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Wuthering Heights

Wuthering Heights

List Price: $22.00
Your Price: $15.40
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Love Bites
Review: I don't like romance novels, or movies or television shows. Such is the curse of the lion share of my sex, despite our gradual feminization in the modern era.

I'm glad I overcame my aversion to read this excellent portrayal of eros defiled. Heathcliff is the focus, fulcrum and prime mover in this story. He is dragged of the streets and taken in by a wealthy gentleman from the provinces. This man showers great affection on the young street urchin and demands equal treatment from his two natural born children.

The eldest, a son, resents this upstart, so when the father dies, he relegates poor Heathcliff to the status of neglected servant. Catherine, the younger, has become a close friend of Heathcliff and follows him into the relatively untethered but savage life of the servants' children. Growing up unsupervised they develop the manners of the low born, and but develop a strong bond of love that transcends the facile distinctions of filial versus romantic.

Alas, when Catherine comes of age, the duties of her birth beckon and she is taken from Heathcliff and marries someone of higher station.

It is this love, never fulfilled, that sours in Heathcliff makes him a despicable tyrant.

This is the dark side of romance, and Romance as viewed from the man's vantage point.

Worth reading.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: unrealistic, even for the 18th century
Review: unrealistic, characters multi-dimensionality hinder bronte's abitlity to make a point

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Gothic tragedy
Review: Fresh off of reading "Jane Eyre", I was interested in reading "Wuthering Heights" because I had heard it was this great romantic story. Could it surpass "Jane Eyre", I thought? Hmmm... I went in search to find out. Well, after reading "Wuthering Heights", I have this to say: If you think that "Wuthering Heights" is about lovey-dovey romance, think again. If you are expecting it to be in the likes of "Jane Eyre", think again. If you think Heathcliff will be like Mr. Rochester, think again. "Jane Eyre" is a novel filled with a fitful, satisfying romance. It is a beautifully written novel, and Mr. Rochester will always be my favorite hero, and Jane, my favorite heroine. "Wuthering Heights" is, on the other hand, a complete 180 from "Jane Eyre". "Wuthering Heights" is a disturbing novel filled with disturbing characters. It is a gothic tragedy which is very dark and depressing. Not one single character is likeable, although you hope that Heathcliff turns around at the end and turns good. It is about obsession and it makes you wonder if you can define love. What is love? I did like how the author is completely distanced from the novel, and that a lot of the story is left up to the reader's imagination, but there were times when I was thinking, "What is the point of this novel?". Yet, at the end, I realized it was a good story-- very spooky and it sucked you into their own world. I think this is a mood-novel. It will make you go into a very dark place, and leave you kind of depressed! I suggest watching the movie adaptation of "Wuthering Heights", featuring Timothy Dalton as Heathcliff. I know that I actually gained a greater appreciation for the novel after watching this film. Then after that, go read "Villette"!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: One of the Best Classics Ever
Review: I have read quite a big number of classics and this one is certainly one of the best. The tragedy in the book concerning Catherine and Heathcliff is comparable to some plots we come accross in Thomas Hardy's work. Well, there is not exactly the search for perfectness like Hardy in this book but the tragedy of human existence and passion are right there. This is a moving book. I recommend this book without reservation.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Best classic ever
Review: I remember reading this novel as a teen and I have treasured it ever since. It is one of the greatest tragic romance in history. Emily Bronte has written a novel of great drama and beauty. I find the romantic tension between Heathcliff and Catherine very intriguing. The characters were very realistic. Even the description of certain scenes were so detailed that I really felt the mood of that period. I just love this book!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Appalling and Riveting
Review: The characters found in this novel are simply the most despicable appalling people imaginable. The reader finds him/herself loathing each and every one of them. The only non-loathsome character is the doctor, and he's minor to the extreme. Heathcliff is of course abominable. Edgar Linton is appallingly stupid. Hareton Earnshaw is animalistic, but at least he's got the excuse of Heathcliff's abuse. Catherine Linton (the elder) is absolutely disgusting, easily and by far the most evil character in the novel, surpassing even Heathcliff. Even Nelly Dean is a waste of humanity. If it were not for her constantly making a hash of her meddling, none of the tragedy would have occurred to such a great extent. Whether her meddling is malicious or just through sheer stupidity is immaterial; she remains an awful character.

