Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

215 reviews

romie_chat's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

2.0

to anyone who has read this book and considers it a romance, are you okay?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, and Violence

kingcrookback's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad 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

I'm going to be honest, I don't quite know how I feel about this. I had fun reading, for a given definition of fun that veers more toward "I want to stick this under a microscope and study it like a bug." None of the characters are very likable or relatable, though I don't find that much of a deterrent. I don't need to like or relate to a character to find them compelling. And while I did sometimes find the level of cruelty and violence--especially on Heathcliff's part--upsetting, I don't quite agree with readers who came to the conclusion that Wuthering Heights promotes/romanticizes abuse.

While I do have a sort of academic fascination with WH that'll probably lead me to reading more about it, in terms of actually rereading, I think I'm more inclined to reach for Jane Eyre.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Alcoholism, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Minor: Classism

akirareadsthething's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad 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

Awful people living awful lives doing awful things to each other. Weirdly compelling.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Incest, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Stalking, and Murder

theasophie230303's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Self harm

lazycycle's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexism, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Eating disorder, Incest, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicide, Grief, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

Minor: Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Pregnancy

manorma's review against another edition

dark

• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, and Physical abuse

erinbarton's review against another edition

dark emotional slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, and Death of parent

Minor: Incest

ashtree's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Domestic abuse

withloveandlights's review against another edition

dark emotional sad 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

2.5

This is a very “cloth-bound classic” as the YouTuber Jack Edward’s puts it and I’d have to agree. This novel is full of spite and relationship abuse so it is very dark and sad.

My favorite character is Cathy (junior) because of her resilience and determination

despite being used by her uncle and forced to (temporarily) live a life she never wanted for herself.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, and Abandonment

katelynmill2's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.5

4.5/5 stars

I enjoyed this book much more than I thought I would.

I actually liked all the characters, even characters I didn’t like. I think the fact that not all the characters are lovable adds to the book significantly. Sometimes you don’t have to dislike characters in order to be rooting for them. They just have to be interesting.

This is one of those books that doesn’t show you those little moments of sheer love and enjoyment between characters, making their love hard to believe in. Some people would probably say that Healthcliff and Catherine didn’t have love, all the moments we see between them are moments of rudeness. My point being that it’s known they lived and grew up together. They would run around outside and play together, forming a bond that isn’t exactly portrayed through most scenes between Catherine and Healthcliff.

I also found it interesting how all the characters show such raw emotions with no filter. They seem to succumb very quickly to one emotion. In more modern day books, characters don’t seem as transparent as the characters in Wuthering Heights. Modern day characters handle emotion a lot better and the emotion itself even seems to have more depth.

I could write a lot review analyzing this book and I would love to (not even being sarcastic tbh, I really liked this book and found it really interesting), but I’m not going to 🤪

*I will note that the fact there’s so much incest is an ick… Catherine falling in love with her adoptive brother and young Cathy dating both (and eventually marrying one) of her cousins— yeah.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Child abuse

Minor: Child death