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Wuthering Heights
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About the author
Emily Brontë
1,700 books14.3k followersEmily Brontë was an English novelist and poet whose singular contribution to literature, Wuthering Heights, is now celebrated as one of the most powerful and original novels in the English language. Born into the remarkable Brontë family on 30 July 1818 in Thornton, Yorkshire, she was the fifth of six children of Maria Branwell and Patrick Brontë, an Irish clergyman. Her early life was marked by both intellectual curiosity and profound loss. After the death of her mother in 1821 and the subsequent deaths of her two eldest sisters in 1825, Emily and her surviving siblings— Charlotte, Anne, and Branwell—were raised in relative seclusion in the moorland village of Haworth, where their imaginations flourished in a household shaped by books, storytelling, and emotional intensity.
The Brontë children created elaborate fictional worlds, notably Angria and later Gondal, which served as an outlet for their creative energies. Emily, in particular, gravitated toward Gondal, a mysterious, windswept imaginary land she developed with her sister Anne. Her early poetry, much of it steeped in the mythology and characters of Gondal, demonstrated a remarkable lyrical force and emotional depth. These poems remained private until discovered by Charlotte in 1845, after which Emily reluctantly agreed to publish them in the 1846 collection Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell, using the pseudonym Ellis Bell to conceal her gender. Though the volume sold few copies, critics identified Emily’s poems as the strongest in the collection, lauding her for their music, power, and visionary quality.
Emily was intensely private and reclusive by nature. She briefly attended schools in Cowan Bridge and Roe Head but was plagued by homesickness and preferred the solitude of the Yorkshire moors, which inspired much of her work. She worked briefly as a teacher but found the demands of the profession exhausting. She also studied in Brussels with Charlotte in 1842, but again found herself alienated and yearning for home. Throughout her life, Emily remained closely bonded with her siblings, particularly Anne, and with the landscape of Haworth, where she drew on the raw, untamed beauty of the moors for both her poetry and her fiction.
Her only novel, Wuthering Heights, was published in 1847, a year after the poetry collection, under her pseudonym Ellis Bell. Initially met with a mixture of admiration and shock, the novel’s structure, emotional intensity, and portrayal of violent passion and moral ambiguity stood in stark contrast to the conventions of Victorian fiction. Many readers, unable to reconcile its power with the expected gentility of a woman writer, assumed it had been written by a man. The novel tells the story of Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw—two characters driven by obsessive love, cruelty, and vengeance—and explores themes of nature, the supernatural, and the destructive power of unresolved emotion. Though controversial at the time, Wuthering Heights is now considered a landmark in English literature, acclaimed for its originality, psychological insight, and poetic vision.
Emily's personality has been the subject of much speculation, shaped in part by her sister Charlotte’s later writings and by Victorian biographies that often sought to romanticize or domesticate her character. While some accounts depict her as intensely shy and austere, others highlight her fierce independence, deep empathy with animals, and profound inner life. She is remembered as a solitary figure, closely attuned to the rhythms of the natural world, with a quiet but formidable intellect and a passion for truth and freedom. Her dog, Keeper, was a constant companion and, according to many, a window into her capacity for fierce, loyal love.
Emily Brontë died of tuberculosis on 19 December 1848 at the age of thirty, just a year after the publication of her novel. Her early death, following those of her brother Branwell and soon to
The Brontë children created elaborate fictional worlds, notably Angria and later Gondal, which served as an outlet for their creative energies. Emily, in particular, gravitated toward Gondal, a mysterious, windswept imaginary land she developed with her sister Anne. Her early poetry, much of it steeped in the mythology and characters of Gondal, demonstrated a remarkable lyrical force and emotional depth. These poems remained private until discovered by Charlotte in 1845, after which Emily reluctantly agreed to publish them in the 1846 collection Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell, using the pseudonym Ellis Bell to conceal her gender. Though the volume sold few copies, critics identified Emily’s poems as the strongest in the collection, lauding her for their music, power, and visionary quality.
Emily was intensely private and reclusive by nature. She briefly attended schools in Cowan Bridge and Roe Head but was plagued by homesickness and preferred the solitude of the Yorkshire moors, which inspired much of her work. She worked briefly as a teacher but found the demands of the profession exhausting. She also studied in Brussels with Charlotte in 1842, but again found herself alienated and yearning for home. Throughout her life, Emily remained closely bonded with her siblings, particularly Anne, and with the landscape of Haworth, where she drew on the raw, untamed beauty of the moors for both her poetry and her fiction.
