Wednesday, September 05, 2007

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte


The classic tale of tragic love and loss. The story is based around Heathcliff and Katherine. The two grew up together and were extremely selfish creatures. Heathcliff was sort of adopted into the family and Katherine's older brother treated him like an animal. Heathcliff and Katherine were best friends up until the Linton's were introduced into their lives. Edgar fell in love with Katherine over the years and though she wasn't necessarily in love with him she knew that he would be able to provide for her handsomely. She hoped she would still be able to keep Heathcliff as a friend but he was extremely hurt by her choice that he left the country. Three years later he returns wealthy and proceeds to reek havoc on everyone who ever made life difficult for him. He steals visits with Katherine much to the chagrin of her husband. His whole plan in life is to make life hell for everyone else. The funny thing is that seems to be all out of love for Katherine.


I listened to this book on c.d. and I think I may want to actually read it sometime. I liked this book for it's quality of writing. I think it's interesting how it explores the selfish, dark side of love. Heathcliff will use anything or anyone to get what he wants. Katherine only feels for her own suffering and though she loves Heathcliff she ultimately wants everyone to love her. The story has a sort of happy ending but it takes a lot of heartache and deaths for this to come about. This probably isn't one of my favorites because there are only a few likeable characters and they all seem to be towed under by the others. But the writing style is very good and the story very well played out.

2 comments:

Framed said...

Since I read this book 35 years ago, I probably should read it again. I have a copy sitting on my shelves.

Booklogged said...

I tried on this one, but just didn't get into it. I had just finished reading Jane Eyre, which I absolutely loved. So maybe the timing was wrong.