Wuthering Heights: Usborne Classics Retold: Usborne Classics Retold

Usborne Classics Retold

by Jane Bingham

Emily Brontë's haunting tale of love and revenge, rivetingly retold for today's readers, remains as powerful and gripping as the day it was first written. High on the windswept Yorkshire moors, an old farmhouse hides dark secrets. What is the strange history of Wuthering Heights? Why has Heathcliff, its mysterious owner, cut himself off from the world - and who is the unearthly girl wandering the moors at night?

Genres: Classics, Fiction, Romance, Literature

158 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 15, 2003

About the author

Jane M. Bingham spent most of her adult life teaching college students about children's literature at Oakland University, collecting and studying children's books from across history and around the world, and campaigning for better materials for children to read. After she retired from that career, she began writing children's books of her own. Bingham has since authored several nonfiction books that seek to explain contemporary issues to children, including divorce, the dangers of drug abuse, and the art and culture of civilizations around the world.
In Why Do Families Break Up? Bingham attempts to demystify the process of divorce for middle-school students. The book begins by examining some of the reasons a couple might decide to divorce, then moves on to explain the process of coping and moving on after a family separates. School Library Journal contributor Sharon A. Neal described the book as "supportive [and] unbiased" and noted, "Despite the nature of the topic, the book is hopeful."
Tiananmen Square: June 4, 1989 examines the studentled protest against China's Communist rulers that occurred there, in the middle of Beijing, in the spring of 1989. On June 4 the government mobilized the army, including tanks, to disperse the demonstrators, killing several of them in the process. "The excellent illustrations and clear narrative," Elizabeth Talbot wrote in School Library Journal, make Tiananmen Square a "good introduction" to the protest and its aftermath.
Bingham is the author of three installments in the "World Art and Culture" series, examining India, Africa, and Aboriginal Australia. Each book is brief, only fifty-six pages long, and "the texts are straightforward and concise," Gillian Engberg noted in a review of AfricanArt and Culture for Booklist. Despite this brevity, much information is packed into each volume. Bingham opens each book with a chapter about the history of the region, from thousands of years ago to the present day, and follows with chapters about the art forms practiced in that area. These include architecture, basket-weaving, creating musical instruments, dance, and body modification (tattoos, piercings, and the like), among others. Indian Art and Culture also includes a chapter on one of that country's modern art forms, the "Bollywood" movie industry. As Donna Cardon noted in School Library Journal, "The texts not only describe the art forms and how they are created, but also explain the role that art plays in the cultures."
Bingham once wrote: "In 1981 I completed a trip which took me to American Samoa, New Zealand, Australia, Hong Kong, China, Thailand, Bangladesh, India, Kenya, South Africa, and Swaziland. I collected examples of children's books along the way and became acutely aware of the need for books and other teaching resources in many developing countries. I was especially impressed with the variety of India's and Bangladesh's children's books—in spite of the difficulties their creators often encounter in publishing and promoting them. I also found that becoming aware of and enjoying the literature from other countries enriched my appreciation of American children's books. I found myself asking over and over why we, with the plethora we have to choose from, too often opt for the mediocre rather than the 'rarest kind of best.' As educators, creators, and consumers, we all too often forget to think of children's books as real literature because we fail to apply critical literary standards. It is my hope that my teaching and writing will draw attention to the continuing need for quality books in our own country and will also encourage American students and teachers to adopt a wider, world view of children's literature."

Reviews

[Little Miss Netty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Strangely, I liked the story in spite of the unlikable characters! The female leads, Cathy and Isabella, could at times, be peevish, selfish and arrogant, caring only for wealth and social status. Whereas some of the male characters, Edgar and Linton, were lily-livered and pathetic, although Edgar did improve later on. Heathcliff himself develops into a nasty, vengeful brute, not averse to hitting a woman and drawing blood, what a dreamboat! I felt sorry for poor Nelly, the housemaid, who had to endure all the drama and hysteria they created!

[Arrash Mazdai · Rating 4 out of 5]

New Words Learnt - 0 (this may and most likely will change if and when I read the actual full length book)

I somehow luckily found the simplified tale in a charity shop a few weeks ago, which was quite handy since the new movie is about to be released.

I found the story quite tragic, yet it ended with hope and renewal. I don't think the illustrations in here did the characters' beauty justice, but apart from that they were beautiful and immersive.

Not much else to say right now, I'm sure there have been essays aplenty written dissecting this book in terms of characters, morals, themes, and more, but I never was one to write an essay when I didn't feel like it.

[Chelsea Hagen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this classic. I didn't know it was going to be so dark and I like how at first I liked some of the characters and then ended up hating them.

[Noha El-Shami · Rating 4 out of 5]

من منا لم يشاهد الفيلم (الغريب) ليحيى شاهين وماجدة؟

طفل صغير يعثر عليه رب أسرة في الطرقات فيحن عليه ويقرر تربيته وسط أولاده، لم تتقبله زوجته ولا ابنه الأكبر وتعطف عليه ابنته الصغرى ليكبرا سويا في البرية كهمج معتقدين نحن المشاهدين أن مصيرهما للزواج لتغير البطلة المسار باختيارها رجل آخر أكثر هنداما وتأديبا وتهذيبا لتتزوجه، فيهرب البطل ويختفي لسنوات ثم يعود بشكله الجديد لينتقم من الجميع

من أخو البطلة
ومن ابن أخو البطلة
ومن زوج البطلة
ومن أخت زوج البطلة
ومن ابنة البطلة
ومن ابنه هو شخصيا

