I hated Wuthering Heights, so I reread it.
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- Опубликовано: 23 окт 2019
- Years ago, I read Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte and disliked almost everything about the book. It's time to give this Victorian classic a second chance. This is my real-time reaction, half review, half rant.
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Since this is becoming popular again and the comment section is getting quite predictable, I thought I'd link you to this video I made with the title "No, I'm not reading classics wrong. A rant on gatekeeping classic books." ruclips.net/video/bMG334Fo0XU/видео.html
Lmao, your title reminded me of Mark Twain. He said every time he reads Jane Austin he wants to dig her up and beat her over her head with her shin bone. To which I think, why keep rereading her then. Because she's great that's why.
Whether one likes or hates the Bronte sisters what one can not be is dismissive of them or their books.
There is no such thing as toxic masculinity. Please don't be so wilfully ignorant. The whole point of the book was to show that, while men can't show or excited their emotions. Emotions they have.
"ElfQuest" sort of did a good job on the topic of this book you are speaking about. This half troll and half elf is trying to figure out which part of his blood makes him better. He is not the main characters, but was still a good view of how people can want answers.
"Wuthering Heights" is sort of a guy who sees himself passed over for the intellectual male when he is the strong idiot. He sort of wants his intellectual weak son to succeed, but thwarts him as he wants the strong fool to win the girl in the second generation. Perhaps he is trying to answer some question, but if the book had ended with the girl in the next generation saying both those men were okay, but he (Heathcliff) who is in the older generation who is using the kids to answer his question should have been judged by him as the problem and thus his death could have had meaning. Especialy if he had killed himself after being so judged.
7) "Vilette" by Charlotte Brontë
57) "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë
85) "Agnes Grey" by Anne Brontë
124) "The Professor” by Charlotte Brontë
148) "Shirley" by Charlotte Brontë
151) "Wuthering Heights" by Emily Brontë
I am reading "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall" by Anne Brontë right now as I began this journey of the Brontë sisters this year and since one was the only book by a woman to make my top ten books of all time and thus I want to read all these girls and enjoy all these books.
I have a theory theory that you can sort people into some kind of personality category by which of these three books they like best: Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, or Pride and Prejudice. (I'm team P&P.) Maybe there's a forth book that could be added and then it could be like sorting people into Hogwarts Houses.
That's so funny, for me it's always been about Bronte gals vs. Austen gals. How would you distinguish between JE and WH fans? I suppose there are some people who take WH seriously and see Heathcliff as romantic............. Not sure I know what to say about them. 😂
I am someone who got obsessed with P&P after reading it for the first time. I finished reading Jane Eyre a few days ago and I am obsessed with that one too 😆. I am on the first few chapters of WH now. Dont even know how I feel about it atm
P&P: enjoyable for the writing style and the social insights, but the basic story is an escapist girlie wet dream. I can only take it as a feel-good nonsense.
Jane Eyre: very well written, but I deeply dislike the main characters. Jane is sanctimonious, and Rochester seems to me an entitled and amoral p***k. Wide Sargarsso Sea (by Jean Rhys) gets him right, as is his doppelganger De Winter in Rebecca (by Daphne du Maurier).
Wuthering Heights: Amazing on all counts. Just to refer to some of the points in the video: Lockwood is necessary because none of the other narrators is reliable. He is the external judge. More importantly, it is not just a tale of strange relationships. It is a story of possession. Heathcliff, who appears out of nowhere, possesses everyone around, making them all waste away. But he is vanquished by the next generation (the second Cathy and Hareton), leading to an unexpected happy ending to an otherwise a tale of woe.
I'd nominate William Thackeray's "Vanity Faire". Becky Sharpe - for her or agin her?
There is another Bronte sister, Anne, who deserves to be added to the list of 19th century authors worth looking at.
Thank you for giving Wuthering Heights another try! I love it so much despite hating all of the characters. There's something about the nested, circular plot structure, unreliable narrators, multiple generations, and characters I can't quite figure out that keep me coming back to this book over and over again. It's very strange to read a book where I have no affinity to any character. They can all go die for all I care... and most of them do. There is simply something so compelling about this book though and it lends itself to endless rereads and analysis. You should watch my Wuthering Heights videos from a few years ago, where I just analyze the book for like 40 mins over the span of 2 videos (unless you've had enough of Wuthering Heights). Also, I highly recommend that anyone who reads Wuthering Heights for the first (or even second or maybe third time) have a character tree in front of them. There are plenty pre-made ones online. All of the character names are purposely similar to reflect their relationship to previous generations, but it can get massively confusing.
