Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

Wuthering Heights (Original Edition) by Emily Brontë

42 reviews

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

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

Moderate: Physical abuse, Bullying, Confinement, and Misogyny

Minor: Abandonment, Ableism, and Alcoholism

luciiee's review against another edition

emotional reflective 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

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Mental illness, Toxic friendship, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Violence, Abandonment, and Physical abuse

captureeverychapter's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

A dark, gloomy, destructive, tragic,manipulative love story of Heathcliff & Catherine Earnshaw. 

This is the first classic book that I picked up. I was quite hesitant because let's be real classic books are intimidating. I had to put down the book for two - four days? 'cause I'm having a hard time understanding some of the words, it's prose but i strived and read back and repeatedly read all of the writings I didn't understand and then eventually with my trusty dictionary I got the hang of it. It wasn't easy going through it but no ounce of regret because this is a great story and I fell in love with it.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Xenophobia, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Grief, Mental illness, and Suicidal thoughts

lotus440's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Toxic friendship, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Classism, Abandonment, Child abuse, Death, Terminal illness, and Emotional abuse

greatexpectations77's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-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? Yes

3.25

This book is completely wild. Maybe I needed to read it when I was younger to cut through all of the child maltreatment and threats against other people and see the supposed love story? I am. Confused. I had to SparkNotes this because I could not remember who was relaying the story. Whew - a trip, and not necessarily one that I would go on again.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Classism, Death, Grief, Terminal illness, Child death, and Chronic illness

Moderate: Alcohol, Abandonment, Ableism, Domestic abuse, Animal cruelty, Confinement, and Physical abuse

headachesince03's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Classism, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Incest, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexism, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Violence

Moderate: Eating disorder and Religious bigotry

uchuflowerzone's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-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: Emotional abuse, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Classism, Death, Grief, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Racism

Minor: Blood and Racial slurs

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

neni's review against another edition

reflective 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

4.25

 I didn't expect this to be as engaging as it was. Obviously classics can be enjoyable, and I've read classics that moved me ( Jane Eyre, for one), but they're usually more serious in tone and with a more sad/ reflective vibe. 

Wuthering Heights managed to give off that dreamy, nostalgic vibe we associate so much with the Bronte sisters, but paired it with frankly the juiciest family and relationship drama I've ever read lmao. Seriously, the kardashians have nothing on these characters , and I mean that in the best possible way. 

The ammount of toxicity in the relationships and the sheer magnitude of the generational trauma, while not exactly pleasant to read all the time, made for a gripping narrative. There were plenty of moments I actually found pretty funny, just from a "let's see how much of a human disaster this bitch is" perspective. Like a car accident in slow motion: you know shit is about to go down badly but you just can't look away. 

The characters themselves were all pretty unlikable, which surprisingly made it fun to read about ( even if I ended up not particularly caring about any of them lol). 

On a more serious note, I really liked the writing style ( to be expected) and thought the narrative strategy was clever (a character, being the narrator, telling another character the story) and interesting (obviously it's not unique to this book, but I thought it fit the story particularly well). 

One thing that brought the rating down slightly for me was the ending, which gave me mixed feelings. 

On the one hand, I couldn't help but feel the satisfaction of what is basically the closest thing to a "happy" ending I think is possible. On the other hand, I thought Heathcliff somehow got off "too easy" (that bastard of monumental proportions certainly deserved more suffering in my opinion) and the romantic plotline kind of came out of nowhere, in a way that didn't feel very believable. Especially considering the backrounds and the previous behaviors of the affected characters . I wasn't exactly disappointed, per se, but there was definitely a meh feeling. 

Overall though, I really liked this and enjoyed my time reading it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Emotional abuse, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Violence, Terminal illness, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Gaslighting, Death of parent, and Chronic illness

Moderate: Alcohol, Abandonment, Addiction, and Alcoholism

Minor: Animal cruelty