Reading 1001 discussion

3 stars

Up until this year I have failed to read any books by the Bronte sisters, and when I picked up Wuthering Heights I was blown away by the complex, intricate and beautiful story. It was not a romance novel, but so much more. It was a book that I loved and I was anxious to read more by the sisters. This one is my second Bronte read and unfortunately it did not enchant me.

I finished it a couple weeks ago, and if I had reviewed it immediately I would have given it four stars. But, I have found that most books grow or shrink in my esteem in the days after I finish reading them. And this one has shrunk. The characters haven't lingered in my thoughts. The story doesn't continue to play itself out in my dreams. I don't find myself wondering about what happened in the lives of the characters after I left the pages behind. For me, it is just a sweet story of some fairly bland characters and not much more.

Reason read: TBR takedown/Reading 1001, April 2024.
Finally! This book has been on my TBR forever. I enjoyed it! A tale of a young woman who marries against all advice because she believes she can change someone. This book may be old but it is still very relevant. What is old is the options that were or were not available. The dignity and "manners" that no longer exist.
It is told over a long period of time and includes the use of diaries to provide background. A book that was probably ahead of its time.
I thoroughly enjoyed the book and it held my interest. Perhaps it isn't a 5 star book and maybe it is rated high because of the previous books that I've read. This is a good romance and a good work of feminist literature without completely emasculating men.

I have adored Wuthering Heights all my life and also read Jane Eyre when I was very young, but I have only just discovered Anne Brontë - and what an omission. The Tenant was published in 1848, when such topics as domestic abuse, alcoholism, adultery, cruelty to animals and gender rôles were only mentioned obliquely, if at all. Anne Brontē examines them all. And the characters were beautifully realised as complicated individuals. The heroine is strong willed, but religiously fanatical and in possession of a wickedly quick tongue. The hero is handsome and kind to his narrow minded mother, but he also believes himself to be irresistible to women and is capable of great violence. And all the other characters were described as interesting individuals rather than stereotypes. The theme is the lack of agency of women at the time, and this work compares most favourably with the Anthony Trollope “He Knew He Was Right, which I recently finished. The scene where a young wife is mocked and molested by her husband in front of his jeering, drunken friends is particularly memorable. The idealism of a woman’s rôle to be a tempering agency is utterly debunked. Compliance doesn’t work for Millicent and gentle persuasion followed by withdrawal from the relationship doesn’t work either, as Helen discovers. The novel is framed by diaries and letters, beloved of the Victorians, but it provides an immediacy of first person narrative which kept this reader intrigued as the mystery of the new arrival is gradually revealed. Absolutely a five star read.