Rating: 
Summary: Monstrously evil book
Review: WARNING: reading this review will spoil some of the plot of WH.I grinned when Sis, back in high school, told me I reminded her of Heathcliff. I remembered from the (old, old) movie that he was some evil fellow. Then I read the book. And stopped grinning. I'm amazed this book would ever be assigned to high school 'kids.' It's humorless and ultra-realistic. Every page reeks of evil and has selfishly evil (meaning normal) characters. Heathcliff was a tortured being but hardly innocent. Cathy was a solipsistic, driven fool. Even the Cliff Notes booklet for WH is surprisingly short (I read The Notes after burning through the book in a week) as if Cliff's was horrified to study this book! Cliff's good observation about Heathcliff is that his sole emotion is actually pity/affection for Hareton and that his 'love' for Cathy is, in fact, an animal possessive jealous rage. I changed after reading this book. For the better, I don't know. There is a point in the book where Heathcliff's every action evokes disgust and hatred, and then...as a man...I began to feel what he felt. For whatver his faults, I began to connect fully with his insane rage, and that his ideal of 'love' for Catherine--however warped--had been stolen from him forever. I understood his ruthlessness and love for no person or thing after Catherine's death. By the way, not to parrot the critics, but it is true that the marriage of Cathy and Hareton is NOT some kind of full circle, happier ending. It's more like holding hands in Hell. I left this book sadder than when I started it. After reading it, I doubt anyone anywhere is getting 'wiser.'
Rating:
Summary: A novel unsurpassed in it's force of being.
Review: Emily Jane Bronte wrote Wuthering Heights not to show what love IS. But what love can DO to those who are encompassed by desire. This novel is simply brilliant and by far the greatest novel of the Brontes and (in my opinion) the greatest novel ever written. I say this because Emily laid aside all the conventional types of victorian writing and imbued her novel with persons and events that are not ordinary, but utterly fascinating. Almost completely unrealistic at times, yet perfectly sound in their meanings. Some say to me that Wuthering Heights is impossible to enjoy. While others say they dislike the characters so much that they had to stop reading. I also hear that they cannot figure out all the plot twist and turns. But I say, is this not what REAL-LIFE is? There is no certainty of happiness in the lives of Catherine and Heathcliff. Certainly there is no certainty of happiness for ANYONE in the novel. (Which goes the same for all of us.) As wretched as this seems, Emily (in my opinion) did not write a full blown epic of true romance, despite what many say they love about this novel. She took humans and turned them into what is surprizingly MORE realistic. Emily filled them with faults and turned Cathy and Heathcliff into selfish and undeserving people who destroy each other, not out of love, but out of greed and their own unharnessable animal-like behaviour of what love was TO THEM. What they do and say isn't romantic, but a sign (or even a warning from Emily) of what self indulgence and obsession can do to people pushed beyond their limits of common sense. Cathy and Heathcliff brought themselves to believe that their love was REAL, when in fact their grasp of love was (as Charlotte said, PERVERTED.) Unrelenting in it's destructivness, thus leading to the various calamities their actions bestowed upon the (somewhat) innocent people surrounding them. As brilliant as this novel is, the greatness lies in the story telling of the many different characters we meet. The many different view points from Nellie to Edgar to Isabella and Hindley, spread across the pages and show you how they interact and react with one another as they expierence the situations which seem so very wild and incredible yet ring so very true. This (to me) is not exactly a novel about unbending love. But more of a study of the weaknesses that is stored in everyman. Emily gave us a written guide to show that following your instincts and passions is not always the best path to take. And Emily accomplished this with the most brilliant and unsurpassed written novel in history. It's pages burn with life and it's characters speak in tongues which, even now, I cannot always fully understand. Wuthering Heights can be looked upon as a fascinating study of a particular human race (at what could be any time frame) covering the ground of but a few persons, admist the many open miles... Thank you for your eyes...
Rating:
Summary: A PERFECT DESCRIPTION OF 19TH CENTURY LIFE
Review: Emily Bronte was well ahead of her time in writing this incredible love story. The plot was very complex, yet the intricacies of revolving a story within a story within another story never created an error. The author wrote on some very specific issues of the day and one would need to formally investigate the book in order to find any mistakes. This is a story by Mr. Lockwood who really comes in at the end of the story. He meets his new landlord Heathcliff and is able to discern some very strange happenings at Wuthering Heights. His servant, Nellie Dean, narrates most of the story as she lived it. She and Joseph are the only people to live through the three generations and the only one able to recount first hand knowledge. This is a love story, ghost story, and story of oppression all in one. Emily Bronte was able to describe the ill-effects of English property law in the 19th Century. Primogeniture--the law of inheritance, where only the eldest male child could inherit family estates without a contrary will, often could result in the younger siblings being turned into mere servants. This is how Hindley came to own Wuthering Heights and why he was able to ruin Heathcliff. There is much effort from various forces to keep Heathcliff and Catherine seperate. There is also much symbolism regarding various images such as locks that represent keeping people prisoner, or of dogs that demonstrate the character of their owners. Much forshadowing is accomplished with great sophistication. This was written from a "Realist" perspective and yet there are elements of "Post Modernism" included as in the case of ghosts and supernatural happenigs. One might question whether or not Emily Bronte Believed in the Supernatural and considered it as real and natural, which would then relate it back to Realism. There are many twists and turns and the symmetry is flawless. We have two seperate parents who are neighbors. Each have an elder boy and a younger girl. Heathcliff is a foundling who is regarded as a "gypsy" (possibly a slave child or illegitimate child of Mr. Earnshaw), The son of the Lintons (Edgar),marries the daughter of the Earnshaws (Catherine), and they have a girl named Catherine. Hindley, the son of the Earnshaws marries outside of the family and produces a son, Hareton. This helps to keep the incest down a bit. Heathcliff who was raised in the Earnshaw home marries the daughter of the Lintons (Isabella) and they have a child Linton Heathcliff. This child ends up marrying the younger Catherine and when Linton dies, Catherine marries Hareton. So in effect she has married two first cousins. The characters grow up in a very oppressive atmosphere. The servants are actually treated better than the children who are often whipped or starved. This is "Gothic" like in the dark, dreariness that seems to envelope the families and the frequent use of punishment. Even the environment is unfriendly often times. The moors are dangerous and the weather is often rainy or cold and snowy. It is a sad story with the only hope coming in the end when Hareton and Catherine marry and reclaim rightful ownership of Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange, which had been taken from them by Heathcliff.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing!