Her only novel, Wuthering Heights, was published in 1847, a year after the poetry collection, under her pseudonym Ellis Bell. Initially met with a mixture of admiration and shock, the novel’s structure, emotional intensity, and portrayal of violent passion and moral ambiguity stood in stark contrast to the conventions of Victorian fiction. Many readers, unable to reconcile its power with the expected gentility of a woman writer, assumed it had been written by a man. The novel tells the story of Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw—two characters driven by obsessive love, cruelty, and vengeance—and explores themes of nature, the supernatural, and the destructive power of unresolved emotion. Though controversial at the time, Wuthering Heights is now considered a landmark in English literature, acclaimed for its originality, psychological insight, and poetic vision.
Emily's personality has been the subject of much speculation, shaped in part by her sister Charlotte’s later writings and by Victorian biographies that often sought to romanticize or domesticate her character. While some accounts depict her as intensely shy and austere, others highlight her fierce independence, deep empathy with animals, and profound inner life. She is remembered as a solitary figure, closely attuned to the rhythms of the natural world, with a quiet but formidable intellect and a passion for truth and freedom. Her dog, Keeper, was a constant companion and, according to many, a window into her capacity for fierce, loyal love.
Emily Brontë died of tuberculosis on 19 December 1848 at the age of thirty, just a year after the publication of her novel. Her early death, following those of her brother Branwell and soon to
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 64 reviews
February 10, 2026
lol at the version of this book on Goodreads 😂😂😂
March 27, 2026
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte is one of The Best Books of All Time as complied by the most significant writers for The Bokklubben, it is also one of The 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read, and it is also ranked 15th on The Greatest Books of All Time site…notwithstanding all that, it is not one of my favorites, and the recent adaptation for the big screen written and directed by Emerald Fennell does not help at all – you find thousands of reviews of magnum opera from the aforementioned lists, plus notes on films from The New York times’ Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made and other pages on my blog https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... and YouTube page, in case you are interested
7 out of 10
Wuthering Heights https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... is a compelling, classic chef d’oeuvre, a newer site, for The Greatest Books of All Time, which uses smart algorithms, presumably looking over the net at the most important charts, has placed this novel as high as the fifteenth place
The caveat is that one will come with (too) high expectations, besides, there are things in the magnum opus that surely disagree with a number of readers, Cathy comes back as a ghost – though not in the most recent adaptation…by the way, this note refers to the movie more, though I am not sure what the percentage would be
Emerald Fennell has adapted Wuthering Heights, and has eliminated a part of it, which is not the main issue I have here, she is an extremely talented film maker https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... Saltburn proves that
Saltburn may be going a bit far for conservative – maybe reactionary, passe, retrograde – cinephiles like yours truly, Barry Keoghan has the leading role (this thespian is surely going to take a couple of Oscars in the future) and he performs cunnilingus on a menstruating character and then licks the last drops from the bath where another had been…
The trouble with Fennell’s Wuthering Heights is that the acting does not overwhelm – this being a personal view, it is flawed, albeit critics did not like it either, the Metascore is a paltry 55 – it feels false, especially for Margot Robbie, who is on top of her game, what with the success of Barbie, a fantastic achievement
‘Denis Diderot's "Paradox of the Actor" argues that great actors should not experience the emotions they portray, but rather display them through skill and control…Diderot presents a revolutionary theory of acting. He posits that great actors must possess judgment and intellectual control over their emotions, rather than being swayed by them
That is not from https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... Jacques Le Fataliste, but the latter is also included in the above mentioned Best 100 Books of All Time list…there are lavish settings in this film, however, that contributes to the feeling of pomposity, inauthentic narrative
‘Let me not to the marriage of true minds admit impediments’ this line from a Shakespeare sonnet https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... may be relevant here, for something interferes and then that admirable, amorous feeling brings death and destruction
7 out of 10
Wuthering Heights https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... is a compelling, classic chef d’oeuvre, a newer site, for The Greatest Books of All Time, which uses smart algorithms, presumably looking over the net at the most important charts, has placed this novel as high as the fifteenth place
