Wuthering Heights

Rating:
Summary: Hated it.
Review: I know this may sound disrespectful to all of you connoisseurs of fine Brittish literature, but I hated Wuthering Heights. It was slow-moving and boring. My tenth grade English teacher required that we read it, and I have despised her ever since for wasting precious moments of my life

Rating:
Summary: Thin line between love and hate.
Review: This is a man's romance novel. Heathcliff gets to carry out the role that almost every guy wants to play when he's really in love but it doesn't work. Katherine can't wait for him even though she loves him so she marries some anemic loser. But, instead of whining about it Heathcliff does something about it, thereby makeing life miserable for everyone (including himself) but by doing so keeps his love alive, instead of just moving on. An excellent example of perseverence no matter what the cost and despite the fact that the outcome cannot be successful

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Summary: One of the most beautiful stories ever
Review: This is the story about the obssessive love between Catherine and Heathcliff.An eternal love that destroyed everyone who tried to destroy it, and was stronger than death

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Summary: One of the Best Books I ever read!
Review: I picked up Wuthering Heights because I was bored, and then I couldn't put it down. It was intriguing from the start, and never once boring. I plan to read this novel again at some point in the future

Rating:
Summary: An interesting vision of passion versus calm
Review: Good book... Heathcliff is an immensly passionate character with incredible animalistic qualities. Catherine 1 is the socially stormy women torn by the love of Edgar and Heathcliff. Emily Bronte reveals the conflict between the storm and calm using her characters... Chatherine... Edgar Heathcliff and Isabella

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Summary: One man will ruin the lives of many.
Review: How can love destroy so many? The ilfated love of Catherine Earnshaw and Heathclife, the orphan taken in by her family, would not only destroy their lives, but the lives of all the Earnshaws and Lintons as well. Yet not all will be destroyed, two will weather the storm of Heathclife's wrath and come out together in a love destined to succeed

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Summary: Love Among The Damned
Review: Published in 1847, WUTHERING HEIGHTS was not well received by the reading public, many of whom condemned it as sordid, vulgar, and unnatural--and author Emily Bronte went to her grave in 1848 believing that her only novel was a failure. It was not until 1850, when WUTHERING HEIGHTS received a second printing with an introduction by Emily's sister Charlotte, that it attracted a wide readership. And from that point the reputation of the book has never looked back. Today it is widely recognized as one of the great novels of English literature.

Even so, WUTHERING HEIGHTS continues to divide readers. It is not a pretty love story; rather, it is swirling tale of largely unlikeable people caught up in obsessive love that turns to dark madness. It is cruel, violent, dark and brooding, and many people find it extremely unpleasant. And yet--it possesses a grandeur of language and design, a sense of tremendous pity and great loss that sets it apart from virtually every other novel written.

The novel is told in the form of an extended flashback. After a visit to his strange landlord, a newcomer to the area desires to know the history of the family--which he receives from Nelly Deans, a servant who introduces us to the Earnshaw family who once resided in the house known as Wuthering Heights. It was once a cheerful place, but Old Earnshaw adopted a "Gipsy" child who he named Heathcliff. And Catherine, daughter of the house, found in him the perfect companion: wild, rude, and as proud and cruel as she. But although Catherine loves him, even recognizes him as her soulmate, she cannot lower herself to marry so far below her social station. She instead marries another, and in so doing sets in motion an obsession that will destroy them all.

WUTHERING HEIGHTS is a bit difficult to "get into;" the opening chapters are so dark in their portrait of the end result of this obsessive love that they are somewhat off-putting. But they feed into the flow of the work in a remarkable way, setting the stage for one of the most remarkable structures in all of literature, a story that circles upon itself in a series of repetitions as it plays out across two generations. Catherine and Heathcliff are equally remarkable, both vicious and cruel, and yet never able to shed their impossible love no matter how brutally one may wound the other.

As the novel coils further into alcoholism, seduction, and one of the most elaborately imagined plans of revenge it gathers into a ghostly tone: Heathcliff, driven to madness by a woman who is not there but who seems reflected in every part of his world--dragging her corpse from the grave, hearing her calling to him from the moors, escalating his brutality not for the sake of brutality but so that her memory will never fade, so that she may never leave his mind until death itself. Yes, this is madness, insanity, and there is no peace this side of the grave or even beyond.

It is a stunning novel, frightening, inexorable, unsettling, filled with unbridled passion that makes one cringe. Even if you do not like it, you should read it at least once--and those who do like it will return to it again and again.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer

Rating:
Summary: You don't read this book, you experience it!
Review: I've been trying to read more classic literature recently. And Wuthering Heights was really worthwhile. Yet I find myself almost at a loss for words in describing this book. This gothic romance was a very intense read...and I felt almost in another world as I read it. It creates a "feeling" that remains with you long after bedtime!

The main characters Heathcliff and Catherine are larger than life somehow. How do you describe their dark and stormy love? It is a deep love that descends into obsession, despair, and revenge. Typical of gothic literature, the brooding and haunting landscape of the moors somehow seeps into the characters. And seeps into you... My words can not do this book justice. My advice? Read it!

Rating:
Summary: Must-Read
Review: This classic by Emily Bronte is a must read. The language is archaic, but the story is so compelling I just rushed through the book with no problems.

The story is about the passionate love between mismatched Catherine and Heathcliff. Catherine is beautiful and refined, but underneath the ladylike exterior, she shares the same wild and free spirit as her soulmate. Heathcliff is one of the most complex characters of literature. You either love him or you hate him. Indeed, most of the characters in Wuthering Heights are complex - not all good, not all bad. This complexity in a novel published in 1847 was far ahead of its time.

The setting of the lonely moors of England and the fine country mansions make the story easy to visualize. The tale is told from the first person point of view of Nelly, the maid who saw it all, and a young boarder who seeks to live with now-older Heathcliff in Heathcliff's dark and imposing estate called Wuthering Heights.

The story is epic because it does not stop with Heathcliff and Catherine. It continues with Heathcliff's son and Catherine's daughter. The consuming yet doomed love of Heathcliff and Catherine has tragic repercussions for their descendants. Wuthering Heights is a study of the haunting, eternal power of love. Emily Bronte's story reminds us that sometimes love is not always beautiful and sweet. It can also be selfish and twisted.

Rating:
Summary: Darkest Kind Of Love
Review: Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte is a tragic love story that has bitter and vengeful aspects to it. I dislike this novel because of the characters Catherine for her "I'm beautiful everyone must love me" attitude and Heathcliff for his "Catherine doesn't love me so I must become bitter and ruin everyone else lives." But this story has its good parts it shows raw and everlasting love. Even though the years have passed Heathcliff's and Catherine's love will last forever. This novel shows the darker side of love. It shows how love can put together or destroy people. Wuthering Heights is one of the greatest gothic novels like To Kill A Mockingbird.