Wuthering Heights

My first read of Wuthering Heights and I wasn't hugely impressed. I'd expected a “classic romance” but I got a bit of a bag of all-sorts. There were aspirations of romance, but mostly unrequited; attempts at gothic writing but without the horror; characters were weak or evil; plot was limited and the narrative technique was sometimes confusing.

I've also had a Kate Bush earworm since I started reading which won't leave me be!

Soooo the thing is, I can't even say Heathcliff is a psychopath because he does show love to Catherine. Ok, more like obsession most of the time, which would still be part of the psychopathy in the sense it was extremely egocentric, always going back to how he would feel (not making it up, just check):

a mental disorder in which an individual manifests amoral and antisocial behavior, lack of ability to love or establish meaningful personal relationships, extreme egocentricity, failure to learn from experience, etc.

But he does almost cry at some point after she's gone, so there, maybe it was love. Crazy, violent, absurd love. Love that would make headlines if not for Miss Brontë's literary talent - or don't you think “gypsy undigs loved one's body” isn't headline material?, but love. Just not my kind of love, I'm afraid, which made reading it a bit more difficult.
I can appreciate it, as well as all the symbolism, which is interesting and deep. I can also see where he was coming, having been a child who was shown little love. But I have a hard time understanding everyone else's cruelty and egocentrism (from Nelly to Joseph, from Linton to Edgar, jeez, selfish much? rude much?) and saw myself making faces at the kindle when I wanted to slap someone's into politeness, as crazy as it sounds (see, it is contagious).

So, read at your own will. It will make you sad, it has some of the deeper and purest and most beautiful love quotations ever, - only, when you put them in context, it's like ‘whine whine whine, slap people around, leave and not talk to anyone for three years, sulk and growl at people, beautiful line that makes you swoon; whine whine whine, throw fits, manipulate everyone and everything to make it your way, be unreasonably cruel to everyone except Cathy/Heathcliff, beautiful line that makes your heart swell' rinse and repeat.

But you know, whatever floats your boat.

Last but not least: there's a feeble attempt at a redeeming ending with a silver lining in the personification of Hareton, the boy nobody wanted (sounds similar to Heathcliff?) and, surprise, Cathy, playing The guy from Eliza Doolittle to him and teaching him until they fall for each other - when he ends up educated, with the girl and the inheritance after a life full of misery. Yay.

I had to read this way back in 10th grade. I remember it mostly because of one day when we had a substitute teacher for English. We had to take turns talking about the events of the book. But then, when the entire class realized the substitute teacher hadn't read the book, we began making up plot points and additional characters. It was hard not to laugh.

But the actual book? I don't remember liking it. Lots of mooning about Heathcliff as I recall.

I've wanted to read this one for a long time and finally dusted it off the shelf. This is a friend's most highly recommended book so I was excited to dive in.

I get it now...why some say this is one of their favorite books of all time. It's dark. Romantic to a mildly psychotic degree (as only dramatic flair for those times could be captured) and beautifully written.

Some parts were a tad hard to decipher as the hired hand's dialogue was written in accent form. It certainly was interesting to read in this manner and imagine how it was back in that time frame.

Aside from the speech hardship, the story itself is engaging once you catch the flow of the writing. This is definitely a book I needed absolute quiet to read but once I was uninterrupted the story flew and I was lost in Heathcliff's plight.

Keeping Up With The Karcrashians


I want to love this book a great deal more than I do. It's concept is something that arrests me completely; a look into the personal hell that a dysfunctional community of people can cause for one another. The writing is elegant and what one could expect from the time period and a skilled writer.
Yet, there is something in the execution that did not hold me. I don't know exactly what it is, but it after about sixty pages it became less of a joy and more of a routine to read. I still read it to the end because it is a good book, and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys Jane Austen but was perhaps putting this one off. The relatively low rating really only reflects the fact that I will not feel a desire to read it again for a long time, if ever. I'm glad I did read it though. It's beautiful and diabolical and intense.