The caveat is that one will come with (too) high expectations, besides, there are things in the magnum opus that surely disagree with a number of readers, Cathy comes back as a ghost – though not in the most recent adaptation…by the way, this note refers to the movie more, though I am not sure what the percentage would be
Emerald Fennell has adapted Wuthering Heights, and has eliminated a part of it, which is not the main issue I have here, she is an extremely talented film maker https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... Saltburn proves that
Saltburn may be going a bit far for conservative – maybe reactionary, passe, retrograde – cinephiles like yours truly, Barry Keoghan has the leading role (this thespian is surely going to take a couple of Oscars in the future) and he performs cunnilingus on a menstruating character and then licks the last drops from the bath where another had been…
The trouble with Fennell’s Wuthering Heights is that the acting does not overwhelm – this being a personal view, it is flawed, albeit critics did not like it either, the Metascore is a paltry 55 – it feels false, especially for Margot Robbie, who is on top of her game, what with the success of Barbie, a fantastic achievement
‘Denis Diderot's "Paradox of the Actor" argues that great actors should not experience the emotions they portray, but rather display them through skill and control…Diderot presents a revolutionary theory of acting. He posits that great actors must possess judgment and intellectual control over their emotions, rather than being swayed by them
That is not from https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... Jacques Le Fataliste, but the latter is also included in the above mentioned Best 100 Books of All Time list…there are lavish settings in this film, however, that contributes to the feeling of pomposity, inauthentic narrative
‘Let me not to the marriage of true minds admit impediments’ this line from a Shakespeare sonnet https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... may be relevant here, for something interferes and then that admirable, amorous feeling brings death and destruction
February 21, 2026
I had no idea what to expect listening to this book- it was not what I expected at all! I had troubles for the first while following what was happening with the old English style of speaking- but chat gpt got me through with some chapter summaries. I didn’t feel an attachment to really any of the characters, however it kept me interested enough to finish it to the end.
⭐️Side note: I am glad I read the book before seeing the movie-
⭐️Side note: I am glad I read the book before seeing the movie-
September 6, 2023
Definitely a classic, amazing writing and a great story
April 12, 2026
great classic, a little hard to get into at the beginning
March 16, 2026
great writing style, but the story itself is so wrong and so sick, that I felt sick while reading.
March 25, 2026
Really struggling with this. Now Cathy has died, I don't think there is anyone left to like in the story. Reading this again with adult eyes had really made me feel differently about it. Cathy and Heathcliff are actually quite insufferable. I can't really stand them. But 16 year old me reading it for the first time thought it was an amazing love story! What a difference a couple of decades makes to a reader!
March 26, 2026
I finally read this classic, and I found it disturbing on several levels. I appreciate Bronte's take on society as she knew it, but she does make it all seem so bleak and hopeless and cruel.
April 22, 2026
قريت النسخة المبسطة للأطفال بالانجليزيه مع الصور
ومع ذلك كانت اللغة جدًا صعبة
احس م راح اقرأ كتاب كلاسيك بلغتها الأم واجد صعبه علي
بس النسخة المترجمة للعربيه كانت جدًا ممتازة
ومع ذلك كانت اللغة جدًا صعبة
احس م راح اقرأ كتاب كلاسيك بلغتها الأم واجد صعبه علي
بس النسخة المترجمة للعربيه كانت جدًا ممتازة
March 4, 2026
Somehow had never read this before. A strange book with some repulsive and bizarrely cruel characters. However once one gets into the language it is a propulsive, unique, and absorbing tale.
June 10, 2024
My absolute all time favorite book.. first of all it's Wuthering... that's just me being technical... This book is so beautifully dark. I've read it so many times and I am soon to get a tattoo of a quote from this book. I will never get over this book and I wish every day that I could read it for the first time again.
August 4, 2024
At first, I was confused about who‘s the narrator and alle the different names and time skipes, but in the end it was a nice and well-written book about the people and the events happening in Withering Heights.
September 5, 2024
she’s dramatic like me but girl stand up also the most quoted lines just didn’t feel that impactful
February 23, 2026
If I were to summarize this book badly, I'd say that the world's worst landlord's life is retold by witnesses as a tale of sadistic torture on his tenants, as revenge for being related to the woman who was too well bred to live under his roof.
The more I reflect on this book, the more I get out of it, and that is a testament to Emily Bronte's brilliance. While at first I thought it was a cautionary tale warning of the dangers of marrying for money, I came to believe that it was more a biting indictment of the institution of marriage itself.
