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ritarosas 's review for:
Wuthering Heights
by Emily Brontë
Okay, so I’ve finally read this book, I’m proud of myself! The first time I tried to read it I quit after the first 20 pages because I couldn’t get into the story and found the writing quite challenging. As a non native English speaker I was not accustomed to 19th century English and found myself having to reach for the dictionary multiples types per page because I wasn’t familiar with much of the vocabulary. Adding to that the fact that I got super confused with the “who’s who”(because everyone has the same freaking names) and that I just couldn’t decipher Joseph’s unintelligible interventions, I thought this book was too much for me and gave up.
Since then, the book has been staring at me with judgmental eyes because I’m one of those people who hates not finishing book, even when I’m not enjoying them. So I decided this was the time to gather up the courage and give it another go. And I’m so glad I did! It turns out that, the first time, I had given up just a few pages before the story gets interesting! So, if you’re also having trouble getting into the story, just push through it because it is worth it in the end.
I must confess that I was firstly introduced to Wuthering Heigths may years ago, as a teenager, while reading the Twilight saga. This was Bella’s favourite book and she always described it as the ultimate love story so I was expecting this book to be an epic romance. It is NOT! It’s an epic tragedy, full of hatred and vengefulness and not much love. I really don’t understand those who call this a love story and I hope that they’re not searching for a ‘love’ like this in real life because this is not what Love is supposed to be. Love is not supposed to be so selfish, possessive, violent and obsessive as it is portrayed in this book. The relationship between Catherine and Heathcliff is so disturbed, and they have such twisted personalities, that their journey is bound to be a tumultuous and tragic one. And, of course, they had to pull everyone down with them.
This was the first book I read that featured, almost exclusively, horrible characters. They’re the most unlikable, despicable group of people you can imagine and I found that fascinating (albeit depressing), especially in a book written almost 200 years ago. But that makes it almost impossible for the reader to connect with anyone in this book, because you cannot empathise with any of them nor understand the reasoning behind their actions.
However, I found Wuthering Heights to be a great book. Emily Brontë does a wonderfull job in depicting the dynamics of dysfunctional families and how the darkness is passed on through the generations. I thought it was genius the way she created a micro-world, made up only of Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange, as a way of indicating that the two families were inevitably linked and the characters had no way of escaping their fate. Because of that, we witness how everyone gets more and more corrupted by the darkness that surrounds them. And, to me, the merits of this books lie precisely in the character development, in how much the characters change under the influence of each other. That and the beautiful prose – there are some truly inspired moments of poetry in this book – which is, in itself, a great reason as to why everyone should read Wuthering Heigths.
Since then, the book has been staring at me with judgmental eyes because I’m one of those people who hates not finishing book, even when I’m not enjoying them. So I decided this was the time to gather up the courage and give it another go. And I’m so glad I did! It turns out that, the first time, I had given up just a few pages before the story gets interesting! So, if you’re also having trouble getting into the story, just push through it because it is worth it in the end.
I must confess that I was firstly introduced to Wuthering Heigths may years ago, as a teenager, while reading the Twilight saga. This was Bella’s favourite book and she always described it as the ultimate love story so I was expecting this book to be an epic romance. It is NOT! It’s an epic tragedy, full of hatred and vengefulness and not much love. I really don’t understand those who call this a love story and I hope that they’re not searching for a ‘love’ like this in real life because this is not what Love is supposed to be. Love is not supposed to be so selfish, possessive, violent and obsessive as it is portrayed in this book. The relationship between Catherine and Heathcliff is so disturbed, and they have such twisted personalities, that their journey is bound to be a tumultuous and tragic one. And, of course, they had to pull everyone down with them.
This was the first book I read that featured, almost exclusively, horrible characters. They’re the most unlikable, despicable group of people you can imagine and I found that fascinating (albeit depressing), especially in a book written almost 200 years ago. But that makes it almost impossible for the reader to connect with anyone in this book, because you cannot empathise with any of them nor understand the reasoning behind their actions.
However, I found Wuthering Heights to be a great book. Emily Brontë does a wonderfull job in depicting the dynamics of dysfunctional families and how the darkness is passed on through the generations. I thought it was genius the way she created a micro-world, made up only of Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange, as a way of indicating that the two families were inevitably linked and the characters had no way of escaping their fate. Because of that, we witness how everyone gets more and more corrupted by the darkness that surrounds them. And, to me, the merits of this books lie precisely in the character development, in how much the characters change under the influence of each other. That and the beautiful prose – there are some truly inspired moments of poetry in this book – which is, in itself, a great reason as to why everyone should read Wuthering Heigths.