Wuthering Heights According to Spike Milligan

According to Spike Milligan

by Spike Milligan

Book by Milligan, Spike

Genres: Humor, Comedy

Paperback

First published August 3, 1995

About the author

Terence Alan Patrick Seán Milligan, known as Spike, was a comedian, writer and musician. He was of Irish descent, but spent most of his childhood in India and lived most of his later life in England, moving to Australia after retirement. He is famous for his work in The Goon Show, children's poetry and a series of comical autobiographical novels about his experiences serving in the British Army in WWII. Spike Milligan suffered from bipolar disorder, which led to depression and frequent breakdowns, but he will be remembered as a comic genius. His tombstone reads 'I told you I was ill' in Gaelic.

Reviews

[Martyna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brilliant. BA thesis on this text in the making🫡

[Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Milligan's version of Wuthering Heights is not a great story retold. Essentially it is the same trick played over and over again to grotesque, silly extremes. It is parody so ridiculous it buries the original text completely, although there are moments when the laughs are caused by clever comparison with Bronte's weathered, romantic tale. Milligan, the master of nonsense and slapstick, here shows his deep crudity and fearless lack of concern for political correctness. He treads a fine line here between funny and simply offensive.

The main joke is this - Heathcliff, that famous darkly romantic, Moor-swept hero - is here a Pakistani man with ambitions of opening a corner shop in Leeds, a serious curry addiction and a serious piles problem. Cathy is a tearaway brat with steamy knickers and a dangerous, deadly obsession with Heathcliff's not-so-secret twelve inches. For a reader who does see the potential for parody in the often very serious and too self-aware romances of writers like the Brontes, that inversion, taken lightly, tickles a funny bone. In scenes in which Milligan directly quotes and twists the original (Heathcliff's opening description, Cathy's wild ramblings on the Moor) it's familiarity does make for amusing reading. Whether from embarassment, shock or genuine humour, this version of Wuthering Heights has plenty of laugh out loud moments.

The majority of these come from Milligan's delighted use of double meanings. He loves to take a seemingly innocuous sentence and turn it on its head in the next. Often it takes the form of sexual inuendo or incredibly silly slapstick moments, and sometimes Milligan takes it to another level (Cathy pouring water down her knickers) to create a vision of pure silliness that stays with you and evokes the occasional after-giggle hours later. There is no doubt, Milligan is a master of his art, and if you share his sense of humour, his Wuthering Heights will tease a fair few chuckles, chortles and the occasional full blown laugh out, but compared with the sublime insanity of some of his other work (his glorious poetry and Puckoon) it's fairly throw-away. 5

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok where do i start, bizarre - very! now i was a great fan of Spike Milligan. His creativity and his ability to shift tracks and ideas yet still keep your attention never ceases to amaze me, however this is the first time i have read one of his .....according to Spike Milligan books and all i can say is in between laughing out loud he made my head hurt. It certainly has been educational - i think i will need to think on it some more if i plan on reading any more of them. Like he Meerkat book - not bad for a charity shop find but i doubt i would pay full price for them!

[Peter Dunn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well I like Spike Milligan and I like Wuthering Heights so what’s not to like – well this book sadly. There are a few weak Milligan signature puns and jokes based on his favourite over literal use of words, or their double meanings, but it didn’t ever really raise a laugh for me. Making Heathcliff Pakistani teeters on the edge of being funny but even that pales quickly. I sadly couldn’t even force myself to finish this short book so I do concede, and indeed hope, that I am doing it an injustice and that the second half really is much better.

[M · Rating 1 out of 5]

It's unfortunate that Goodreads doesn't allow negative ratings; this is the worst book I've read in years. It could be that my sense of humour is defective and I don't know Spike Milligan's work at all, but this slow, dragging tome isn't worth the paper it's printed on.

[Reena · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wuthering Heights is my favourite book and I do not mind parodies but this bored me. Stick with the original.

[Cognac Legion · Rating 2 out of 5]

Utter silliness - sometimes to the detriment of coherency, but I've just tossed a chapatti at the cat and now it's dead.