Certainly, there is a piece of me as a reader that wonders "What if Catherine had chosen Heathcliff?" Their union is an impossibility with the rules of Victorian England. What's more, Bronte seems to hint that their longing is part of what makes their story legendary and their attraction long-lasting. If they were legally married, would either of them take any pleasure in the union?
No, the main characters seem destined to enjoy their tortured existences, in sadistic journeys through life, where some seem to delight in the torment of others. Not incidentally, there seems to be a commentary on lustfulness itself. Perhaps Catherine and Heathcliff are drawn to one another precisely because they want what they cannot have. And here is where Bronte catches the reader in a trap: it is human nature to covet the forbidden. It is a tale as old as Adam and Eve. But what are we to make of the destruction that ensues in the text?
The title suggests that marriage is at best, a prison, and at worst, slavery. Wuthering Heights is the name of the Earnshaw family home, suggesting that marriage is about the transfer of property, and to a lesser extent wealth and status. Bronte seems to ask whether it is possible to mingle the joys of love with the bonds of marriage.
Indeed, when I try to pick apart the marriage vows, she seems most at odds with the promise "to have and to hold." Even in death, Catherine's ghost haunts Heathcliff (at his request) rather than let him go. In the most twisted perversion of marriage, Heathcliff accuses Isabella of enjoying his torture, saying "I've sometimes relented, from pure lack of invention, in my experiments of what she could endure, and still creep shamefully cringing back!" Talk about victim blaming.
In this novel, there is no torture worse than being alone in a relationship. In a well-meaning attempt to save his daughter from this fate, Edgar Linton says, "should Linton be unworthy--only a feeble tool to his father--I cannot abandon her to him! And, hard though it may be to crush her buoyant spirit, I must persevere in making her sad while I live, and leaving her solitary when I die. Darling! I'd rather resign her to God, and lay her in the earth before me." Thus Linton tries to save Cathy from his own fate, feeling unchosen and alone within the bonds of marriage.
If there is any solace in the text, I find it in metaphor. Should Wuthering Heights be a stand-in for the family legacy that we build over multiple generations, Bronte has a few words to say. One: that we will make mistakes, even grand ones, but the power of love is enough to keep the house standing through disrepair. Two: that treating one another like possessions is a damnable offense, which only puts the abuser in hell. And three: despite the turmoil of books one and two, there is hope to find love even in unlikely places. The relationship between Cathy and Hareton blossoms not because they are equals in social or intellectual terms, but because they are able to build mutual trust despite the fear of being demeaned: "both their minds tending to the same point--one loving and desiring to esteem; and the other loving and desiring to be esteemed--they contrived in the end to reach it." There is something powerful in capturing this universal desire, and perhaps that is why this terrifying book is worth reading.
The more I reflect on this book, the more I get out of it, and that is a testament to Emily Bronte's brilliance. While at first I thought it was a cautionary tale warning of the dangers of marrying for money, I came to believe that it was more a biting indictment of the institution of marriage itself.
Certainly, there is a piece of me as a reader that wonders "What if Catherine had chosen Heathcliff?" Their union is an impossibility with the rules of Victorian England. What's more, Bronte seems to hint that their longing is part of what makes their story legendary and their attraction long-lasting. If they were legally married, would either of them take any pleasure in the union?
No, the main characters seem destined to enjoy their tortured existences, in sadistic journeys through life, where some seem to delight in the torment of others. Not incidentally, there seems to be a commentary on lustfulness itself. Perhaps Catherine and Heathcliff are drawn to one another precisely because they want what they cannot have. And here is where Bronte catches the reader in a trap: it is human nature to covet the forbidden. It is a tale as old as Adam and Eve. But what are we to make of the destruction that ensues in the text?
The title suggests that marriage is at best, a prison, and at worst, slavery. Wuthering Heights is the name of the Earnshaw family home, suggesting that marriage is about the transfer of property, and to a lesser extent wealth and status. Bronte seems to ask whether it is possible to mingle the joys of love with the bonds of marriage.
Indeed, when I try to pick apart the marriage vows, she seems most at odds with the promise "to have and to hold." Even in death, Catherine's ghost haunts Heathcliff (at his request) rather than let him go. In the most twisted perversion of marriage, Heathcliff accuses Isabella of enjoying his torture, saying "I've sometimes relented, from pure lack of invention, in my experiments of what she could endure, and still creep shamefully cringing back!" Talk about victim blaming.
