Wuthering Heights (Wordsworth Classics)

Everyone’s heard of Wuthering Heights - the love story of Heathcliff and Catherine - but do most people know that it’s not really a love story? I came to this book, having heard of it, and by extension the movie, for decades. I have always sterered clear of it, thinking it a slushy romance. I could not have been more wrong. If I were to sum it up it succinctly it would be that it’s about the obsession of loss, much like Hamlet. It’s written in the Gothic genre, so think Poe, but far more terrifying, because of how real it feels, yet completely surreal at the same time. As I read it I thought the characters could not get any worse but they kept surpassing my expectations. In fact, my husband asked me as I was getting towards the last few chapters of the book if there was any redemption and I had to say ‘nope, they’re all truly awful human beings’. It had peaked his interest so much that he’s even going to read it and he never reads books.The book itself is deliberately confusing. You gradually piece together who each person is, and their role, the further you go into the book. I advise keeping a pen handy and try to jot down a family tree, but even then, it’s still difficult to place everyone. The similarity in names leads to much confusion, and even Catherine’s name confuses, right in chapter 3 when you see three Catherines with different surnames.The book is full of biblical reference, reference to Greek mythology, Shakespeare and even Poe in the early chapters - ‘Thou art the man’. There is a lot of work to be done in reading this novel but it is absolutely worth it.This book is absolutely horrifying. The characters are for the most part absolutely detestable, particularly the main protagonists. Heathcliff is the devil incarnate, and Catherine is so utterly manipulative that she manipulates her own death - she and Heathcliff are well suited. I find little sympathy for most of the characters. Perhaps controversially, I do find myself more sympathetic to Hindley, usurped in many ways by an orphan/stranger taken off the streets. He is cast aside by his father and sister, in favour of the newcomer. He loses his horse, his son and home to the newcomer too. I find it understandable why he was cruel towards Heathcliff but he was still awful. I really feel mostly for poor Hareton, a complete innocent in it all and utterly oblivious to all going on, but this too is deliberate.Social class is writ large all over the book, and indeed, Heathcliff shows nothing but contempt for the middle classes, the people who took him in and wants to make everyone pay for the fact that he was of lower status. He does this by ensuring that he and his kin inherit all the land and belongings of those he detests, while ensuring those same people were brought low and made to toil in the fields. This is his revenge. Joseph said, when he was a a teenager that Heathcliff had his foot in the first part of the Broad Way to destruction, a warning and a biblical reference to what happens to those who take the easy path or the hard path in the life. The broad way is the easy path. It is the road to hell.It is no wonder this book was so shocking and controversial at the time. Sadly, it’s the type of book that would never get published today, and I would not be surprised if this book were to be cancelled at some stage.I had to laugh at someone’s comment who thought there were no themes, and plot, and no cohesion, and that they as a writer knew how not to write a book and felt that they could write better than Brontë.As horrible as the characters were, and the lack of redemption, it was utterly gripping and haunting. Not iin a ghostly way, althougn that is strongly prevalent in the book, but in terms of the impression it made on me. Certainly, one of the best books I’ve ever read in my life.

My version has the original cover with a house on the moor not this one.An excellent book! I'm pleased. I found myself full of emotion through-out the story. At one point I wanted to jump into the pages myself and sort the characters out. My favourite was Nelly Dean. Joseph was the most confusing with his terrible Yorkshire dialect: I still don't completely understand his speech. I'm amused by the title: others words come to mind, Shivering Heights, Miserable Heights.

