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Reviews tagging 'Racial slurs'

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

75 reviews

challenging dark 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

Truly my feelings on this book are divided. Just about every minute I spent reading this book was dreadful. It was very hard to keep going. I find stories with unlikable characters very difficult to read, and this book has no likable characters on which to pin my hopes. Additionally, the sheer amount and depth of the domestic and child abuse and the racism (though nothing exceptional for the period) made it very hard for me to keep reading.

And yet every time I put the book down, I found it hard not to think about. The layers of narration, the parallels and contrasts between the characters, the vivid portraits of such flawed individuals, the complicated social dynamics in such a small and isolated community. All of these things are a fertile ground for discussion and dissection. I've found that I much more enjoy analyzing the story than reading a single word from the page, and as long as I am doing that and not subjecting myself to people who find the "romance" of the characters particularly *romantic*, that I can find something of value in the book.

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dark emotional hopeful tense fast-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

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

Emotional melodrama and generational trauma 

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dark emotional mysterious medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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

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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dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

What a wild ride

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dark funny informative lighthearted mysterious reflective tense 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

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
challenging dark emotional funny 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

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

This was my favorite book for a while in high school, and years later, it's still my favorite classic. It's so melodramatic (I've been jokingly calling it an original soap opera), with a lot of great quotes and open-ended angst. I also feel like it brings up issues of race, gender, childhood, literacy, and property ownership with surprising insight for its time period (though those moments can be jarring on their own). 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark emotional slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Watching a bunch of fading landed gentry behaving badly has a kind of vicious Real Housewives feel to it which could be fun at times. These people could not bear to let anyone else be happy and were constantly cutting off their noses to spite their faces.

However, it's kind of blunted a bit by the distance the literary device used to tell gives it (some parts are like Lockwood relating a letter written by Cathy as narrated to him by Ellen) and the ending sort of runs out of steam.

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