Considered lurid and shocking by mid-19th-century standards, Wuthering Heights was initially thought to be such a publishing risk that its author, Emily Bront#65533;, was asked to pay some of the publication costs. A somber tale of consuming passions and vengeance played out against the lonely moors of northern England, the book proved to be one of the most enduring classics of English … English literature.
The turbulent and tempestuous love story of Cathy and Heathcliff spans two generations — from the time Heathcliff, a strange, coarse young boy, is brought to live on the Earnshaws’ windswept estate, through Cathy’s marriage to Edgar Linton and Heathcliff’s plans for revenge, to Cathy’s death years later and the eventual union of the surviving Earnshaw and Linton heirs.
A masterpiece of imaginative fiction, Wuthering Heights (the author’s only novel) remains as poignant and compelling today as it was when first published in 1847.
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I only recommend this book to readers who truly appreciate literature. Written in the late 1800s, it gives a glimpse at what life may have been like 200 years ago, but the dialect can be difficult to understand. Also, the author travels back and forth through time on a whim. However, if you can, read it. It’s a beautiful book that touches on love and loss.
This book and Jane Eyre are often mentioned together. I like Jane Eyre better. Sometimes you just want to shake these main characters and say “get a grip on yourself!’ But it guess that is the point. It is a Tragedy in the classic sense so can be a bit of a downer. Very much recommended.
I’ve wanted to read this one for a long time and finally dusted it off the shelf. This is a friend’s most highly recommended book so I was excited to dive in.
I get it now…why some say this is one of their favorite books of all time. It’s dark. Romantic to a mildly psychotic degree (as only dramatic flair for those times could be captured) and beautifully written.
Some parts were a tad hard to decipher as the hired hand’s dialogue was written in accent form. It certainly was interesting to read in this manner and imagine how it was back in that time frame.
Aside from the speech hardship, the story itself is engaging once you catch the flow of the writing. This is definitely a book I needed absolute quiet to read but once I was uninterrupted the story flew and I was lost in Heathcliff’s plight.
A timeless classic in literature that I’ve enjoyed rereading many times.
One of my absolute favorites!
I’ve read it three times and love it more each time.
Overly dramatic and pathetic. Super unlike able characters.
This is one of the most incredibly emotional books I have ever read! The characters amazingly real and full of passion that is almost gone these days. Certainly I haven’t read anything from the last fifty years, maybe longer, that is so immersive and realistic.
Hearkening back to a more innocent time, this timeless story of Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff’s wild romance is steeped with the emotions of childhood and love that changes to an unhealthy obsession that touches every life in their families. Their passion lasts far longer than their lives, continued in a strange way by those who outlive them.
This is a story of love and revenge, of mistakes and regret that dog every character in this book. The exploration of life, love, choices, and consequences within three families and multiple generations, as seen through the eyes of a family servant and a stranger, is a raw look at the joys and sorrows that fill every life. A classic book I definitely recommend, and an excellent look at human nature.
I read it twice about 50 years ago and still it haunts me.
Windswept and haunting, the story of Wuthering Heights embraces that heart-warming, inspiring theme of eternal love.
Capturing the rage of the wind as in a Turner painting, this is one of those books where nature’s stormy presence is as palpable as the tears splashing off Cathy’s cheeks. Emily Brontë’s pen was not only drenched in ink but despair and darkness, with the occasional dappling of sunlight, which after long spells of grey, lulls the reader into moments of love and beauty.
None have come more tortured than the mysterious Heathcliff, who, possessed by a demon spirit burst onto Wuthering Heights as a figure of pity.
Fuelled by Cathy’s doting friendship, their connection soon deepens into a form of co-dependency. With nature as their witness sweeping them along, young and wild as the wind, the pair etch their affirmation of undying love onto the craggy-stoned moors.
After his unwavering loyalty is betrayed by Cathy’s impetuous decision to marry the wealthy, mild-mannered Edgar Linton, Heathcliff’s inherent dark and brooding nature is unleashed. With each page, his seething jealousy and bitterness grows in pungency. But then, in heart-wrenching moments of tenderness, his icy heart melts and we see a man who would lay down his soul for Cathy, who too, cannot stay away from her cherished Heathcliff.