I love this book 💕
The whole point of the story being narrated by Mr Lockwood and Ellen Dean is to create a frame narrative. Mr Lockwood is supposed to represent the conventional mindset that we, as readers, have while going into the book which is also continually challenged while Lockwood is introduced to the world of Wuthering Heights. It's supposed to symbolize how conventionality has no place in the story of Wuthering Heights as it is a book that is vastly different from its contemporary works since it centres around revenge, violence and trauma. The reason many people take issue with this book, I find, is because they have the wrong expectations going into it. You're not supposed to like the characters as people and you're not supposed to expect a great love story out of it. Wuthering Heights, in it's true form, is a tale of vengeance and it's should be treated that way.
I get that, and my dislike of the book is not because I mistook it for a romance.
@@SpinstersLibrary I suppose maybe it's because the style isn't for everyone and I understand that
I am one of those people who love Wuthering Heights but I loved your chapter by chapter review and am pleased your rating has improved. While I love it, it's one of those books I understand when people say they don't like it.
Yes, it's easy to see why it's such a polarising book.
I read it and didnt like it at all. Because the whole book looks like a mexican soap opera with europe adaptation. There is so much unreasonable drama and bitchy eye roll scenes.the relationship between cathy and heathcliff wasnt developed well,only in the middle of the book you feel love between them.
Great video, Claudia. I recently reread Wuthering Heights for the same reason you did-to see if I could get past my loathing of the novel. It’s kind of funny, but our reactions are nearly identical. I still don’t like the novel, but I guess I respect it a bit more. When I put it in the context of being Emily’s first novel and compare it to Charlotte’s and Anne’s first novels, there is a sort of mad genius in Wuthering Heights that The Professor and Agnes Grey both lack. Had she lived longer, I think Emily could have developed into a very accomplished novelist.
I’d love it if you did more videos like this with other classics. I like the real-time reaction aspect of it.
Thank you! I have previously done videos in this style about other novels - including Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier. I'm sure I will do more in the future :)
I remember hating this novel when I read it years and years ago. You’ve earned my respect by endeavouring to read it again. Great video.
I thought Lockwood was hilarious, fashioning himself to be the broody outsider only to learn what that term really encompasses. :) Love that you gave the book another chance. Also "What could possibly go wrong?!" just about sums the book up. :D
So many people love this and I've always felt like the outside opinion so it's really nice to see it the other way and with you breaking it down. As you've gone through the chapters it makes me think about my feelings of the book
Definitely grave digging going on
Haha, I wasn't wrong :D
That book is on my never-again list. I don't have your will to reread a book I hated so much. Why it is some people's favourite book will always mystify me.
Haha, I was curious to see if I would enjoy it in a reread.
Well, it is one of my favorite book and I have a ton of stuffs I absolutely loved about it. I could bored you with a 1000 words comment but i am tired at the moment. Here one reason that I praraphrased from somebody else who put into so much better words " there is no book like it, despite being a classis, it is unreplicatable. A force of nature".
@@Account.for.Comment It seems to me that we don't read for the same reasons (and that's fine). I personally want to have a good time, not "an experience", when I read.
@@thiadesg I get it. Almost people I know loathe it. One teacher of mine said when he was a students, his entire class gathered all their Wuthering Heights book (which they were forced to learn) to make a big bonfire to celebrate the year end. Emily Bronte did not write it with any intention of publishing it.
You don't know much about literature. Not your thing. Stick to comics.
Love these chapter-by-chapter updates!!
Thank you :)
Loved your chapter by chapter updates. And love that you gave WH another chance.
I am one who loves WH but I also understand why people don’t like it.
Ah, Wuthering Heights! Your version of reviewing this novel in “real time” is great. As to the book, love it or hate it, it has been fun to see how many lively discussions have been generated each time a book tuber makes a post regarding this old Victorian novel.
Definitely a book worth discussing!
I also dislike Wuthering Heights, and re-read it for the fifth time this month. Every time I've re-read it, I've done so in the hopes that I might one day figure out just why everybody loves it so much. I loved the way in which you went about this video. (If nothing else you've helped a ton of English Literature students the world over with your synopses of the chapters.)
I loved the format of this video, Claudia! The first time I read this novel, I loved it and had a conflicting feeling about it, precisely because I felt I was not supposed to love it, since the characters are so despicable. Now I feel more comfortable about my love for this book. And I find fascinating to see how many different responses this book gets from readers. :)
I just finished Wuthering Heights for the first time today and I enjoyed the first half way more than the second. It is not a book I want to read again or keep. I see some of the value but really struggle with getting the hype.