Review: I am another one of the huge group of students who had to read this book for a Literature class, but unlike many, I loved it! First I am going to say that I agree entirely with the review "Not likeable, but likeable." I love the way the whole plot was set slightly hidden behind the characters' personalities and emotions. It makes you really think about what is going on, so even though it is a long novel, I rarely ever lost interest entirely. My only suggestion is to make sure you have time to read the whole thing inside of a few weeks. You really have to remember everything that happens.
Rating: 
Summary: Sad and Depressing
Review: I read this book because I thought it would further my knowledge in vocabulary and because my mother absolutely loved this book. As I read through it, it was hard to understand who was speaking and what was going on. Towards the end of the book I caught on but I still thought the book to be depressing and not at all uplifting. I think you should read it because it is a classic, but if you're looking for a light, romantic book, you've picked the wrong book.
Rating:
Summary: Wuthering Heights
Review: This is one of the first novels I have read that came from the 1800's... It is truly a great novel... and I even liked the 1930's film... and even liked the song... funny! It's really a piece of art.. It kind of reminds me of a VC Andrews about rage & revenge.. Probably the "Flowers In The Attic" series... It's truly a great novel, and a heartbreaking one of that... and I had some problem understanding some of the words that I didn't understand... I had to look them up in a dictionary...
Rating:
Summary: Truly a masterpiece to be read time and again
Review: This book must be considered one of the greatest works of fiction ever written. Each character is so unique that I felt drawn into the story. Although one cannot identify easily with these characters, their desires and pain are shown clearly throughout the book and this is part of the reason it is such compelling reading. So compelling, in fact, that I almost couldn't put it down until the heartbreaking, yet very fitting, end.
Rating:
Summary: A MASTERPIECE OF PASSION AND FORCE
Review: Love sometimes encompasses the dark component of obesession and this obsession is beautifully and hauntingly explored in Wuthering Heights, perhaps the most intensely original novel to emerge from 19th century England. This is the story of the passionate love between the wild Heathcliff and the reckless Catherine Earnshaw, both inhabitants of the Yorkshire moors. So passionate, in fact, are Catherine and Heathcliff that their love is doomed to tragedy rather than to fulfillment. When that does, indeed happen, Heathcliff, one of the most original and fascinating characters I have ever encountered, spirals ever downward into a morass of self-destruction and obsession. The symbolism in this novel is rich and complex and not so easily recognizable as one might first suppose. The presentation of the duality of human and non-human existence are deftly explored. Catherine and Heathcliff are violent figures striving in vain to identify themselves as ordinary human beings while disrupting all around them with the voraciousness of their appetites. Both ultimately disintegrate from within due to the passion out of which they are made. These two wildly intense characters stand out all the more sharply when contrasted with the simple ordinariness of Nelly Dean and Lockwood. The novel's central question, of course, concerns the meaning of Heathhcliff, who is both diabolical and yet, at the same time, irresistible. The power of the novel, does not, however, reside solely in the interpretaion of its theme. The setting, the relentless elements of the fire, wind and water of the moors only serves to deeepen and reinforce the intensity of the story. The language, although archaic, is poetic, reflecting Bronte's brooding personal vision. Extraordinary effects have been achieved with a remarkable power of formal organization and a brilliant handling of the time scheme. While encompassing the most domestic of scenes, this novel still achieves the depth of an ancient tragedy. Unforgettably haunting and beautiful in every way.
Rating:
Summary: Disturbing, Strange and Wonderful!
Review: I have to admit in high school when I was forced to read it I waddled through it and basically endured it. Years later now I've re-read it and I couldn't put it down. I'm glad that I picked it up again. It was a completley spellbinding novel. I don't think anyone in the story was likeable except young Catherine Linton, but it was definitely a fascinating story and worth reading.
Rating:
Summary: A very interesting and admirable book.
Review: Really liked this book. It has the strangest characters but in someway, I liked them. I reccomend you read this book. In fact, You've got to read it!
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