Author: Emily Bronte
Published: 1847
Publisher: Penguin Classics
337 pages (paperback)
Summary: Lockwood is the new tenant of Thrushcross Grange and visits Wuthering Heights to meet his landlord, Heathcliff, a seemingly bitter man. Falling ill after his journey, Lockwood eventually returns to Thrushcross Grange where he asks the housekeeper, Ellen, to tell him Heathcliff’s history and how he became the person he is today, to keep him entertained while he is sick. And so, the story of Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw’s intense love, her betrayal of his feelings, and Heathcliff’s desire to exact revenge on everyone who wronged him is relayed to Lockwood …
My Thoughts: This is a classic novel, one that I’ve always heard good things about and is on quite a few of those ‘books you must read before you die’ lists (or lists that are similar in nature). I’m always a bit wary about reading ‘old books’ because the language can be difficult at times (especially when accents are incorporated — I cannot for the life of me decipher those Yorkshire accents in print!) but actually it wasn’t as difficult as I had feared and now that I have finished the novel, I must say I am in love with this story!
The book is narrated by Ellen (the housekeeper) mainly, and Lockwood as well, from time to time. However, the main characters, and the story, is not about Lockwood and his stay at Thrushcross Grange, it is about events that occurred years and years before. Heathcliff is a random child Catherine’s dad saved from the streets and raised in his home. Catherine and Heathcliff fall madly and deeply in love with one another; they are complete and utter soulmates, more than simple lovers and they cannot live without one another. However, both of them are headstrong and prideful, and this leads Catherine to marry a proper and wealthy gentleman because it would “degrade” her to marry Heathcliff; and leads Heathcliff to scheme ways to become wealthy by taking over Catherine’s brother’s estate (who was never very nice to him anyway) and then he schemes to take over Catherine’s husband’s estate as well, not to mention completely wreck the lives of several people along the way.
It’s amazing the power this story has to suck you in. Heathcliff and Catherine’s love is interesting because it’s not conventional in the sense that they are nice to one another and dated before Catherine’s eventual betrayal. No, they are always bickering with one another, arguing and hating one another at the same time as being consumed by them. As the reader, you become attached to the two not as individuals — because frankly, it is much easier to hate their guts than it is to love them — but to their story and their lives. The characters I did feel something for were Edgar Linton (Catherine’s husband), the younger Catherine (Catherine’s daughter), Ellen the housekeeper, and surprisingly, at the end of the novel, the rude and unpleasant Hareton (Catherine’s cousin). Most of my feelings were pity for them, but boy, I was so touched and sympathetic towards these characters; this book works amazing magic with characters.
I can probably write much more about how amazing Wuthering Heights is, and how after I finished the final page and closed the book up, I felt like I just experienced a whirlwind of events that made me feel both happy and sad at the same time. However, I will leave this post at this point, and simply finish off by urging that you must read this, even if you end up not liking the story, the experience the novel provides is certainly something everyone must try.
My Rating: 5/5
No comments:
Post a Comment