In this novel, there is no torture worse than being alone in a relationship. In a well-meaning attempt to save his daughter from this fate, Edgar Linton says, "should Linton be unworthy--only a feeble tool to his father--I cannot abandon her to him! And, hard though it may be to crush her buoyant spirit, I must persevere in making her sad while I live, and leaving her solitary when I die. Darling! I'd rather resign her to God, and lay her in the earth before me." Thus Linton tries to save Cathy from his own fate, feeling unchosen and alone within the bonds of marriage.
If there is any solace in the text, I find it in metaphor. Should Wuthering Heights be a stand-in for the family legacy that we build over multiple generations, Bronte has a few words to say. One: that we will make mistakes, even grand ones, but the power of love is enough to keep the house standing through disrepair. Two: that treating one another like possessions is a damnable offense, which only puts the abuser in hell. And three: despite the turmoil of books one and two, there is hope to find love even in unlikely places. The relationship between Cathy and Hareton blossoms not because they are equals in social or intellectual terms, but because they are able to build mutual trust despite the fear of being demeaned: "both their minds tending to the same point--one loving and desiring to esteem; and the other loving and desiring to be esteemed--they contrived in the end to reach it." There is something powerful in capturing this universal desire, and perhaps that is why this terrifying book is worth reading.
April 15, 2026
I'm one of those weirdos who periodically re-reads Wuthering Heights "for fun." Maybe it's because I was never forced to read it? I recently saw the Emerald Fennell movie adaptation and though she/they take liberties with the plot, and cut the story down to the tragic obsessive love story (excising the revenge tour that Heathcliff takes in the majority of the novel), I still think this movie version does what no other has done, which is to get at the marrow of the story.
So many people think - probably due to the way it was not correctly framed for them when they were forced to read it, as many a Gen X'er was forced to read it - that Wuthering Heights is all "Masterpiece Theater," all "tea and crumpets", when it is, in fact, more - as I told a Gen X friend recently, as I was urging her to read it - more like "Jerry Springer on the Moors." You just cannot BELIEVE what these people DO!
There's some real messed up shit in this story: an abandoned child living on the streets whom most people just walk on by; that child, now a man, digging up the corpse of his ex to stare at her face still appearing in tact but on the verge of turning to dust should he embrace her like he longs to do; that same man taking out his vengeance meant for the ex on ALL of her relatives and descendants, including his/her children!
And yet, and yet, if you have half a heart, you cannot help but FEEL for the characters, trapped as they are on these damned, isolated moors by the cutting rules of English hierarchical patriarchal culture at this time. Everyone in the story is just trying to survive and to wreak some love and pleasure and meaning out of life. Despite their best efforts to live a life, they're soon ground down by poverty, forced into a loveless marriage of convenience for the sake of inheritance, and/or ripped from the world by illness, age, injury, or the risks of pregnancy in age without real medicine.
No one is wholly good or bad and what a departure that was from the novels that preceded it; that's what gets skipped by a whole mess of well-meaning English teachers when they introduce Wuthering Heights to teens (and I was an English teacher so I can say it). Before this novel, almost all novels were all about the ideal lives of the upperclass. This novel pulled back the curtain, exposing the "real housewives" of the Yorkshire Moors (and of the "semi-adopted-rescued-orphans-who-became-a-house-servant-with-an-understandable-ax-to-grind" - we're lookin' at you, Heathcliff and Nelly! - who loved them).
This novel revealed that even among the wealthy, or especially among the wealthy, the pressure to get/keep houses, lands, and monies, which were tightly regulated by the crown in how they might be passed down via inheritance, forced people to make very hard choices, often drawing upon the darkest aspects of the human psyche to ruthlessly do so; very few works of fiction acknowledged the costs of this competition with the depth and breadth that Emily Bronte was willing to.
So many people think - probably due to the way it was not correctly framed for them when they were forced to read it, as many a Gen X'er was forced to read it - that Wuthering Heights is all "Masterpiece Theater," all "tea and crumpets", when it is, in fact, more - as I told a Gen X friend recently, as I was urging her to read it - more like "Jerry Springer on the Moors." You just cannot BELIEVE what these people DO!
There's some real messed up shit in this story: an abandoned child living on the streets whom most people just walk on by; that child, now a man, digging up the corpse of his ex to stare at her face still appearing in tact but on the verge of turning to dust should he embrace her like he longs to do; that same man taking out his vengeance meant for the ex on ALL of her relatives and descendants, including his/her children!
