Wednesday 30 January 2013

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

Wuthering Heights is one of my favourite books ever and I'm currently writing my dissertation for my last year in university on it and one other book! We all know this book is on so many 'to read before you die' lists and I understand completely why it is, it's just amazing. I urge every one of you to pick it up and give it ago and feel like you're part of this novel because you won't regret it!

Firstly, I'm guessing you all know a little about Cathy and Heathcliff, with a lot of the TV/Film version portraying Heathcliff as this anti-hero worthy of our love. All I'm going to say is NO. If you read this novel, which I hope you do, you will not find the characters you are expecting. They are all troubled, much like the environment and you find that you can't put this novel down because one disaster leads to another. Something I apparently love in a novel, oops.

Bronte uses a fragmentive nattative technique, with the narration coming from Lockwood, an outsider to the whole place, but coming from Nelly, the maid of Wuthering Heights who has been there throughout the whole time. This narration I found quite difficult at first but then it settles down when you continue into the story. Of course there is a romance somewhere in this novel, but the romance of Cathy and Heathcliff is a backstory to the journey of Heathcliff and how it effects all his decisions.

I don't want to give away too much about the characters but don't expect to love them like you think you should. I put this book down, full of love and admiration for Emily Bronte, but not the characters. I can't find one appealing characteristic to any of them, they constantly made me angry, and none of them were actually nice people. It's funny how such a classic can give you characters you dislike, maybe even hate (I'm looking at you Heathcliff!)




1 comment:

  1. I adore this book. Lucky you writing about it. My favourite quote from the book is: "My love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks beneath: a source of little visible delight, but necessary". It says everything about how turbulent their relationship is, but how, like soulmates, they cannot separate from one another. Almost as if they are addicted to one another even though it isn't a healthy relationship. You're right that it mirrors the turbulent weather and harsh moors landscape. Love that connection. Wuthering Heights has everything you want in a romantic novel!

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