Title and Author of book: Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
Fiction or non-fiction: Fiction
Genre: Classics
Where did I get the book: My bookshelf
Challenges that this fulfilled: Random Reading Challenge
My Thoughts:
Will you still love me if I tell you how I really felt about this book? I hope so. Please don't bear me any ill thoughts after I express myself. Instead leave a comment and try to convince me that this book really should be a classic must read, that this book really is worth the time I invested in reading it!!!
Here goes:
I detested Heathcliff. There was nothing romantic in him. Nothing. I thought he was heartless and cruel. Cathy to me was insipid. That girl had no backbone whatsoever. If she wanted to marry Heathcliff then she should have. What I hated the most was that both of them married other people only to make their lives miserable. BRATS!!! If I was Linton I would've tossed Heathcliff over the cliffs..(little side joke) and be done with his intrusions into his home and life. Maybe if he had done that then Cathy's tantrums and her willing death upon herself might not have happened. Don't even get me started on trying to figure out what Joseph was saying!!!! Gibberish to me....was it a foreign language that I didn't know about? The only parts that I DID like was that the story was narrated by Ellen. I enjoyed that part of it. I also happened to like that the two offspring Hareton and Little Cathy end up together....they were perfect for each other. But what I enjoyed the most????? the final sentence which brought this excruciating read to an end.
I'm going to look forward to reading these comments! Thought I was the last person to read WH... keep putting it off because I'm afraid my reaction will be the same as yours.
ReplyDelete*giggle* I couldn't AGREE more!!! LOL!!!! Loveeeeeeeeeeee it! :):):):):):):):):):):)
ReplyDeleteTotally, totally agree! I even hated the movie! Why is this book considered such a timeless classic?!!!!
ReplyDeleteI read it in school, don't really remember what I thought and tried to re-read earlier this year.
ReplyDeletehahaha you got way further than I did, I think I abandoned after chapter 3 with a comment on goodreads that equated to something like; I can't believe I read this boring dribble LMAO
Please don't throw rotten eggs at me, I'm obviously just not 'cultured' enough. Maybe I just pretended to read it in year 12. Maybe my brain wasn't developed enuf to recognise drivel for drivel!
I read this several years ago and it didn't do much for me either.
ReplyDeletelol! Yeah, I wasn't a fan of this either :P
ReplyDeleteI agree.
ReplyDeleteThe first time I read this book I was a teenager. I knew Heathcliff was bad, and Cathy a brat. But somehow after reading that book the thing I remembered the most was their all consuming love for each other. If they had only married--perhaps we would have read another story.
The second time I read it was after I read twilight and they kept making references to the story, comparing Edward to Heathcliff and Bella to Cathy.
It was a different read, and I was annoyed at their selfish behavior. If they had truly loved each other they wouldn't have treated each other so badly.
I'm glad that sometimes we don't always rate book the same way. I have this on my self to read and will still give it a go. Sorry that you didn't like it. I've got to say truthfully that the only reason I grabbed it at a garage sale was because of the big impact it had on Bella in Twilight. Is that wrong of me. :)
ReplyDeleteI am so glad I'm not the only person who so thoroughly detested this book. I had to read it for two different college classes, and I didn't even bother finishing it the second time around. :)
ReplyDeleteAlso: I have an award for you! :)
ReplyDeleteI thought the book was ok. So parts of it were interesting other were excruciating. This is not one of my favorites from the Bronte Sisters. Heathcliff is the epitome of evil.
ReplyDeleteNope, not going to talk you out of hating it. I first read it back in high school and haven't been able to bring myself to revisit it since. You just reminded me why. Great review.
ReplyDeleteI am chuckling over your review. :-) I remember liking this book, but Heathcliff doesn't rock my world either. That whole dark, seriously messed up bad boy thing just doesn't do it for me. Alice Hoffman wrote a book (forget the title) loosely based on Wuthering Heights, and I couldn't get into that crazy male character either. Ick!
ReplyDeleteI could never be mad at you sweetie! I appreciate your honesty. If you don't like a book, there's nothing you can do about it. I read this soooo long ago, but I remember thinking, what is the big deal with this book. I'll prob re-read next year.
ReplyDeleteI'm too busy right now and I'm contemplating a trip to the library (gasp)
I always go back and forth on this one-I like it, I don't. I cannot understand the attraction of Heathcliff.
ReplyDeleteI don't understand why Wuthering Heights is a classics as widely read as Jane Austin's books.
ReplyDeleteIt was required for high school English class and a college literature course. Although I got different things out of the novel at the two readings, but I still couldn't bring myself to like the book. Both Heathcliff and Linton are selfish and not likable characters at all. It's almost like, what's the point of even bother?
I read it as a tween hoping to find some great love story. I didn't get it. Thought it might have been since I was too young. Tried it again in college, still not fan. You are not alone :)
ReplyDeleteDon't hold back Staci! I think you ought to tell me how you really feel. I am so amused by your review. My book club had a discussion on Wuthering Heights and we talked about some of the same things!
ReplyDeleteTom and I both had to read it in college and hated it, and we got our degrees in English and American Literature. :<) I tried it again last year and still hated it. I found the language stilted and couldn't get through the first chapter.
ReplyDeleteLol, good for you ;)
ReplyDeleteI have actually never read the book but from what i know, dunno if I would want to. And after your review, I do think I would feel the same way
I love Wuthering Heights. There's a reason why it's a classic - it has some of the most memorable scenes in literature, from Cathy's ghost at Lockwood's window to Heathcliff digging up her grave to the little boy who sees them on the moors at the end. Unforgettable. And some great lines, such as Cathy's description of the angels throwing her out of heaven. WH isn't for everyone, but then neither is Shakespeare. Many people apparently have appreciated it over the years, or it wouldn't be around. Jane Austen is safe by comparison.
ReplyDeleteAs for Joseph, by the way, he's speaking Yorkshire dialect. All you have to do is read it out loud, just as it's written, and you can understand it just fine.
This is not a favorite of mine, either. Just didn't get the romance aspect of it.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree - will not be re-reading this one anytime soon.
ReplyDeleteHey, the only person who likes the book is Anonymous! I read it a long time ago and can't remember hating it though it was not listed as one of the best books I ever read! Good for you, Staci, free speech!
ReplyDeleteHeh. I feel the same way about Romeo and Juliet, to be honest. Seriously kids, just grow spines, stop whining, and get on with it.
ReplyDeleteHowever. Great literature does not always agree with me, I've noticed.
I can appreciate that it's a classic. But it's too frustrating for me to read this one, and bad for the book for me to keep throwing it against the wall.
I haven't read this yet! *gasp*
ReplyDeleteI look forward to reading this but have no idea when though. So many books, so little time!!
I think it's one of those books you have to read at a certain time of your life. I read it when I was a teenager (back in the stone age) and remember liking it. I tried to reread it a year ago or so and it was a no go. Yech! I even started to watch the movie and lasted about 4 minutes.
ReplyDeleteI've read Wuthering Heights on a number of occasions and enjoy it every time. The images within its pages are breath-taking--particularly the gloomy moors.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I acknowledge this is not a book for everyone and the characters are selfish, but that is the point.
By the end of the novel you are suppose to see hope in the relationship of the younger children's love for one another...a sort of way it should have been with Cathy and Heathcliff. It's about life choices that are made and how bad things can end up if you make all of the wrong choices.
Wuthering heights has a great many levels to it.
lol-I've tried reading Wuthering Heights a few times but usually don't get past the first few chapters.
ReplyDelete