Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

209 reviews

bookedbymadeline's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

The start of the novel wasn’t what I expected but I was drawn into the story. It was an enjoyable read, and I loved the prose! The characters could be annoying and most of them are unlikeable but the story and writing kept me reading.

I skimmed over Joseph’s dialogue every once in awhile because I couldn’t understand what he was saying 😂 and it slowed me down.

I have many tabbed pages and highlighted passages! I’m glad I finally read this classic and now I’m curious to read more from Emily Brontë.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Alcoholism, Bullying, and Racism

Minor: Racial slurs and Suicidal thoughts

heather_dowell's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment

leapyear_reader's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious fast-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

4.0

i absolutely adore the descriptions of the moors. i got to say that emily brontë is an absolute genius at setting the tone by describing emotions in faces when there are no dialogues. there is not one person i like in this book even though i greatly empathise with each and every one of them. A MASTERPIECE OF WRITING! 
now, the things i didnt love about the book: the part of the book where the affair between catherine linton and linton is dealt with is just dragged on for too long…they should have been left side characters rather than create a new generation of protagonists. also, heathcliff is literally an abomination of a human and his violence really made me cry, BUT THEN every time he talks about catherine i see him as a person again. damn your genius miss brontë.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Kidnapping, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Violence, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Alcoholism, Bullying, and Classism

sarasreading's review against another edition

dark reflective 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

3.5

I DNFed this in high school after one of my English teachers saw me absolutely devour Jane Eyre and told me I would love Wuthering Heights even more. Was that even possible? Turns out nope! I couldn’t stand the distance of the narration, being told secondhand and decades later. I didn’t even make it past their childhoods. 

I decided to try again as an adult, to give it a fair shot. And reader, I finished it! I still didn’t enjoy how detached the narrative was from the story. The best part of the book is when Nelly practically disappears, and these toxic disasters get a large chunk of heart-wrenching dialogue. I needed more of that! 

I was surprised to find I didn’t hate it, by the end. Every single character was a disaster, which feels very modern somehow. I imagine Emily scribbling this out by a stormy window, candlelight dancing in her wild eyes, as she makes them more and more unhinged. Goodforher.jpg.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Grief, and Classism

Moderate: Racism

stellabyproxy's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

4.0

wuthering heights by emily brontë was my first introduction into the literary world that is the brontë sisters and i could have hoped for no better meeting. 

this novel is a dark illustration of the thin line between love and hate and how rage can become one’s undoing. we follow heathcliff and catherine in their life story as each inflicts unspeakable heartbreak on the other and miscommunication leads to a chess game of vengeance unleashed on their descendants. 

“… they may bury me twelve feet deep, and throw the church down over me, but i won’t rest till you are with me.”

the perfect illustration of this novel for me would be invisible string by taylor swift, the notion that heathcliff and catherine are tethered to one another by their childhood infatuation turned obsession and a “love” that is destined to be their undoing. with the world against them, and eventually them against each other, we see how misery creates company. how heathcliff’s revenge plot becomes a complex chess game that catalyses everyone’s downfall, even his own. 

i have not broken your heart — you have broken it; and in breaking it, you have broken mine.

is the entire premise of their story, as each character’s actions directly lead to their own unhappiness. vengeance runs thick and cold, like a raving river, fuelled by uncontained rage and unaddressed emotion; each victim by circumstance lives long enough to become a villain by choice. 

the only character that i was rooting for from the moment of their introduction to their very end was hareton, and his story i find joy in. the perfect way of changing course and allowing history to not repeat itself, to put an end to a generational tale of manipulation and i find it to be brontë’s slim offering of an apology for an entire tale of hate and agony. 

“it was a strange way of killing: not by inches, but by fractions and hairbreadths,”

p.s. thank you for the birthday gift marcíano 🤍 i pray our story does not suffer the same fate as heathcliff and catherine. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Incest, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Bullying, Confinement, Misogyny, and Physical abuse

Minor: Ableism, Alcoholism, and Abandonment

tonihdd3's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

Minor: Physical abuse, Terminal illness, and Toxic friendship

christinewonder's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Grief

lochlynwolfe's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Minor: Animal cruelty, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, and Toxic friendship

l_gs's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement and Emotional abuse

Minor: Animal cruelty, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Grief, and Gaslighting

toffishay's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.75

Wuthering Heights has a real place in my heart. I read this for the first time in high school and loved it, but hadn't read it since. I've completed my first re-read now a decade later and I still love it. I can acknowledge now that it is far from a perfect story. It really lags in the second half, as many readers would note. But as messy and terrible as Cathy and Healthcliff are, they are so compelling as characters! Healthcliff deserves his comeuppance, but he gets such a hard rap in life that you understand why he might want revenge. And Cathy is trapped by expectation, but also doesn't fight for Healthcliff, despite her headstrong personality. They are doomed by circumstance as much as they are by their own actions, which is so frustrating and so well done. From a purely atmospheric perspective, this is a perfect Gothic romance. The revenge that spans multiple generations, the doomed romance, the moors! If you want the vibes of wandering alone through the world, then this book is a great way to spend your time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse

Moderate: Death and Physical abuse

Minor: Misogyny, Racism, and Sexism