And yet, and yet, if you have half a heart, you cannot help but FEEL for the characters, trapped as they are on these damned, isolated moors by the cutting rules of English hierarchical patriarchal culture at this time. Everyone in the story is just trying to survive and to wreak some love and pleasure and meaning out of life. Despite their best efforts to live a life, they're soon ground down by poverty, forced into a loveless marriage of convenience for the sake of inheritance, and/or ripped from the world by illness, age, injury, or the risks of pregnancy in age without real medicine.
No one is wholly good or bad and what a departure that was from the novels that preceded it; that's what gets skipped by a whole mess of well-meaning English teachers when they introduce Wuthering Heights to teens (and I was an English teacher so I can say it). Before this novel, almost all novels were all about the ideal lives of the upperclass. This novel pulled back the curtain, exposing the "real housewives" of the Yorkshire Moors (and of the "semi-adopted-rescued-orphans-who-became-a-house-servant-with-an-understandable-ax-to-grind" - we're lookin' at you, Heathcliff and Nelly! - who loved them).
This novel revealed that even among the wealthy, or especially among the wealthy, the pressure to get/keep houses, lands, and monies, which were tightly regulated by the crown in how they might be passed down via inheritance, forced people to make very hard choices, often drawing upon the darkest aspects of the human psyche to ruthlessly do so; very few works of fiction acknowledged the costs of this competition with the depth and breadth that Emily Bronte was willing to.
February 8, 2026
Re-read this exceptional novel to prove that the new film adaptation is a perversion and the antithesis to Brontë's intended themes and message (of course this is solely based on the film's trailer and press relations as the film has not released in theatres yet).
- It's still an exquisitely-crafted piece of writing that has ever graced the formidable power of literature.
- Brontë heavily critiques social issues of race, gender, class, using two families living in a desolate place in Northern England.
- This novel is the epitome of Gothicism. Heathcliff is the monster as per Gothic Conventions.
- Nelly Dean is the most unreliable narrator to ever been written and I love that Brontë may have done this on purpose.
- It is horrifying and deeply disturbing at the amount of child abuse that take place and is mostly perpetrated by Heathcliff (who received abuse by others, hence, the abused becoming the abuser).
- Catherine Earnshaw is just as awful as Heathcliff and their love for each other ruined so many lives.
- The symbolism of hair colour, each family's house, the moors, all proves that Emily Brontë was truly an extraordinary writer.
This novel is still (and will always be) my favourite!
- It's still an exquisitely-crafted piece of writing that has ever graced the formidable power of literature.
- Brontë heavily critiques social issues of race, gender, class, using two families living in a desolate place in Northern England.
- This novel is the epitome of Gothicism. Heathcliff is the monster as per Gothic Conventions.
- Nelly Dean is the most unreliable narrator to ever been written and I love that Brontë may have done this on purpose.
- It is horrifying and deeply disturbing at the amount of child abuse that take place and is mostly perpetrated by Heathcliff (who received abuse by others, hence, the abused becoming the abuser).
- Catherine Earnshaw is just as awful as Heathcliff and their love for each other ruined so many lives.
- The symbolism of hair colour, each family's house, the moors, all proves that Emily Brontë was truly an extraordinary writer.
This novel is still (and will always be) my favourite!
March 8, 2026
This was one of those English lit assignments in high school or college (I forget), and I knew I needed to reread it as an adult, like I have so many other classics. I picked it up now because of the new movie version which I saw and found far removed from my memory of the book. What I liked: the characters are formed by living within a limited range of contacts and contexts and that in itself is an interesting study for any psych major. Dyfunctional family? Sure, but there is not much in the story to shock a reader in 2026. (The hints of animal cruelty are more disturbing than how the characters behave to each other.) I'm sure others are writing up the many deviations between the text and the movie (Tim Burton meets David Lynch). Shocking liberties were taken and not just those of the leads' intimacy. Trust me, the text is a more rewarding mental experience: Among other things, Nelly is not the heartless minor villain character portrayed on the screen, and those characters and key elements of the story missing from the movie round out the story in text very well. The text's ending? Well, I'll not spoil it. The dialect was something of a challenge here and there, but the reader will live in the story - the detail is rich.