Your chapter-by-chapter accounting of the horrors of this novel is hilarious! 😂 I ADORE WH and its over-the-topness; it genuinely cracks me up as it entertains and moves. "Baby Linton is now also dead." Haha. You are not wrong about the confusion of the names. Some of them are more important as chess pieces than characters, I guess. For me the beauty of the book is in how it so specifically and eloquently shows the cyclical nature of violence -- the way it's passed down from one generation to the next, from one bad action to the next. The tremendous and heroic effort that's needed to interrupt that cycle. Plus, as you say, the marvelous atmosphere, the weird setting; everything about Emily Bronte's writing is just wonderful.
I am with you! I definitely appreciated WH far more this time than I did when I was an adolescent, but I didn't actually like it any better. It will absolutely not be going on my favorites list. I know your video style of responding after each chapter is what led you to give spoilers, but almost everyone who has discussed it this month has felt they had to, in order to say anything of value. What is it about this book makes that happen? (I'm afraid I gave some spoilers in my video without providing a warning when I posted it, but your recent spoilers video helped me realize it and try to reform for the future...)
To be fair, I did give a very clear spoiler warning right at the beginning of this video :) I was never going to discuss this without spoilering, and that's the same way I've handled previous books that I read for this video format.
Spinster's Library Oh absolutely! I thought I was acknowledging that you were clear about it in my comment but I guess I didn’t. I am just intrigued why this particular book is so hard to discuss without spoilers, much more than other books.
Oh sorry, I must have misunderstood! I think it's the structure of the plot itself that makes it hard not to spoiler - we start the story with most of the main characters dead, and then learn through flashback narration how exactly that happened.
@@SpinstersLibrary Definitely. And all the repetition in the novel (between the two generations) just makes it even harder, I suspect.
I love this. It was fairly enjoyable and interesting to know your thoughts on the book, as it is a reread. I really like Heraton, he's completely blameless as you have pointed out and he's one of the best characters here in my opinion unlike the others who are mostly awful at least to an extent. The relationship between young Catherine and her cousin Linton is so absurd 🤯 and toxic but it doesn't differ much from the rest of the relationships in this book 🤣 What I like about the book is the twisted and raw aspect of it. How a person can be so vindictive and how everything can become so toxic. Granted, the book is quite dense, some parts are also boring and all from the perspective of Nelly who was solely an spectator for the majority of the situations. However, some dialogues between Catherine and Heathcliff I just can't forget 🖤 and I know it's not a conventional relationship but a toxic one but regardless, some parts were just really intense 🤭 great video, have a great day Claudia!
Thank you! I can see why people enjoy the rawness and darkness of this book. Just wasn't for me unfortunately :)
You gave it a good college try! I totally get why it's such a divisive novel. It was fun following your reading experience of this.
I certainly appreciate the book more and I understand what others like about it.
You are very brave! As far as I remember I didn't hate Wuthering Heights as such, but I hated all the characters (maybe except Hareton, or what's his name?) and was very frustrated to see them just hurting each other for the fun of it. I don't plan to waste time rereading this book, since there are so many others, and had Emily Bronte written any more novels I'm pretty sure I would have avoided them. Anyway, I enjoyed the video, thank you for doing this so we don't have to XD
Yeah, I wouldn't say I hate the book after a reread, but I just don't get it.
I’ve never read it with my eyes, but I’ve read it with my ears (on disc) and I only remembered “Heathcliff” and “Wuthering Heights”- none of the Plot or anything else for that matter. I loved the way you reviewed this classic. Thank you!
interesting that you point out the narration style as one of the negative aspects, while for me it was one of the best!
i found them to be stand-ins for us readers and the occasional break from the storytelling urges you to want to know more.
ALSO i really enjoyed being throw into the story not understanding the family dynamic and who catherine is, and then solving it with the Mr. when receiving the story piece by piece..
it was really cool to see your POV, i’m again reminded that we all experience the same things completely differently sometimes
I really loved this video, not just because I also dislike Wuthering Heights! I really appreciate your literary analysis and sense of humor. Also, I watched this video while crocheting, and I couldn't help thinking--we are the bluestockings the Mrs. Grundys were worried about!
You are hilarious! I've never laughed out loud at a book review before. Wuthering Heights is one my favorites, but I share many of your thoughts. I'll subscribe and hope to find more videos like this. Thank you!
Thank you! I did a similar reaction to The Hunger Games and Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca, but both of them I enjoyed more and are therefore less rant-y 😂
Your reactions had me snorting with laughter. The first few times I tried to read this novel, I hated it so much that I could not make it to the end. I think it took me four tries to read the whole thing, and once I did, I felt like the book’s meaning hinges one somewhat buried scene. I still detest almost every character, but I have to admit that the novel shows how hatred, grudges, and rage corrode the spirit and destroy lives.
