Book Review: Wuthering Heights

ABOUT THE BOOK:
The novel concerns two families of the landed gentry living on the West Yorkshire moors, the Earnshaws and the Lintons, and their turbulent relationships with Earnshaw’s adopted son, Heathcliff. The novel was influenced by Romanticism and Gothic fiction.

REVIEW BY DANIA:

“I hate him for himself, but despise him for the memories he revives.”

This book has not disappointed me but I still have strong and mixed feelings towards it. What I liked about this book was how the characters were built. Though they were very toxic, and I hated each and every one of them (with an exception of two or three), I soon realised how much work was put into this book.
It is not easy to make someone hate your own characters, but Emily Bronte did that perfectly, through bitter memories and dialogues.
The reason why I hated Catherine was that she could never make up her mind. She married Edgar, but a few days before that she had confessed that Heathcliff and she share the same soul. After Heathcliff came back, her feelings changed; she now hated him and called him an animal. I would have understood this change in feelings because Catherine and Heathcliff were apart for a long time. But then after a few pages, Catherine and Heathcliff love each other again.
I also hated Heathcliff because he outright used people by manipulating their feelings and telling them that he loved them, and then taking all their property away.
Heathcliff’s son was unbearable because of how he treated Catherine Jr. (Catherine and Edgar’s daughter). He used her and then didn’t even look back at her when his father was beating Catherine Jr. up. He even claimed all her property as his own and kicked her to the side.
The only person that I did like was Catherine Jr. She tried to love Heathcliff’s son and by overlooking his flaws, but she then realised that she couldn’t afford wasting her time, energy and love on a person who didn’t return her feelings even a little. So, yes I like Catherine because she was the only sane person in this entire story.
Despite all of this, it was the storyline that caught my eye. I liked how the story flowed and how all the characters were introduced at the right time.
What was even better was the fact that we got to see the dark side of the characters slowly as the story revealed it.
So, this is a must read for the plot.

OTHER INFORMATION:
This book was initially published under Emily Bronte’s pen name Ellis Bell. It was controversial for its depictions of mental and physical cruelty, and for its challenges to Victorian morality and religious and societal values.

TRIGGER WARNINGS:
1. Child abuse
2. Chronic illness
3. Death
4. Emotional abuse
5. Gravedigging
6. Physical abuse
7. Pregnancy
8. Starvation