse than their enemies.โ€

Some info-graphics I really enjoyed: https://www.theguardian.com/books/gallery/2018/jul/30/emily-brontes-wuthering-heights-in-charts

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scruffie's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional 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

4.0

I found this one very slow paced and reading it was quite the grind. Exceptionally dark though, so I naturally loved it.
Say what you will about the villain but I was impressed by his perseverance and how he uses the very same systemic techniques that oppressed him to oppress others, effectively perpetuating the misery.
Made me think of Philip Larkin's words:

"Man hands on misery to man.
It deepens like a coastal shelf.
Get out as early as you can,
And don't have any kids yourself."

Sidenote: I'd generously say that I understood about 30% of what Joseph says in the book. Didn't make a difference, really.

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therobinjoyce's review against another edition

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

0.25

"๐™ƒ๐™š'๐™จ ๐™ฃ๐™ค๐™ฉ ๐™– ๐™๐™ช๐™ข๐™–๐™ฃ ๐™—๐™š๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ,' ๐™จ๐™๐™š ๐™ง๐™š๐™ฉ๐™ค๐™ง๐™ฉ๐™š๐™™; ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™๐™š ๐™๐™–๐™จ ๐™ฃ๐™ค ๐™˜๐™ก๐™–๐™ž๐™ข ๐™ค๐™ฃ ๐™ข๐™ฎ ๐™˜๐™๐™–๐™ง๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™ฎ. ๐™„ ๐™œ๐™–๐™ซ๐™š ๐™๐™ž๐™ข ๐™ข๐™ฎ ๐™๐™š๐™–๐™ง๐™ฉ, ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™๐™š ๐™ฉ๐™ค๐™ค๐™  ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™ฅ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™˜๐™๐™š๐™™ ๐™ž๐™ฉ ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐™™๐™š๐™–๐™ฉ๐™; ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™›๐™ก๐™ช๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™ž๐™ฉ ๐™—๐™–๐™˜๐™  ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐™ข๐™š. ๐™‹๐™š๐™ค๐™ฅ๐™ก๐™š ๐™›๐™š๐™š๐™ก ๐™ฌ๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š๐™ž๐™ง ๐™๐™š๐™–๐™ง๐™ฉ๐™จ, ๐™€๐™ก๐™ก๐™š๐™ฃ: ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™จ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™˜๐™š ๐™๐™š ๐™๐™–๐™จ ๐™™๐™š๐™จ๐™ฉ๐™ง๐™ค๐™ฎ๐™š๐™™ ๐™ข๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™š, ๐™„ ๐™๐™–๐™ซ๐™š ๐™ฃ๐™ค๐™ฉ ๐™ฅ๐™ค๐™ฌ๐™š๐™ง ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐™›๐™š๐™š๐™ก ๐™›๐™ค๐™ง ๐™๐™ž๐™ข: ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™„ ๐™ฌ๐™ค๐™ช๐™ก๐™™ ๐™ฃ๐™ค๐™ฉ, ๐™ฉ๐™๐™ค๐™ช๐™œ๐™ ๐™๐™š ๐™œ๐™ง๐™ค๐™–๐™ฃ๐™š๐™™ ๐™›๐™ง๐™ค๐™ข ๐™ฉ๐™๐™ž๐™จ ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐™๐™ž๐™จ ๐™™๐™ฎ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™™๐™–๐™ฎ, ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™ฌ๐™š๐™ฅ๐™ฉ ๐™ฉ๐™š๐™–๐™ง๐™จ ๐™ค๐™› ๐™—๐™ก๐™ค๐™ค๐™™ ๐™›๐™ค๐™ง ๐˜พ๐™–๐™ฉ๐™๐™š๐™ง๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™š!"

Wow, where to start. So this WASN'T the lovely gothic romance l was expecting and had been led to believe. Having slogged through this book for the last 6 days I feel as if I need to be contacting some kind of customer service department to after refund for the time I just wasted reading this book. 

If I hadn't agreed to Buddy read this with another person I would probably have stopped reading after two or three chapters. The language is difficult, yes but considering the time period in which it was written you can understand why it is so difficult to read. That was the type of language that they use and that was the type of language used in novels and the written work so I can overcome that and look past it and after a while you do stop seeing the different language than what we used today but still the themes and plot of this whole novel in my honest opinion ridiculous and there is no way a book of this calibre would stand should it be released in the modern day.

The entire cast is full of selfish, evil, narcissistic assholes who show no respect to anybody else and with no self-respect at all for themselves.  The whole novel is basically a combination of child abuse, over indulgence, emotional abuse, and unrestrained anger issues . None of this is healthy and that is amplified by the fact that almost every single character in this book ends up meeting and timely demise in one form or another.

I can understand why people call it a classic and, I suppose, if you enjoy reading about social classes and interactions between people of different classes and the way the world seemed to work back in those days, then you'd probably have a field trip with this book. But for any normal person, either going into this believing that is a romance or, looking for a nice classic book to read, I would recommend that you pick up something by one of the other Brontรซ sisters because Wuthering Heights is not enjoyable, not remotely intriguing, nor interesting, and has no other pull to it other than the fact that people have bigger it up for centuries.

That is the only reason this book is still around and still being talked about - because Emily is connected with Charlotte and Anne so the Brontรซ name stands out and holds her above the rest. And for the fact that this book has been around for centuries so people assume it is a classic and portrays a perfect picture of the world back then. I do not find this to be true and in all honesty, I would never recommend this book to anybody.

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nerdkitten's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful sad medium-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

5.0


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