I love Wuthering Heights. I read the first time for class in uni and thought I loved it ironically for how batshit crazy it was. Then I reread it a few years later and realized I loved it unironically for how batshit crazy it is. I think the, uh, unhinged aspects of it are what makes it stand out so much. It isn't often that an author really commits to most their characters being irredeemable assholes, especially in Victorian times.
The Wuthering Heights strips on Hark, A Vagrant sum up the book perfect and are worth a look!
"Batshit crazy" is exactly it😂 I'm rereading it as a 39-y.o. for the third time and just facepalming every 10 minutes because this absurd drama is through the roof, a total freak circus. 🙈
In the first few minutes of this video and I'm already worried haha. I didn't think you would like it in the end xD I know many people hate it though so I'm used to it haha. Great video though :)
I really really enjoyed this video. I struggle with Wuthering Heights too. Fab video 😊
I just read it last month and loved it, but I listed to the audiobook read by Juliet Stevenson who is amazing while I read along in the text, which made for a pretty great reading experience. That said, I can totally understand why this book is a love it or hate it kind of book.
It took me a long time and several re-readings to like "Wuthering Heights" - my first read was at a much younger age than yours, and probably has given me a little advantage, especially because I've done a lot of reading and contemplating about the Brontes themselves while re-reading most of their novels (Anne is "my" Bronte, by the way).
Emily is an intriguing and challenging personality, who was apparently not averse to challenging and testing the people around her; not a person to speak out often, when she did, it could be in a biting or ironic way. Her essays, written in Brussels, reveal a very intelligent, analytical and cynical tone, which she sometimes seemed to use in retaliation to an instruction from Professor Heger. On the other hand, she could be very, quietly, sympathetic and understanding, especially toward animals. Her closeness with sister Anne indicates the layers under her prickly surface that she seemed anxious to keep hidden. All of this feeds into the unwelcoming challenge that is "Wuthering Heights": Emily is again presenting a piece of work that is at variance with a reader's expectations. If you want to, you can really start engaging in a tangled and interesting dialogue with Emily.
The structure is carefully-planned, and the unreliable narration is, of course, deliberate. We are never allowed to meet Heathcliff or Cathy on their own ground. We are never allowed hear or see them without the veil of Nelly, whose feelings toward them are ambivalent, and who even confesses that she didn't like Cathy I; and Lockwood, who is ill-equipped to understand anything that is going on. The reader is challenged by our ironical author to dig through these layers and to form our own opinions. If we can; if we care to. To a certain degree, Lockwood is us, the stranger, the outsider to this tangled mess, coming to it from another world, where things are "normal"; at a certain point, though, the reader may want to separate his/her perspective from this silly outsider and form a perspective different from him. Nelly is an active participant in many of the incidents she narrates and has her own conscience to deal with. In the case of this unreliable narrator, we are invited by Emily to not only acknowledge that the narration is unreliable, but to work through it to find our own interpretation of what happened.
"Wuthering Heights" is a book that invites and demands active participation from us: in remembering all the names; all the intricate cruelties that feed off each other; the reasons for them; the pulling in of others, like a whirlpool that drags in victims; and perhaps most challenging, where, if at all, do we the readers fit? This is a novel unlike most any other one in its approach to us, and it's completely understandable why many did not and do not like it. But I feel it's worth the read-through, more than once, because it will give you unexpected rewards insights.
I just finished reading it today so this was awesome to hear what you thought of it on a second read! I hated it too. The characters are all terrible and miserable, and the child abuse was really hard to read about. I'm so glad I've read it because I can join in on these discussions, but I am so glad I'm done with it!
Yeah, I am like you I don't like it either. I need to read novels that are uplifting to the spirit.
Your feelings upon rereading WH mirror mine almost exactly, but you explained them much more clearly.
Glad it's not just me!
Loved this format of video!
And I feel the same way about this book 😬
Glad it's not just me :D
Best. Title. Ever.
Now that I've written that, I will watch the video :)
Ok, now that I have watched your video, I can tell you that the only way I will re-read this is by re-watching this video for the chapter wrap ups. I consider myself of average intelligence but this book just did not stick in my brain. I will try, though. And maybe with an audio book.....hmmmm
Thank you for the inspiration!
I was really very confused with the characters throughout the book, especially when so many of them have the same name!
I wonder if that was intentional, a lack of imagination, or just pure laziness? We didn’t read this in my English course so I honestly didn’t delve very deep into the story itself.
