To Fill Up & Live | Wuthering Heights

Tuesday, October 28, 2014



It's nearly Halloween, but I'm not done with the Fall-O-Ween posts just yet! I've got a few more up this sleeve of mine, starting with today's dark and spooky book review.

Title: Wuthering Heights

Author: Emily Brontë

Publication: Originally 1847

Character(s): Heathcliff, Catherine Earnshaw, The Earnshaws, The Lintons

Favorite Quote(s):
"She burned too bright for this world."

"...he's more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same."

"It is for God to punish wicked people; we should learn to forgive."

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So quick disclaimer: It's a very rare case that I don't love a classic novel. From what I can remember I've given every classic I've ever read at least a 4 star rating. I even loved Tess of the d'Ubervilles if that gives you an incite here. So take it with a grain of salt when I say I loved this story yet again.
My Rating: 5 stars
Before I begin my review of the story, I have to note - this was Emily Brontë's first and only novel. A year later, she died of consumption. It is also rumored that she was kind of reclusive and didn't see much of the world. Yet with her novice talents and limited experiences stacked against her, she still managed to write a staggering novel that wakes the reader up and comments brilliantly on the world around her. It makes me wonder what she would've been capable of writing had she had the opportunity. Those Brontë sisters, man. Literary geniuses.

Why was Wuthering Heights so brilliant, even the second time around? For one, and I think most significantly, the characters. Through all of my writing research, I've been advised of one thing: characters drive the story. It has been suggested time and time again that if the characters are robust, if you can make the reader like and care about them, you have the basic and most important element to a story. Brontë proves this advice wrong, wrong, wrong. I don't like these characters. They're monsters. I don't particularly like Heathcliff, although I sympathize with him in some ways, and I certainly don't like Catherine. Not at all. (Think Daisy from The Great Gatsby.) Yet still, against my better judgment and in the midst of semi-hating some of them (cough, Catherine), I really care about what happens to them. When that certain spoiler-y thing happens to that certain character in the middle of the book, my brain told me I didn't care but my heart cried out. Because I cared. Damn me for caring! And when an author can do that, make me give a damn in spite of myself? Hats off, bow down b!*&he$.

Also, call me crazy, but I really love the tone of this novel. Maybe it's just the Fall-O-Ween spirit peeking through, but the novel is haunting, violent and deliciously dark and I eat it all up. The descriptions in the book drive the lonely and dreary theme home perfectly. I can see the fog-laden moorland and can envision Heathcliff's vengeful desires so well that I can almost smell them radiating from his every action. Even the romance in this novel takes on a uniquely dark and passionate tone. Again, against my better judgment, I long for a relationship like the main one in this novel. How messed up is that? To desire a love that under any other circumstances would be totally undesirable and unhealthy. Damn you, fated, twisty, magnetic, passionate love, for making me want you!

This novel is messy. Emily Brontë uses her story as a mirror, forcing the reader to visualize the worst part of ourselves, of our humanity. The characters, the setting, the conflicts that arise and the resolutions that come from them. It's monstrous. It's a mess. But it's life.

Did you read along with the book club this month? Have you read Wuthering Heights before? Let me know what you think in the comments and link up below if you've reviewed it.


We haven't decided on the book for November, but I will update either on twitter or in a post as soon as I know!

Also, enter my final Fall-O-Ween giveaway if you haven't already! I'm giving away a $25 Fandango gift card. That's enough for two (2) tickets to one fantastically spooky movie :)

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2 comments:

  1. ohh I can't wait to hear what the book is for November!! I finished Wuthering Heights last night - it took me every bit of a month to read. It was SO hard to get into, the first couple of chapters are deliberately confusing, don't you agree? After I got through that, I couldn't put it down, I wanted to inhale it, but I also wanted to go slow and savour it, I know thats ridiculous but I wish I could go back in time and rediscover P&P you know? How often do you get to read a brilliant story for the first time? So I slowed down lol. I agree completely with the characters, gosh I hated them! But I loved them. She is a brilliant writer for sure.

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