That said, the story is absolutely riveting. Emily Bronte's one substantive work is truly a masterpiece. Her descriptions of the moors are wonderfully evocative, but it is her characters who are her main triumph. Despite the sheer horridness or stupidity or weakness of her characters, she nevertheless makes each of them - and their motivations - utterly believable. Even Heathcliff's excesses are believable, and the elder Catherine's petty maliciousness is also totally in tune with the selfish nature she is depicted as having. The younger Catherine Linton's stupidity is easily accounted for by her protected childhood and Nelly's inexcusable lapses. Everyone has a perfectly plausible reason for doing what they do, given the natures given them by Bronte. Is it then their fault that their actions create such misery?

The only flaw with this book is the ending. One character has triumped utterly, and then inexplicably collapses with hardly a struggle. Another character overcomes a strong antipathy to a further character and changes attitudes utterly. Unlike the rest of the novel, the motivation is not believable. It is inconceivable that such a complete adjustment could have happened in so short a time. Perhaps it is true that the novel has come full circle, but I can't help but think that its grip on the reader would be still the stronger if it left us with the vision of the horror which appeared to be the future for its well-deserving characters.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Wuthering Heights
Review: "It is as if Emily Bronte could tear up all that we know human beings by, and fill these unrecognizable transparencies with such a gust of life that they transcend reality." -Virginia Woolf

Damn straight, sister! I gotta tell you, read this book in the *summer time*. Do not, I repeat, DO NOT, read this in the gloom of winter, as I stupidly did.

The epic story of Catherine and Heathcliff plays out against the dramatic backdrop of the wild English moors, and presents an astonishing vision of fate and obsession, passion and REVENGE.

This classic book is a bummer. Not that it's bad writing, but my oh my.. it makes you so sad! Your heart just goes out for Heathcliff and the depression he faces. But also, the um... "inter-breeding" (*blush*) is quite disturbing!! One cousin marries one other cousin and they have kids who marry their other cousins, I was just surprised that the whole lot of them weren't, "messed up".

I really wouldn't recommend this book for happy people. If you want some romance and a historical novel, read "Gone with the Wind". My favorite.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Absolutely Bewitching!!
Review: This is one book I've read over and over again, to understand how it appears to other people. Whomsoever have I met consider it to be rude and strange at first. What this book means to me is unsurpassed literature. It depicts rough love- a love that is as wild as the moors of England. Wuthering Heights breeds initself a "horror of darkness", we sometimes breathe in our lives. The love existing between Heathcliff- the most loved villians of all time and Catherine stands strong. This book is about a stranger entering a household where he is rejected, and during this course betrays the one solitary feling in his heart- not being his love for Catherine, but compassion. The other half of the story reaches a point where Heathcliff takes his sweet revenge. There are no answers to questions like: Should a character like Heathcliff exist or not? I do not know. This is a masterpiece in literature depicting love, innocence lost, friendship, forgiveness and above all acceptance. Unfortunately, this was the first and last book of Emily Bronte. Wish there were more novels like this one!

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: It Out Herods Herod!
Review: And just why would Ms. Bronte write a book with not a single likeable character? In fact, everyone in the novel would be rejected by Jerry Springer as being too degenerate for his show. No doubt the writing is facile enough, but by page 5, the story itself descends into what has to be the most turgid potboiler imagineable. It's all there: lynching a litter of puppies,hanging a springer spaniel,unceasing child abuse, the brutalization of women, and pretty descriptions of the seasons. Highly recommended for the budding mass murderer.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: I know my classics, this book is one that truly is timeless
Review: I have read many classics, I am an avid reader of them. I collect them all, and analyze which ones are truly classic. I got this book when I was younger than 10, which is pretty heavy stuff for a child. Yet I focused mainly on the actual misery of Heathcliff and Catherine, I think it is the most engrossing and provocative story ever. I also got nauseous from the constant "happy" storie that other kids were reading. I thought this book suits my deep, "tortured soul" kind of reader. I will always have this book on my top list, it actually is timeless. This book will make you yearn for the open moors and the old manor where Heathcliff falls in love with Catherine. It is the best love story I have ever read. If someone is overwhelmed by it, then I suggest to move to something a little bit more shallow. I know I follow this great example of literature in my own writings, which I hope to have published soon. Not for the impatient reader, that's for sure.


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