I can tell you, it may have been more entertaining than Catcher in the Rye 🙄
glad you found more to admire this time around! I'm still one of those weird people who really liked it. Maybe that's partly because I read it at a perfect time and place, but I also think it's just one of those strange times where even if I didn't like any of the characters, I cared about what happened to them. Especially the younger generation.
If I did this kind of thing, it'd mean giving Jane Eyre another try...which I hated so much the first time that I DNFed it 😬 oh no, but now I'm curious if I'd like it better a second time!
I really liked the book as well 💕
Just finished reading WH last night, and I pretty much agree with your assessment. I put the book down then started on Middlemarch. On this I have higher expectations.
Thank you 📖 I must say, even though you expressed a dislike for ‘Wuthering Heights’, I appreciated your honesty. I liked the format of this video, giving an account of each chapter, straight after you finished it. Interestingly, I bought online, ‘Wuthering Heights’, a second hand edition. A recommendation. I did pay a bit for it because it was published in the 1950s and I liked the edition. When it arrives, I will read it with an open mind. I did like Emily’s sister, Charlotte’s book, ‘Jane Eyre’, despite some people not liking it. I suppose only time will tell if I’ll like or dislike it 📚
Personally, I've lost track of how many times I've read and reread this novel, but I also understand why so many don't like it 😅 have you read any of Emily's poetry? Thoughts?
I have not read any of her poems :)
I also hated WH when I read it several years ago and decided to give it another go for Victober. Alas, my reading experience wasn't any better than it was the first time around. I liked the setting and found the general atmosphere of misanthropy quite intriguing, BUT the characters... oh dear... I can deal with evil characters but not stupid ones, and every single person in this book was so incredibly dumb. If there was any choice to be made, you could be sure that they'd choose the most idiotic option, which made it really hard for me to sympathise with any of them. In the end, I just didn't care anymore whether any of them ended up happy or dead... 🤣
You're right, that's something that bothered me too. Everyone just makes really bad decisions.
I live very close a cow shed that was once Wuthering hights, 90 miles away stomach Liverpool!
Once I worked out which way the high Sunderland or the castle to the locals, the story literally came to life…
They tried to make Shibden hall, which indecently has some stone carvings from W.H.
Thrus cross house is at the bottom of Belmont st, in a mill.. hidden by units and trees!
Heathcliff apparently existed, as some older locals have told me.
I was also told she visited a nunnery that use to be at the top of Belmont st. She would stop and have coffee with the nuns..
I think I’ve found the foot print of the house I can’t remember. But it could be one of many.. the walls along Hag lane give some clues too..
I’ve found quite a few standing stones around the area..
I also believe they were not just markers, I believe they were guides to a very special place, which I found.
Emily had a lot of her work destroyed. She was giving clues out.. she mentions the four kingdoms..
Fairy’s, Giants, chrisingdom ( man ) I think the forth was under water.
Which made me realise Halifax was once under water..
The land is clay.. the soil is bad.
Her clues are in her writing, they still don’t want the truth out! Even now..
Now, listen to the book of Enoch..
It’s even heavier than W.H..
Set in the same valley.
Sorry if this blows your mind, it did mine 🤯
I’m so sorry for my bad spelling and grammar.
I absolutely abhor this book!🤮 In fact, it's on my five most hated list. Good on you for giving it another go, but I cannot imagine trying to force myself to reread this intentionally depressing stack of paper! No offense to anyone that likes it, of course, but if I needed to start a fire and a copy were nearby I doubt I'd hesitate to toss this one on the grate. I do tend to feel rather passionately about books I dislike, however, so take that with a grain of salt. I also hate "A Streetcar Named Desire," "the Great Gatsby," and "the Catcher in the Rye," which apparently upsets quite a lot of people.😅 I think I just lack the ability to deal with characters I dislike, and I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. I never claimed to be a Jane Bennett.🤷♀️😂
I hate it too, I'm stubbornly trying to push through it though. Have you read Howard's End? That might be a new addition to your Most Hated list lol, especially if you watch the excellent movie from 1992. ALL of the characters in the movie were kinder and more sympathetic, and when you read the book it's a little shocking to see how unlikable they all are! That's another supposed "classic" as well.
I agree with your list of hated books, and would add 'War and Peace". (grabs tin hat and ducks)
An impossibly confusing novel with an incredibly unsatisfying plot and despicable characters. Not one I'd read again
I am precious about WH , love it passionately but your review's great :) We can't all love the same things. This is a great vid, thank you xx
Thank you! I agree, it's good that tastes vary
I read Wuthering Heights for the first time for Victober and I didn't like it. At all. That said, I have thought about it often during these 3 weeks, since I finished it. Not sure what that says about _me_ (haha) and maybe at some point, I'll give it another try. love everything about this video, so thank you for doing it.
