Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
Edited with an Introduction by Pauline Nestor
Preface by Lucasta Miller
Fiction, 337 pages
Penguin Classics, Penguin Books
FTC Disclosure: Mine, all mine. Pfffft.
This isn’t going to be in the usual format as I basically have been reviewing this book in weekly increments.
I liked the book. But I’m happy to move on.
Gothic romances of this time period can be a challenge to read, and this one is no exception to the rule.
However, I remain impressed by Brontë’s skill with characterization, even if the characters she created I never grew to like. I have to give her credit for creating such strong negative feelings, that I actually tried to delve into the characters psyche and motivations to try and understand why they were the way they were, and if any could be redeemed.
If they weren’t developed so well, I just wouldn’t have given a crap and quite likely quit the book. Only a powerful plot would keep me going, and as good as this one is, it just isn’t good enough. So it was her characters and all their foibles that kept me reading.
The main gripe I have is the ending. Not so much what it is, but how it is reached and handled. Unsure if this is because of the genre, how novels worked at the time, just me, but it seemed hurried and incongruous with the rest of the novel.
Recommending this book is difficult. I would definitely do so to those looking to read a gothic romance or who like a character driven novel. Bear in mind also, this book was published in 1847, and its language clearly reflects this.
Yeah, I didn’t buy the ending. After all the misery and doom and gloom, a happily ever after just wasn’t what I was expecting.
I love your responses here, especially in questioning the techniques and not just gushing over Bronte’s apparent brilliance.
I had to read this FOUR times in undergrad, and I just didn’t develop the love affair everyone else did with it. The “foibles” you mention were my main reason to really hate both main characters, and to scream whenever anyone said it’s a romance. Ick. They were so cruel to one another…out of love?
I’m glad you were honest here. I’m not a big fan of it either, and yet it’s a standard for my AP students. At least I don’t teach it, but can appreciate why I need to put it on an approved reading list for them.