When Cathy’s health takes a turn for the worst, Heathcliff rushes to her bedside. Kneeling down, he demands that her spirit haunt him forever after, while promising to never give up on her ghost.
Catherine Henshaw proclaimed on her deathbed: “Heathcliff, I only wish us never to be parted.”
Theirs was an eternal love, one which belonged to the forces of nature, and as such couldn’t be denied. Cathy and Heathcliff were forever destined to be together, in spite of her decision to marry the more refined and sophisticated Linton.
The moral to Emily Brontë’s romantic masterpiece is to always to follow your heart: For to deny oneself of true love is to fly in the face of destiny.
Loved it.
This book was required reading in school. I enjoyed reading it but I seem to remember the boys complaining about it. Lol
A tragic tale of love and revenge. I have wanted to read this one for so long but only recently got to it. I’m a big fan of Charlotte Brontë’s novel Jane Eyre, which I won’t lie, I like better than her sister Emily’s, but it was still worth the read.
Although this was my first reading of the novel, I was already familiar with the story of Heathcliff and Catherine from three different film adaptations, but they only told the first half of the story. Originally I’d planned to read this during February as part of my Valentine’s reads, but didn’t get to it.
This book is fool of anguish and pain as the story of these two characters unfold. I won’t spoil it for you, but highly recommend this book to you if you enjoy classics, tragic romances, ghosts, brooding characters, and heartbreak.
Rating: Excellent
Genre: Classic
Wuthering Heights is a very passionate love story between Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw. Heathcliff is adopted by Catherine’s father but the boy does not get the proper welcome in the family. After the death of Mr. Earnshaw, he finds himself being constantly humiliated and bullied by Catherine’s brother Hindley. The story basically involves the union of two families, The Earnshaw living in Wuthering Heights and The Lintons living in Thrushcross Garden. It spans over two generations of the two families and how these two families keep connecting. The book is divided into two volumes. Volume one consists of fourteen chapters and the second volume has a total of twenty chapters. The story is narrated from the maid’s (Mrs. Nelly Dean) perspective. I usually find this kind of narration tends to be confusing when narration occurs inside another narration but surprisingly in this book it was not the case at all.
Wuthering Heights has been on my TBR list forever. I have not watched any TV or movie adaptation for it because I wanted to read the book first. After many years now I read it and boy I am totally obsessed now! I did not expect to love it that much. The atmosphere of the story is gothic and eerie at times and at other times it is wicked and surreal. I just don’t know how to describe the mixture. The characters are perfectly imperfect! All the characters are flawed including the narrator. Many times I found myself to judge some actions of the characters or sympathize with them. I don’t have any favorite characters in this story. I love how well Emily Bronte has written each one of them but I can’t say that one is a favorite or anything like that. However, I found Linton to be very annoying and he was using young Catherine and manipulating here.
After loving this book so much I have decided to watch the major movie and TV adaptations of this story. So far I have watched three movies that were produced in 1939, 1970, and 1992. Among the three, the 1992 version starring Ralph Fiennes seems to be more accurate to the book compared to the earlier versions but it still lacked a lot of details. The 1939 adaption is basically half of the book. It is a well-made film but completely ignored the second generation of the family and the 1970 version starring Timothy Dalton is basically a remake of the earlier version and suffers from the same shortcomings. I will still watch the 1998 and the 2009 movie adaptations as well as the TV adaptation starring Tom Hardy. I hope one of these will be more faithful to the terrific story.
Wuthering Heights is about love, hate, revenge, double-dealings, and obsession! Obsession in all the different human feelings. Obsession in love, obsession in hate and revenge, obsession in harming someone you despise, and someone you love. I am obsessed with the story! This is one of the strange cases where I am totally in love with the story without being in love with any of the characters. I just love how excellently developed they are but without being obsessed with any one of them. This is such a fascinating story and I know this is a book that will remain with me forever. Now that is how I love my classics. A true classic and a new favorite!