I basically had the same thoughts while reading this a couple of years ago, the names were sooo confusing!! Everything was depressing. The end.
I read this book in September of this year. I have to say I really agree with you on this one. I really detest Wuthering Heights. A mayor reading slump came over me after reading this book and it still hasn’t fully gone away
I did enjoy this journey! (more than Wuthering Heights). I think it's probably a good book if used in a drinking game. Maybe.
Drink when someone dies/gets punched/gets bitten by a dog? :D
@@SpinstersLibrary I'll be on the floor a few chapters in...
Emily Bronte gave us a masterpiece !!!! People dont appreciate it, such a shame
I feel better about being confused by this book when I was in high school lol. I remember basically nothing from the hundred or so pages I read, but your hate for this hits my sweet spot. I feel vindicated lol
I read it last year. At the beginning, I liked it (I enjoy dispassionate narrators who are somewhat removed from the major events) but I got bogged down in keeping track of how everyone was related. It reminded me of V.C. Andrews. I didn't really care about any of the characters.
Yes, the characters' names and relations are unnecessarily complicated.
This was one of the first books i read in english when i was a teenager. I found it so confusing, and the characters so spoiled that i hated it. I have been thinking of giving it a second chance though, now that i am more used to reading in english
I read this book twice in the space of 4 months for school (once by myself and once, with my class). The first time, I hated it and was so confused about the many characters that I made a family tree so that I could organise the characters in my head. The second time was terrible, especially because I knew everything that was coming so there was no surprises at all. Overall, I gave it a 3 stars as it was better than the other book I was reading for school, or at least I found it better.
A couple months ago I read Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier and this was on a list of books to read if you liked that one. Unfortunately, I did not like Wuthering Heights. I only liked 2 characters Hareton and Edgar. I kept waiting for something slighty happy or semi decent to happen and it just never did. The ending(Hareton/Catherine) was ok but didn't fit well with the tone of nor make up for the rest of the story. Above all else Heathcliffe did not deserve to be with Catherine even as a ghost.
I read this earlier this year and wasn't blown away, I mean it was good and worth the read, but incredibly miserable.
Yeah, it is very gloomy and miserable.
Thank you for this video. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I agree with you, it's a frustrating story. The characters are all hateful except for Nelly (most of the time). The romantic love sickness and love death is quite amusing to a modern POV and the forced circumstances are frustrating but I like the story structure and the sort of gothic prose.
This is one of my all time faves!!!
I have read this three times and I feel exactly as you do.
Bless you for rereading it. I'd thought I would this month but so far haven'f made it past the first pages. I disliked it, though I read it so long ago. I have to admit your chapter play by play seemed to rekindle my dislike. What to do? Reader problems.
Ah well, there are plenty of other classics to enjoy :)
I did this with “As I Lay Dying” and it became one of my favorite books
I read it and I can't even remember the plot except that I thought Heathcliff was a jerk. I also think there was some sort of scene in the rain. Really hard, driving rain.
I'm glad I'm not the only person who hates Wuthering Heights!
I'd say it's more like a book worth reading than a book to love
Lockwood helps you to grasp the atmosphere of the story, just like the railway compartment in Idiot, this is the moment when you get hooked and dragged on to the end
This is very well done and funny!
I find the misery atmosphere absorbing and creepy, but the story...oh dear. And people say, “Oh, hopeful ending, really,”
Oh yes? First cousins with at best shaky psychological genes getting married seems hopeful?
No. Just no.
Also, if there's one thing this Horrible book is correct in it is that the effects of abusing Children do Not end when the Children grow into adulthood.
ALL the abused in this novel grow into abusers, as soon as they acquire the power and potential victims.
So, Hareton, abused by Father, Foster Father, Cousin, other Cousin, and Hypocrite Christian Joseph, is only NOW acquiring power - do we REALLY think that the future is Hopeful?!!!
I remember an English lit professor once summed up my affinity for this classic pretty well: "If you love Wuthering Heights and find it to be a beautiful love story, you're probably a nightmare to be in love with and all your romantic relationships turn into power struggles."
I thought similarly to you that Wuthering heights was like watching a train wreck happening... It's terrible but you can't keep your eyes off it!
I read it once back in 2009. I don't see myself giving it a second chance. I would much prefer to read something uplifting?!
This is a magnificant story, by a woman no less, and if it is not appriciated it is a clear line on who to avoid. Simple as that 😎
There are a few short very good passages in Wuthering Heights, the ending for instance, but generally it is psychopathic.
