Probably the best novel of all time
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This book is pure genius. I read it again, and again, and always find something new to admire. It is everything a book should be. It has fantastic characters, wonderful plotting, a pacy, suspenseful story which keeps you turning the pages and is so dense that it throws up new treasures after every read.
This is the only work of Emily Bronte apart from a few poems and some juvenailia, and it is my regret that we will never know if she could have surpassed this great book with her next.
The story is well known, but in brief it is the story of Heathcliff, a foundling, who is brought to the home of Catherine Earnshaw one dark and horrible night by her father who has found him on one of his business trips and decides to rescue him. Catherine and Heathcliff form an unbreakable bond which sustains them through great misfortune and on into death, and is one of the most romantic love stories of all time.
Their love however, is also destructive and terrible. It plays out against the background of the louring moors and their terrible grandeur, which reinforces the natural, brutal cruelty of their feelings for each other and everyone else. Their love is sadistic and at times horrific and the more tragedy that is heaped upon them, the more strangled and terrible their expressions of love become.
The characters of Heathcliff and Catherine are at times utterly vile and repulsive and it is a strength of Bronte's writing that despite this you still will them to have their happy ending, and can't help sympathising with them.
The narrative is fantastically complex, with narrators within narrators and stories within stories, so that Bronte is able to give us a 360 degree view of the story and make the characters completely three dimensional, showing all their humanity, good and bad.
This is the one book I would make compulsory reading for everyone, everywhere.
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A genius's masterpiece
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This book is probably the one every writer at the back of their minds wants to write. I know I wish I did. When I first picked it up I thought it would be the typical Victorian romance; boy was I in for a shock! After a slow start it picked up. I remember I was incredibly shocked at the power of the novel & I still am. It is THE most passionate piece of literature ever in the English language maybe because it is so accurate about human emotions but at the same time it shows that human emotions can be uncontrollable/untameable. It seems so unbelievable yet you can't romanticize about the characters especially Heathcliff. The greatest scholars have great difficult analysing this book so I'm not going to start.
Only regret is that Emily didn't live to write any more great literature.
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Great, but..
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I wanted to find out what all the fuss was about Wuthering Heights and so I bought this cd set to listen to in the car as I have little time to read but drive alot (they don't mix!). The story has a lot of complexity especially at the start in terms of who's related to who but the language, structure & errie feel of this book make it a clear classic. One note however, this audio version is excellently voiced & produced and I give it 5 stars for that but I did not realise it was abridged. I don't know if I am happy or upset! Now I have something to look forward to again, the bits of the story I missed. And those times I struggled with the story line, was that because of the missing parts. This edition is 3 cds, there is an 11 cd unabridged version for sale on Amazon from the same publishers. This is a great cd set but if you are serious about reading this book & judging it yourself as a classic perhaps, then I think you must hear the full version as it was written.
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The dark and brooding tale of Cathy & Heathcliff
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What a great experience to finally reread this classic as an adult. Emily Bronte depicts a very gothic and depressing story of two star-crossed (but not terribly likeable) lovers, Cathy & Heathcliff, and the love between them that transcended the grave. Added to that a wonderful depiction of the dark English moors and the local characters with their strange dialects. This was also told in a very unusual style, like a tale within a tale within a tale, adding more layers and perspectives to the story.
How unfortunate that one's upbringing can so affect a person that their grief and bitterness turn what could have been a fine young man into such a hateful and vengeful person as Heathcliff became. And fortunate that Cathy's daughter and Hareton could overcome their dark upbringing to bring a happier light onto the dark moors of England.
I did not read this version of the book, but one including works of the other Bronte sisters, which did not have all the footnotes. I think I enjoyed that better as I wasn't constantly distracted by looking to the back for the notes and just allowed myself to become engrossed with the story. It's one book you have to read at least twice in your life -- of course in school as required reading and then again as an adult to add that perspective of age and experience in life so that one can more fully appreciate a such a classic tale
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A Twisted Tale of Obsession, Love, Class, Hate and Fate
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Wuthering Heights is a surprisingly modern novel given that its authorship predates our modern understanding of psychology. Like many modern novels, Ms. Bronte has also explored the darker side of human passions and psyches more thoroughly than the sunnier side. Heathcliff will remind you of classic characters whose lives were twisted by fate like Captain Ahab in Moby Dick, Erik in Phantom of the Opera, Quasimodo in The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, and the mysterious prisoner in The Man in the Iron Mask.
If there were ever two star-crossed lovers who have captured the world's imagination since Romeo and Juliet, they must be Catherine and Heathcliff. Yet, unlike, many such pairs, their unhappiness is heavily influenced by themselves.
As you contemplate their story, you are constantly drawn to the thought, "what if" thus and such had occurred differently? That's part of the great power of the story because it has so many unexpected twistings and turnings. A reader's expectations from a love story are turned upside down, sideways and diagonal from where those expectations normally rest. As a result, you'll probably decide this isn't a love story after all . . . but a tragedy. Taken from that perspective, you'll find yourself hearing echoes of Lady Macbeth and King Lear as you contemplate what occurs when the natural order is disturbed. Few English authors since Shakespeare have captured that sense of what can happen when the universe is disarranged.
What's great about this story? It's pretty simple: Emotional intensity in the writing; deeply memorable characters; doomed lovers; and a haunting glimpse at unshakeable obsession.
What's not so great? The story development itself is pretty awkward. Much of the story is told in flashback which steals power and immediacy from the narration. If ever a story cried out for being told in the first person (by Heathcliff, Catherine, Edgar Linton, Hareton and young Catherine), it's Wuthering Heights. The transitions from one key moment to another are often very abrupt. Sometimes it is 150 pages later before you get the full sense of what Emily Bronte meant to convey in some of those transitions.
What's less than great? The characters aren't nearly as appealing as those you'll usually find in a novel dealing with these issues. In that sense, the novel is more realistic than fictional . . . which helps create some of its immense power. It's probably a worthwhile price to pay.
Whatever you think of Wuthering Heights, you owe it to yourself to read one of the most moving tales that has ever been written. Pick a time when you're feeling reasonably happy to start the book. Otherwise, you may find your mood to be more than a little darkened for a few days.
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