7 of 1001 Books: Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights

This is my second time reading Wuthering Heights and I was really hoping my perceptions would be different as I've gotten older and do enjoy a lot more books that weren't as enjoyable to be at a younger age. Emily Bronte's only work probably did well with the help of her very popular sister, Charlotte Bronte who helped get the novel published after Emily's death. The story is very dramatic and in a lot of ways reminds me of a soap opera. I was hoping that perspective still didn't stay with me.

After Heathcliffe is adopted into the Earnshaw family he falls for Catherine, but their romance is complicated even as children. Believing that she doesn't love him, and under the constant bullying of Hindley, he leaves the estate. Catherine and him age, and when Heathcliffe returns he is more refined, and definitely not the orphan that they once adopted. Catherine has married another man, Edgar, in the hopes of one day helping Heathcliff, but he has done well on his own. Now Heathcliff is back and wants revenge on the family that he believes made him miserable including the children that Catherine had and his own.


As said the events that happen are very dramatic and the dialogue is as well. There is a lot of exclamation points used in the novel, and while I haven't read enough from this time, to be honest...it just reads more dramatic than it probably should. I'm not saying it's the wrong way, but even when I was in school they discourage the used of exclamation points when writing. On top of that you don't really have likable characters. The only one who seems to try to redeem herself is Catherine, but she is so light and takes things so not seriously that is how she hurts people in the first place, so when she tries to make up for her wrong it reads the same way.

I would assume there is supposed to be some sort of attraction about Heathcliff as well, and I never see it. Even the servant, who is relating the story back to the narrator, notes that he came into their household with something off putting about him yet Catherine finds the complete opposite and wants to rescue him from poverty. She doesn't ever expect they will be suitable for one another though, so ends up with Edgar. I never dislike Edgar, but also feel he sort of gets lost in the background of all the drama that takes place between Catherine and Heathcliff.

Then there is the daughter, of Catherine, of the same name, and Heathcliff's son, Linton. Linto is such a dislikable character. While it isn't his fault how he has grown up, which sadly has been under bad health and being brainwashed by his father, he also seems to never have a back bone, and by the end he just seems like a spoiled pig. The one that you feel most bad for is Hareton. To be honest, what hinders his character most is that I can't read what he is saying most the time. I understand he is not able to read or speak well because of his lack of education, but his sayings are a mess to get through. His part of the story though is where a lot of the hope and meaning lie though.

Wuthering Heights sounds like something I would love on the surface, and it does have these twist and turns that keep it moving, but you want to like someone the whole way through, and instead everyone just seems to like a lot of drama, including Heathcliff, and seem to be in a constant state of desperation. It might have helped had Emily Bronte been able to explain some of her intents with the novel, because it never honestly feels like a romance, and if so it's a very dramatic and dark one. I will give her credit though that she has drawn very strong reactions on both sides to the book.

Rating 5 of 10.