4 chapters into it and I GAVE UP 🤦♂️
Life's too short to read "mind-fucking" books
That's true 😂
This book is my favorite 🙃
I read it years ago, also disliked it & don't understand why it is such a favourite. I also found the characters unlikable/uninteresting. I wouldn't take the time to re-read it as I will never have time to read all of the books I really want to. Kudos to you, though, for giving it another chance & changing your opinion.
It was an interesting experiment!
I watched the movie and I hated it. I did not understand why my mom liked it. It totally turned me off the book.
I've never felt that it's necessary for all the characters to be nice people you'd wanna hang out with in order to enjoy a book. Some of the best characters I've read are terrible people (look at Shakespeare), and usually when the author makes the choice to focus on egotistical, vengeance-addled schemers, they're doing it with an intent. With Wuthering Heights I think the brief period of relative innocence with Cathy/Heathcliffe when they were kids helps to illustrate how their isolated environment and the social/racial/class hierarchies of their time shaped them into who they became, turning kids who could have become something into fickle, self-obsessed creeps. I also like the framing device with Lockwood--being introduced to the characters when they're at their lowest point and half of them are already dead sparks a lot of mysteries, like the diary and ghost at the window. It's not easy reading but the disjointed structure, social critique and twisted characters are a big part of the reason why I think the book has endeared.
Hahahahaha I loved this video, this is my favourite book oops hahahahahha
I read books like crazy but the big words and format of English in this book is throwing me off so bad
I see Catherine's and Heathcliff's relationship as obsession and lust, not love.
I agree with you completely, I dislike the characters a lot, but that's also how I know her writing is amazing - it's so detailed that it makes me loathe the characters in it
as mentioned in a comment under a different video, I like Wuthering Heights for all the reasons you don't. Love the narrating style, feels like someone is telling you a (weird) bedtime story. Love the unlikeable characters, because basically all of them die and don't get a happy ending. Love the gothic elements, you know, grave digging, because you are slowly getting mad. Hate the names though, I was so confused while reading it that I really much appreciated the family tree in my edition.
I hated Wuthering Heights too. I just got so frustrated with the characters and their bad decisions.
Greatest novel ever written. I have read it more times than I could count and will read it again whenever I want to step into that other world.
I love this novel soooo much....I don't know why... May be all the characters are ghosts, they might have possessed me.... and of course a million others....
Watch the 2009 movie
Had a youth leader at my church that would. Not. Shut. Up. About how "romantic" this book was. Then I watched the movie in British History class and I can see how people think it's good but holy hell, I hate literally everything about it with every fiber of my being.
The fatal destruction that is caused by abandonment to wild selfish passionate desire without any adherence to moral conscience or conduct. Pure escapism. How Emily conjured up these spirits is a wonder, but there's plenty more where they come from.
Unreliable narrators can be a lot of fun. T. R. Pearson's Neeley trilogy is hilarious, and most of the stories are told secondhand, especially in the first and last books.
(CAUTION: Spoilers here)
I just finished my finished my first read of WH. _Wuthering Heights_ has been dramatized many times; the problem is that there are _no sympathetic characters._ Some people think Heathcliff is a romantic rogue like Lord Byron or something (Laurence Olivier). I roll my eyes and scoff at that; Heathcliff is a perfect monster. Heathcliff has more in common with Jack the Ripper than Lord Byron. Catherine number one is a perfect bitch. Catherine number two starts out little better in her behavior towards her cousin. The best character is Nelly, but after all she is telling the tale.
Little is known about Emily Bronte's short life. And what is known is subject to distortion. I think we can surmise more about her life from the reading of _Wuthering Heights_ than from any first hand account. It is evident she harbored a dissatisfied ill-will towards the circumstances of her life to write such a book. I think of Todd Rundgren's song _Black Maria._ To write about Heathcliff in such a vivid and realistic manner she must have felt his pain and bitterness as Heathcliff would have felt it. As I have felt it myself. Bitterness unto death. There is no saving a person once he falls into that black hole of bitterness.
I enjoyed the novel. It has the most perfectly nasty insults and comebacks of any book I've ever read, and I include Mickey Spillane's books and "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" in that comparison, so that is saying something.
I accept that not everyone likes this book, but I noticed that you read the book very superficially. You just read to see how the plot goes on but never have you understood it.
Why do you dislike "every single one of the characters"? Can't you see that Heathcliff is cruel because he is deeply hurt? He has been overturned (cast away) his whole life, the only person who was kind to him was Cathy until she had to spend some time with the Lintons and even then her feelings towards him remained the same but it is important to acknowledge the fact that times were different, people were striving for wealth and good name in society and that's why she could not marry him because of his heritage and because Hindley has put him so low that he is known as the Earnshaws' gypsy.
