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Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Cursing, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Death of parent
Minor: Blood, Medical content, Abandonment, Alcohol
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.
Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Classism
Moderate: Child death, Cursing, Religious bigotry, Alcohol
Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief
Moderate: Blood, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Death of parent
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!
Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Classism
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Grief
Moderate: Child abuse, Gun violence
Minor: Incest, Blood
I cannot say it was a pleasant read, but it was a captivating one, and I couldn’t put it down until I finished it. And it kept me engaged in the question of nature versus nurture. Although, by the end, it looked like Emily Brontë was firmly on the former’s side. And how curious it would be that the unknown “gipsy” child is the one with a despicable nature… (yikes, Emily!)
If I was made to choose between this and Jane Eyre, I would choose the latter without second thought. But this book was still a haunting and worthy piece of gothic literature, and it certainly scared me more than Dracula and Frankenstein ever did (although I do love both).
Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Blood, Death of parent
Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Moderate: Eating disorder, Religious bigotry
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Incest, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Murder
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Grief, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Classism
Moderate: Racism
Minor: Racial slurs, Blood
Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Classism
Minor: Animal cruelty, Cursing, Racism, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol