Reviews - B. J. Harrison Reads Wuthering Heights

24k reviews for:

B. J. Harrison Reads Wuthering Heights

Emily Brontë

3.72 AVERAGE

janisbookcorner's review against another edition

DID NOT FINISH: 4%

The language was to difficult for me and made me loose the joy of reading it.

mollslol's review against another edition

5.0

dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

sarahherold's review against another edition

4.0

dark emotional sad

bethyboo29's review against another edition

4.5

dark slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

jtrenchard's review against another edition

4.75

dark emotional 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

amarahk's review against another edition

4.5

dark emotional sad fast-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

All 4.5 stars are for Nelly (Ellen) and Hareton.

Wuthering Heights is the epitome of the word ‘gothic’. It’s full of tragedy after tragedy, so much so that I questioned whether it were purely for shock value, but then I remembered the life expectancies in the Victorian era lol.

The Writing and Setting:

The setting was so immersive because the writing was descriptive in a way that I could feel it. I love how dark and gloomy it is.

It also didn’t bother me that it was told from Nelly’s perspective from Mr Lockwood because it was executed well and I love Nelly.

Themes:

Racial prejudices and discrimination played a huge role at the beginning of this book as Heathcliff is described as a brown child, most likely of Romani/Indian origin which makes me extremely baffled that Heathcliff has been white in all 20 TV adaptations, including the upcoming one! Emily Brontë was born 200 years ago, yet she’s more progressive than the modern day movie makers that won’t cast a brown person as the brown main character smh.

Pride is also a recurring theme, beginning with the pride of Hindley Earnshaw and ending with the pride of Cathy (Jr).

Characters:

In general I admired how individual each characters was, yet still equally nuanced. Most of the characters are intentionally unlikeable and I guess that’s why so many people hate this book, despite it being objectively good. I’ll give more opinions about each character from my favourite to my least favourite:

-Ellen Dean (Nelly): Sassy icon. I absolutely adore Nelly; she was the sweetest, most selfless person ever and the only character without a flaw. She was truly a mother to everyone.

I loved how she was an anti-racist queen and that she held people accountable, especially when they were spoilt (e.g Catherine Sr.). She was brave and said what she thought!

Iconic Nelly quote: “Small loss to his family whenever he drops off.”

-Hareton Earnshaw: A sweetie pie who did not deserve to be treated the way he was initially by Cathy Jr. He also did not deserve to be used as a pawn in Heathcliff’s revenge against his father.

-Edgar: A gentle natured soul, but too gentle for his own good. He was loyal and a loving father.

-Mr Earnshaw: He was the first to love Heathcliff and the fact that he was not white made no difference to him - he treated him as his own son, with great care and affection.

-Isabella: Despite being foolish in her marriage to Heathcliff, she was a nice girl and a good mother.

-Cathy Jr: She has her faults (I hated how she mistreated Hareton and how she was stubborn) but she grew to be a lovely girl in the end.

Nelly on Cathy Jr.: “She must have had a warm heart, when she loved her father so, to give so much to me!”

-Zillah: Not awful but didn’t have a spine and was complicit in Cathy’s mistreatment.

-Linton: I felt sorry for him at one point but he was a manipulative, attention seeking idiot and was evil to Cathy Jr.

-Heathcliff: I was rooting for him because he was treated so awfully and it broke my heart when he said “I wish I had light hair and fair skin.” But for some unexplained reason (well I guess it was jealously and vengefulness) he becomes a despicable person, particularly i’m regards to Isabella, Cathy Jr., Hareton and Linton.

-Catherine Sr: Selfish and a player. The only thing I liked about her was her protectiveness of Heathcliff when they were younger.

-Mr Lockwood: Just an NPC that I disliked for no real reason, but I liked when he stood up for Hareton.

Hindley: Hateful, racist, abusive alcoholic.

Joseph: All my homies hate Joseph. Why was he a servant but he was bossing everyone about? He was cold hearted and that’s all.

Relationships:

The only r/s I was rooting for was Hareton and Cathy Jr.

I did not care for Heathcliff and Catherine Sr: They were too messy, but I did like some quotes from their relationship:

“he shall never know that I love him: and that is not because he’s handsome, Nelly, but because he’s more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same.”

“I have not broken your heart - you have broken it; and in breaking it, you have broken mine.”

“I love my murderer - but yours! How can I?”

“You said I killed you - haunt me, then! …. drive me mad! only do not leave me in this abyss, where I cannot find you! …. I cannot live without my life! I cannot live without my soul.”

“for what is not connected with her to me and what does not recall her? I cannot look down to this floor, but her features are shaped on the flags! … I am surrounded with her image … my own features mock me with a resemblance. The entire world is a dreadful collection of memoranda that she did exist, and that I have lost her.”

TL;DR: I have too many opinions for my own good and believe it or not I had more to say, but overall this was brilliantly gothic and funny at times. Also I’m glad I didn’t live in this era so I’m not forced to marry my cousin, or the closest man in my vicinity.

Content Warnings