There is so much more I can write but I don't want my comment to be too long.
And yet, as I said, I accept that not everyone likes it and that's ok.
Eh, it's not up to you to decide whether I've understood the book or not 🤷♂️ You might want to consider that the immediate reaction to these chapters were not the only thoughts I had about the book.
@@SpinstersLibrary great response 😂😂
Im half of the book and it’s been the worst 3 days hoping for something good but it keeps getting worse :/ 🤢 I hate Nelly dean so much, I expect a lot, for reference I enjoy Virginia Woolf, Wilde, Thomas hardy and Cortázar. The style and story is absurd, I though I was reading Horacio Quiroga…. So much nonsense
I also hate this book
The only part I liked was the ghost parts. All the characters were terrible and the ones that weren’t so bad were idiots. 🤭
Wuthering heights have me depression
It is a nice novel but I am stand against the victimization of Isabella at the hand of Heathcliff you may disagree but I will stand on to the end. Initially I was really feel for Heathcliff but later on the passing comments over Heathcliff of various characters changed my mind , but I also know that brutality of Heathcliff was the caused of being wronged. But what is the message for us just suppose if hourse kick ,so should I kick him . Joseph Andrews character is brilliant as compare to Heathcliff . With all these offences I still love Heathcliff😁😁😂😂😂
Are you me?
A great negative review of a great unorthodox novel. Wuthering Heights 👍Spinster's Library 👍
Thank you. I dispised this book. How anyone could call this book romantic is beyond me. The love affair between Katherine and Heathcliff had little love if any. Manipulation, violence, entitlement are the hallmarks of the relationships in this book. Unlikable characters through and through.
#مجلس_الأمن
#أوقفوا_عملية_رفح
#أوقفوا_مذبحة_رفح
#أوقفوا_العملية_العسكرية
#Stop_genocide
#stop_bombing_gaza
#stop_military_mission_in_Gaza
#stop_killing
Edited: This piece is about TRAGEDY. Pivoting thru a gothic scene.
Not tragedy of a romance, but of tragedy resulting to new romances.
Cycles of indirect revenges which resulted to relationships that recreated the past thru alter-egos.
Hindley being jealous, revenged to Heathcliff.
Heathcliff being heartbroken revenged to Edgar's sister.
Heathcliff taking advantage stripped off Hindley who is on a personal vendetta, resulting to abandonment of Hareton. (another orphan)
The two Catherine are the soft spot of the story.
Catherine is the hope of Heathcliff.
Cathy is the hope of Hareton.
... do you see the similarities (Heathcliff & Hareton growing up as servants/orphans)
ALTER EGOS:
There are obvious recurrence of events from the 2nd gen to the 3rd (1st gen are the Earnshaws & Lintons).
And Cathy evidently took succession of events in the 3rd gen. (as the love interest of the story)
Catherine choosing Edgar for social rank instead of her love Heathcliff.
Cathy in love with Linton who is already on a social rank, yet still ended up with Hareton.
Heathcliff despite of being divisive is slowly in cognizance of the repetition of the past, which I conclude started his madness.
He witnessed Cathy's affection to Linton. Like Catherine to Edgar.
And later on witnessing Cathy as the comfort/solace of Hareton. Like Catherine to Heathcliff.
He avoided Cathy & Hareton because he can see his past, and maybe deep inside know that eventually they will end up together.
IRONY:
He died thinking he is with Catherine.
Their alter ego Cathy & Hareton lived and plans to be together in marriage.
**************************
1st Entry:
I believe that Bronte's purpose of writing WH is to explore human emotion, to bring scandal and despair, that passion will often result to disappointment.
The story is about the cycle of abuse. Hindley did not feel loved. Hindley abused to Heathcliff to Isabella, but Heathcliff can never make Edgar and Hindley suffer directly. He wants revenge but indirect.
It is dragging, really and frustrating as if no hope is left for anyone who is controlled by Heathcliff.
Heathcliff, despite accomplishing his devises, never experienced gratification. After Linton's death, he knew that there's no sense for all of it (Linton as his only pawn).
Heathcliff may have had the control of all the people around him (even Nelly) never came to have control over his wishes of being with Catherine.
All that's left are the legacy of 2 of his most hated persons, Hareton the son of the abusive Hindley, and Cathy child of his rival Edgar.
Regardless of if people think this is a love story, or it's misunderstood, the point is this: if you don't care what happens to the characters, there's literally no point in continuing the book. And keeping your readers invested in what happens is the ENTIRE POINT of writing a book to begin with. So that's where this book fell short for me. After I finish it, I'm going to donate it and never think of it again, I disliked it that much.