Wuthering Heights

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The height of great literature - Rated
I've lost count of the number of times I've read this; but every time something else jumps out at me. There is something so different and hard to pin down - indefinable - about what exactly it is that makes this book so unique.

Heathcliffe and the first Catherine are almost demented in their wild passions - almost as if Emily Bronte were taking the idea of romance and passion to in insane extreme - and one of the strongest themes in the book is whether the lovers meet again after death. It seems incredible that at the two houses no one seems to shop, either for clothes or food - there is little interest in normal human bodily life or functions. A Bronte scholar, Thomas Moser, believed that Emile Bronte wrote the final famous sentence to the book without irony. "...wondered how anyone could ever imagine unquiet slumbers, for the sleepers in that quiet earth". But to me, the whole book hinges around the concept of the possibility of fanatic love overcoming death, though perhaps not to the benefit of the lovers. Far better to attain the rational, human life experience - that of Hareton and the second Catherine.

A heartbreaking love story! - Rated
One of the great love stories and a brilliantly written book. It deserves it reputation as there has never been a love story quite like the one between Cathy and Heathcliffe.

Dont make prejudgements - Rated
This is a fantastic novel. I am trying to read some "classics" at the moment instead of my usual diet of Stephen King etc and this is the first one I have read that I have enjoyed from start to finish.
I think everyone will take different conclusions from this book, some will side with Heathcliff and Catherine, and some will feel sympathy for the wreckage they leave behind in their determination to be together.

The setting and the relationships between characters and the wild surroundings of the moor are also richly portrayed.

Highly recommended and no boring tale of Victorian morals at all.

'A Haunting Masterpiece....You Will Never Forget!' - Rated
I first studied Wuthering Heights as part of my A-Levels,taught to me by a quite inspirational teacher and it is a book I can return to over and over again. It is, simply one of the most poignant and unforgettable love stories ever told. The characters of Cathy and Heathcliff set against the craggy moorland scenery are indelible in English Literature and serve to live in the imagination of the reader. The Force of their destructive love serves a cycle of Love, Hate and ultimately, Revenge. Emily Bronte's genius as a poet shines in this novel through the language of Heathcliff, as 20 years after the death of Catherine, his love for her is as ardent as he declares in one of the most moving passages, " In every cloud, in every tree I am surrounded by her image....the entire world is a dreadful collection of memorandum that she did exist and that I had lost her..." This is a novel you must read at least once in your life...and feel glad and exhalted that you did!

It's Grim Up North - Rated
A true classic of English Literature that has stood the test of time, with settings and characters that have entered the national consciousness. Its raw power is amazing considering its author's age and apparent lack of experience in life.

Re-reading as an adult, one is perhaps struck by how wordy the later passages in the book are, the self destructive relationship between Cathy and Heathcliff is what stays in the reader's memory most. Unlike, say, Jane Austen's equally timeless works, it is not possible to say "Wuthering Heights" grows with repeat reading. The strange narrative devices are a bit distracting, and some sections sag.

The opening scene, in contrast,where the ghost of Cathy shatters the glass in the window of the narrator's bedroom, letting in the lashing storm, is surely one of the most striking ever written.

Graphic moments such as this opening, and the fierce, uncompromising lovers who leap from the page, make this book's reputation well deserved.