September 24, 2025
Kate Bush brought me here with her song, Wuthering Heights. She really encapsulated Kathy, the vibe, and all around feel of this novel.
This was one of my hardest reads in regards to my intellect, but I’m grateful for every second of it. I truly cried when I read this novel. Not just romantically, this story is an all around tragedy. But anyone can find the beauty scattered throughout this entire novel. Emily Brontë is just amazing at portraying raw, unfiltered emotions and making you long for scenery you never thought was deserving of even a second glance.
Emily Brontë made me feel like I’m not alone in my occasional emotional outbursts. It made me really connect with the characters, but especially the author because I feel that she truly understands the most inhumane parts of what we all feel deeply ashamed of about ourselves. She accepts them, understands them, writes them, and you get to read some of the worst parts of what humans are capable of, especially when it comes to love, but it doesn’t deter you from feeling sympathy for the characters in one way or another. Except for Hindley. F*ck Hindley.
This was one of my hardest reads in regards to my intellect, but I’m grateful for every second of it. I truly cried when I read this novel. Not just romantically, this story is an all around tragedy. But anyone can find the beauty scattered throughout this entire novel. Emily Brontë is just amazing at portraying raw, unfiltered emotions and making you long for scenery you never thought was deserving of even a second glance.
Emily Brontë made me feel like I’m not alone in my occasional emotional outbursts. It made me really connect with the characters, but especially the author because I feel that she truly understands the most inhumane parts of what we all feel deeply ashamed of about ourselves. She accepts them, understands them, writes them, and you get to read some of the worst parts of what humans are capable of, especially when it comes to love, but it doesn’t deter you from feeling sympathy for the characters in one way or another. Except for Hindley. F*ck Hindley.
February 9, 2026
Once upon a time, I considered myself a romantic, but after reading this classic, I determined that I am not. What is up with the 1800's and everyone dying at such a young age? There is so much death in this novel. My goodness. Let's count...Mr. Earnshaw, Mrs. Earnshaw, Hindley Earnshaw, Frances Earnshaw, Mr. Linton, Mrs. Linton, Catherine Earnshaw, Edgar Linton, Linton Heathcliff, and Heathcliff. 11 of the main characters. Living in the 1800's was rough; they were a sickly bunch (consumption, fever, tuberculosis, alcoholism, childbirth, starvation)!! The "survivors" of the story were Joseph (curmudgeonly servant), Nelly (housekeeper), Mr. Lockwood (tenant), Hareton (son of Hindley and Frances), and Catherine (daughter of Catherine and Edgar). The only "love" I saw in this story was that between Heathcliff and the first Catherine, though it was an odd, jealous, revengeful sort of love that ended up haunting them both for eternity, which was Heathcliff's wish upon Catherine's death, so I guess that's a happy ending? I'm glad storytelling (and medical science) has progressed. The world is depressing enough without fiction adding to it.
January 28, 2026
Classic love/loss/vengeance tale set in the English moors. Ghosts, unexplained disappearances, death--all the gothic "ejaculations" one could want. I was often confused about which character was which when there were two Catherines, one lady who was called Nellie/Ellen/Mrs Dean, several people called Linton (as both a last and first name), people called Earnshaw (a last name) but also the only name of the father of one of the Catherines. Don't get me started on Heathcliff having only one name but his son taking Heathcliff as his last name? Sheesh. I needed a chart to keep track of the names but it was high time I read the actual book.
March 7, 2026
I'd never read the book as the general description had not interested me. With the new movie version out, and many who reviewed it saying they preferred the book, I figured I would give it a try. Finding the audiobook version narrated by the fabulous Adjoa Andoh was a good thing because I don't think I would have stuck with it otherwise. There are no redeeming characters in this story, and the somewhat incestuous pairings creeps me out, and not in a good way. This is only getting such a high star rating because of Adjoa's narration. But at least now I know for sure that I was right in not reading it for so long.
April 22, 2026
It is no flattering task to recall how many years it has been since I last read this, but it all comes back in an instance. I would hope that my emotional response is far more nuanced this time around. Additionally I am absolutely astounded how perfect a novel this is; many literary types claim Middlemarch as the greatest & most perfect novel, for mine it is WH.
In either case (Middlemarch or WH) this greatness was achieved without participating in university writing courses, witers festivals, social media or the wonderful aid of the modern marketing industry.
Makes one think that great literature can shine through without all the dross of the modern publishing industry.....