الأمر الذي لا تتمالك معه نفسك .. ما تموت بقى يا أخي وتخلصنا

نسختي مختصره مأخوذه عن النسخة الأصلية ومكتوبه بأسلوب أبسط

لقد أخل الاختصار في القاء المزيد من الضوء على دواخل البطل ومعاناته ودوافعه لكل هذا الحقد والحزن والانتقام ما جعل جل انتقامه من الجميع غير مقنع

رغم ذلك لم أستطع تركها حتى أنهيتها؛ لحلاوة الأسلوب الأدبي مما جعل ال
Cheerful

يملأني وسط كآبة الأحداث وعدم منطقتيها في بعض الأحيان

:D

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this many years ago. It is a darkly beautiful, poignant, passionate and mysterious novel. A story of misplaced love (perhaps a result of the era the novel was set in) and its consequentially terrifying results. A gothic romance with the worst case of worse-case-scenarios, making it almost an anti-romantic novel. Take everything you think about what romance is, throw it out the window and then read this book! You'll be satisfied.

[Amatullah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've had some time to think about this and I realised I really did not enjoy this book.All of the charcters were dislikeable everybody was annoying and conceited and the overall plot was messy and not structured.

[Mohamed Zaman · Rating 5 out of 5]

After reading Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, I just read this iconic book by Emily Bronte, Charlotte's sister.....this book is so well-written and story got themes of heartbreak, grief, solace and more and story is also bittersweet and tragic, similar to the likes of Romeo Juliet, Heer Ranjha and more but with a twist of the descendants of the original tragic lovers finding a happy ending.....a very emotional and bittersweet story ever.....

[Carly]

I can’t rate this one because I listened to an audiobook of a retold version…. and I knew it wouldn’t be something I would particularly enjoy. I’ve always been curious about this book so I’m happy to finally know what its about. And it matched my expectations. Not my kind of novel.

[Janine O'Keefe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellently told for a younger audience.

[Kerrie Gartside · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is about an orphan boy named Heathcliff who is brought into the Earnshaw family quite suddenly one day, his struggle to fit in and find happiness, mistreatment from some family members and complete love from others, and a vicious cycle of vengeance and hate that nearly destroys them all, except for one unlikely spark of hope and love in the end. Heathcliff's acceptance by Mr. Earnshaw's biological son Hindley never really happens, but Heathcliff and the biological daughter Catherine fall in love as they grow up together. But instead of marrying Heathcliff, Catherine marries another man, which earns her, her husband, and her daughter the never ending wrathful vengeance of Heathcliff. After Mr. Earnshaw I did not love this book because of the twisted mind and hateful acts of Heathcliff towards anyone who had seriously wronged him and anyone they loved, but it was very well written and the characters were complex and intriguing.

[Kelv · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad read - the use of past tense and present tense was well done. As was the two narrators which did not distract from the story.
I think this book felt similar to Daphne du Maurier's Rebbecca - this may have been due to similarities in Catherine (Cathy) with Rebbecca - beautiful wife dying and leaving many men lamenting them, as well as, Heathcliff and Jack Favell - spurred lovers. Whereas Mrs Danvers from Rebecca is nothing like Nelly. Further, Manderley felt similar to the Wuthering Heights in a topographical sense.

[Frank O'brien · Rating 5 out of 5]

The greatest book ever written in English. It's always been a mystery to me how someone who only wrote one novel could produce such a classic. Dark, crazy, funny (sometimes), with a beautiful love story thrown in at the end, this book is compelling from first page to last. It defies categorization but never fails to please. Have lost count of the number of times I've read it.

[Maureen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read with my 4th grade daughter. Great story but very dark and dreary with a lot of sickness, sadness and revenge. We both liked this book a lot, one thing that got confusing was the two Catherine's (mother and daughter) and that it went all over the place in terms of starting at the end and retelling. Good Read!!

[Paulina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad adaptation of Wuthering Heights. Fast-paced and short but captures the essential elements of the story. I am not a big fan of any of the characters and the story in general, but when I saw the book, it made me want to reread it to refresh the story in my mind.

[Evaxoxo · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story overall seemd to spooky and eerie. Maybe I would enjoy the original better, I don't know. But it was romantic - in the true way and in the love way ahah In the end I adored love between Cathy and Hareton. The characters were very traumatised, I found that interesting. But very sad.

[LadyH39 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really loved the abridged version of this classic novel - i think it helped that I already knew the story having watched the amazing adaptation with Tom Hardy. The book is well written and gets across the sorrow and despair of all characters ….

[Luísa Freitas · Rating 3 out of 5]

always picturing Ralph Fiennes as my Heathcliff :)

[Akerumi · Rating 5 out of 5]

updating.....

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

the greatest love story on a book

[Saskia · Rating 3 out of 5]

read this with Aiden

[Melissa Lowe]

Pretty good. Couldn't find a copy of the original when I was looking, but I had been wanting to read this for a long time.

[Astrid · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lo leí cuando era muy pequeña, y me marcó tanto que no lo he olvidado.

[Mariana]

a suspirar jeje

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Por que a veces podemos confundirnos a la hora de elegir

[Anubhuti · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thrill, suspense...a tinch of horror and an awesome plot. A very good book to read.

[Crystal Frank · Rating 2 out of 5]

To much dark drama. Interesting and complex story though.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

i juz love it..it's a strange book..heee

[Marooncookiez]

L.O.V.E

[Barb Sweazey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Somewhat tedious to get through, but glad I did. Now I can put this classic behind me.