Monday, July 11, 2005
Review: Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
Writing Style-8.0
Originality-8.2
Plot-7.3
Literary Merit(whatever that means)-8.5
Overall-7.4
I love it when you read a book that is not at all what you had in your head that it was going to be like. It’s a good argument for why everyone should every now and then force themselves to read something that is far outside the scope of their normal reading habits.
I figured that Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte was surely a girly book about some romeo named Heathcliff. I couldn’t have been more wrong. This is a dark, gothic, at times terrifying book. And Heathcliff is a terrible, vengeful, evil person. It is a love story of sorts and tragic which I had assumed, but there’s far more revenge than romance in this book.
It starts with a very scary ghost story, which piques the narrator’s interest into delving deeper into the history of Heathcliff and the Wuthering Heights home. Then it gets into the main story that revolves around Heathcliff.
His (Heathcliff’s) background is pretty mysterious. He enters the household as an orphan. In his adopted family he becomes the father’s favorite, a rival of his “brother”, and falls in love with his “sister”, Catherine. After overhearing Catherine’s plan to marry Edgar Linton, a wealthy gentleman who lives at Thrushcross Grange (the other important household in the story, near Wuthering Heights), Healthcliff runs away for 3 years. What he does in this time is also shrouded in mystery.
He returns having transformed himself into a wealthy gentleman as well and basically plots revenge on the Linton’s at Thrushcross Grange. He (Heathcliff) is not a likable character and it’s hard to feel sorry for him even though he does it all for love I suppose.
It is one of those books like The Sound and the Fury and One Hundred Years of Solitude where it is very helpful to either make your own family tree as you go along or find an edition that includes one because there are multiple marriages, a character (Catherine) has a child also named Catherine, and the story passes over a couple of generations. There are two households, Thrushcross and Wuthering Heights, and the two respective families, Linton’s and Earnshaw’s. So, by looking at the family tree you notice some nice symmetries and can better follow the plot.
It reminded me a lot of The Count of Monte Cristo with the main character returning from exile, transforming himself, and pulling off a complex revenge plot over the course of many years. Except, that Heathcliff’s revenge is not as morally justified.
So, it’s a pretty interesting book, it ends very well, returning to the ghost story. It’s particularly good if you like diabolical characters. The mood is extremely dark and gloomy.
It was originally published in 1847 and it reads like a novel published in 1847. So, if you are not already a fan of the classics of 19th century literature I wouldn’t say that this is the best place to start. I think War and Peace or Liasons Dangereuse would be much more gripping for a contemporary audience.
Originality-8.2
Plot-7.3
Literary Merit(whatever that means)-8.5
Overall-7.4
I love it when you read a book that is not at all what you had in your head that it was going to be like. It’s a good argument for why everyone should every now and then force themselves to read something that is far outside the scope of their normal reading habits.
I figured that Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte was surely a girly book about some romeo named Heathcliff. I couldn’t have been more wrong. This is a dark, gothic, at times terrifying book. And Heathcliff is a terrible, vengeful, evil person. It is a love story of sorts and tragic which I had assumed, but there’s far more revenge than romance in this book.
It starts with a very scary ghost story, which piques the narrator’s interest into delving deeper into the history of Heathcliff and the Wuthering Heights home. Then it gets into the main story that revolves around Heathcliff.
His (Heathcliff’s) background is pretty mysterious. He enters the household as an orphan. In his adopted family he becomes the father’s favorite, a rival of his “brother”, and falls in love with his “sister”, Catherine. After overhearing Catherine’s plan to marry Edgar Linton, a wealthy gentleman who lives at Thrushcross Grange (the other important household in the story, near Wuthering Heights), Healthcliff runs away for 3 years. What he does in this time is also shrouded in mystery.
He returns having transformed himself into a wealthy gentleman as well and basically plots revenge on the Linton’s at Thrushcross Grange. He (Heathcliff) is not a likable character and it’s hard to feel sorry for him even though he does it all for love I suppose.
It is one of those books like The Sound and the Fury and One Hundred Years of Solitude where it is very helpful to either make your own family tree as you go along or find an edition that includes one because there are multiple marriages, a character (Catherine) has a child also named Catherine, and the story passes over a couple of generations. There are two households, Thrushcross and Wuthering Heights, and the two respective families, Linton’s and Earnshaw’s. So, by looking at the family tree you notice some nice symmetries and can better follow the plot.
It reminded me a lot of The Count of Monte Cristo with the main character returning from exile, transforming himself, and pulling off a complex revenge plot over the course of many years. Except, that Heathcliff’s revenge is not as morally justified.
So, it’s a pretty interesting book, it ends very well, returning to the ghost story. It’s particularly good if you like diabolical characters. The mood is extremely dark and gloomy.
It was originally published in 1847 and it reads like a novel published in 1847. So, if you are not already a fan of the classics of 19th century literature I wouldn’t say that this is the best place to start. I think War and Peace or Liasons Dangereuse would be much more gripping for a contemporary audience.