In either case (Middlemarch or WH) this greatness was achieved without participating in university writing courses, witers festivals, social media or the wonderful aid of the modern marketing industry.
Makes one think that great literature can shine through without all the dross of the modern publishing industry.....
October 20, 2023
Perhaps if the book had been told from the first person perspective I would have been able to connect more with the characters and their love. I felt that Heathcliff and Catherine's love was more passion than love, but this could also have happened because of what was mentioned above. I really liked the ending because I felt that it was a very good closing where it transformed the two people who were in love and served to transform the original love or passion of the two main protagonists into a true love that will last in a very beautiful way. In which where it will be able to be enjoyed.
February 15, 2026
I first read this many years ago when I was alot younger and I absolutely loved it but now after re reading it and looking at it with older eyes I think this time I felt that Catherine Earnshaw's manner was quite annoying and very selfish. Heathcliff in my eyes became a monster because of all the ill treatment heaped upon him from the first. There were so many decent people in the story destroyed by these two. Is it a love story between Catherine and Heathcliff? I hesitate to call it that. I felt the hero or in this case heroine was Nellie.
March 2, 2026
I found the language too difficult for me to continue reading. I bought it at the Indiana Landmarks Emporium in West Baden, Indiana. I loved the Piper Press edition with gilded gold pages and gold ribbon bookmark - not a good reason to buy a book, but this edition is lovely.
It was released later as a movie in 2026. I bought it before the movie. The book was over my head. It must be great literature, but I could not follow it. I might try again because of the 2026 movie.
I admire those who understood the language and read it. I wish I were among them.
It was released later as a movie in 2026. I bought it before the movie. The book was over my head. It must be great literature, but I could not follow it. I might try again because of the 2026 movie.
I admire those who understood the language and read it. I wish I were among them.
March 24, 2026
I had read this before but had forgotten much about it. What I really noticed this time around is that it's all about Nelly Dean and she seems like a potentially very unreliable narrator. The structure is odd and the 'romance' between Heathcliffe & Cathy is only a small part of the story. We don't reallt get to know many of the characters and their behaviour is inconsistent, but this is also related to us at a distance. I'm not sure what makes this such a classic although I guess it's pretty original and would have been an oddity when first published.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 29, 2026
This is the story of an infatuation taken to extremes and a person to whom good will is extended who then takes advantage of the giver. I found the telling of the tale from Nelly to Mr. Lockwood long as I did not anticipate that the novel would be greater than 50% this retelling. I wondered at Mr. Lockwood's role in the whole drama. I found it interesting to see how characters did change when they went from good living circumstances to spaces that lacked decency and love. I think that Heathcliff does seem to be romanticized in culture, even before the recent movie.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 31, 2026
I listened to the Tantor audiobook edition of this book. The production was okay but it was difficult to track who was saying what because there were so many different characters involved. Also, because of the nature of the story, it was hard to keep track of all of the relationships among the various characters. I also think I would have benefited from a refresher on English common law of property, especially the rules of inheritance, since that seems to driven so much of Heathcliff's behavior.
All in all, very sad and sorted tale.
All in all, very sad and sorted tale.
December 31, 2024
Barring a few romantic comments from Heathcliff and Catherine which are quite frankly verging on insanity, the entire book seemed like a whole lot of extreme incest, children having the same names as their parents which only added to the confusion, and sickly Victorian people dying all over.
This book being a classic was the only reason I picked it up after somewhat liking Jane Eyre, but this led me to my longest book reading slump.
Not picking up another classic in the near future.
This book being a classic was the only reason I picked it up after somewhat liking Jane Eyre, but this led me to my longest book reading slump.
Not picking up another classic in the near future.
February 3, 2026
I've been reading a few classics lately. It was time for Wuthering Heights. All I knew before reading it was that it was by one of the Brontë sisters and that it inspired Kate Bush's iconic song.
It was a well-structured engaging read, but towards the end I was getting a bit tired of the relentlessness of Heathcliff's badness, and the younger generation's awful personalities. And then it ended.
Given the song, I thought the ghostliness might have been more prominent than it was in the story.
It was a well-structured engaging read, but towards the end I was getting a bit tired of the relentlessness of Heathcliff's badness, and the younger generation's awful personalities. And then it ended.
Given the song, I thought the ghostliness might have been more prominent than it was in the story.
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