Very good book for the money

I just finished reading Wuthering Heights for the first time on the anniversary of the day Emily Bronte died. It has left me feeling very sad that she died so young and couldn't leave us more of her books to enjoy as for me Wuthering Heights is not the perfect novel, but really gives us a glimpse into the genius which was taken from the world too soon. It is clear Emily was capable of even better and this, and it makes me wonder what heights her work could have reached.Saying that, Wuthering Heights didn't blow me away as I expected it would after all the hype and rave reviews. Most people seem to hate or love this book with a passion, but it just didn't inspire that kind of passion in me. The quality of the writing itself was not strong enough to create that feeling in me - the prose is of course haunting, evocative and bleak, but it is also quite difficult to follow, particularly the sections of Yorkshire dialect (and I am from Yorkshire, so if I struggle no doubt others will!). I also found the narrative technique faulty - I would have prefered a straight forward narration rather than two characters telling a story, inevitably from their own point of view, as I felt this distracted from the strong central core of the story. I just wasn't interested in Lockwood or Mrs Dean - I wanted to hear about the characters who were interesting rather than this somewhat insipid pair. For me it was a hard book to enjoy, not because it is a bad book but just because of the subject matter. It is so dark and endlessly bleak, only giving a vague glimpse of some hope for the humanity it describes right at the end, that it was a thought provoking yet troubling read. I am not sure I would pick it up again in a hurry.Yet, I am glad I read it. There is something about this book undefinable, the x-factor if you like, which I can't put my finger on, but yet which makes this an engrossing, thought-provoking and bewitching novel. Partly this is because Wuthering Heights was not what I expected it to be. Before I read the book, it evoked images of Heathcliff and Cathy embrassing on the Moors in a Rhett and Scarlet, Gone with the Wind style. A love story, if you like. It was nothing of the sort. I was completely unprepared for the solitary, depressing, bleak, vengeful, violent and obsessive novel that it is.Wuthering Heights is not really a love story. Heathcliff and Cathy's "love affair" (which is something of a misleading name for it - they never really have a relationship in the normal way adults would understand that word) is possessive, selfish, jealous and cruel. They are obsessed with each other, not in a passionate, loving way but consumed by hate. They both suffer a "monomania" about the other, as the Victorians would have called it. They both torment those around them as a way of avenging their own sufferings. Clearly then, Wuthering Heights is not your standard Victorian romantic fair. It is a complex, layered, multi faceted book which one could spend 1000s of words dissecting. It is deep, powerful, suprising and evocative - and for this aspects I loved it.The characters are the strongest aspect of the book, over and above plot and prose. None of them are particularly likeable, yet they are very human and understandable. They are all flawed, and often throughout the book I would have gladly reached into the page and slapped them if I could, but the very fact Bronte can create such strong emotion in a reader about her characters is a testament to her skill. The media image of Heathcliff as a romantic hero is utter tosh. He could have been, and was probably set up that way by Bronte to create more suprise at the reality. He is a wild, passionate, and brilliantly created antihero, one step away from being a serial-killer, so unhinged is he. Yet, there is something enigmatic about him that I felt very drawn to him, and I felt I could understand his torment and vengeful actions.If I am honest I found Catherine irritating beyond measure, yet that is probably how she is supposed to be. The younger Cathy was more tolerable as the book came to a close. The most interesting character for me though is a neglected one - Hareton. He really intrigued me. The mix of intelligence and genuine affection hidden deep through his abusive by Heathcliff created a fascinating, complex and compelling character who I wish we had seen more of.I could go on forever about this book. This, I think, is ultimately why I rate it highly. It is thought-provoking and I know will stay with me for a long time. It is not the standard, boring romantic fair which is dished out by novelists aplenty, but a complex, dark and bewitching novel which, while not an enjoyable read, is an utterly worthwhile one.

I had never read this classic. My preconceived ideas of what it would be were quite wrong but it was interesting to catch up on the truth. I was expecting much longer description of Heathcliff wondering on the Moor and a tumultuous relationship with Cathy. The actual story was far more restrained by victorian sensibilities. Very interesting. I am glad I read it.

The book arrived promptly and in excellent condition. Thank you.

That’s an extraordinary book

pas de souci sur la réception un peu longue peut-être mais très bien emballé très agréable à lire

Ottimo libro per l'università.