# Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights.



## Caolan (Feb 9, 2006)

Wuthering Heights is _the_ classic I have read. As in the only one. I really enjoyed even though I found it kind of difficult to read. The only bit that annoyed me was the fact that Joseph's speech was written in accent, which is fair enough, only half the time I couldn't understand a thing he was saying.

I also hate it how people say 'You  should always read the introduction.' So you do... and it gives away half the story.


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## simon woodhouse (Feb 10, 2006)

I tried to read Wuthering Heights straight after reading Jane Eyre, and I couldn't get into it at all. The only other 'classic' I've read from that period is Far from the Madding Crowd, which I enjoyed a lot, but it really bugs me when people call it Far from the MADDENING Crowd.

I very rarely read the introduction in a book; I'm always too keen to get to the story itself.


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## Withered Rose (Feb 10, 2006)

I'm not sure, I liked Joseph's accent. It gave his character a little more depth than it would have if he had spoken as the others did.

But as for the intros, yeah that bothers me too. I like to read the work, not some summary in the beginning.


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## fastkilr (Feb 14, 2006)

If the introduction is by the author, then I'm all for it. Like in some of Anthony Burgess's books, it adds to the fact that they're already special. Gives him a more personal edge with the reader, I think.


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## Caolan (Feb 24, 2006)

I agree with that. If the author writes the inroduction they also somehow put into it what the readers want to hear.

In the original intro to Wuthering Heights by Charlotte Bronte Charlotte says how the book is a result of her sisters ignorance or something and that Emily could hardly have understood the weight and the issues of what she had written. Something like that, anyway, it made me lose some respect for Charlotte.


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## this_reckless_pace (Feb 25, 2006)

I read it for the first time when I was 14, about 6 months before studying it in school. Thank god I read it before my then English teacher massacred it in class, otherwise I'd never have picked it up again.

It's one of my all time favourite classics, alongside Jane Eyre.


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## roadrunner (Mar 6, 2006)

i read it about 2 years ago. it was probably the first 'classic love story' i read, and i always loved the brutleness of which Heathclif loved. I don't know if i ever really liked Catherine, though.

The only 'introduction' i ever read was for moby dick, and i didn't even finish the book after that. dumb philosophy.


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## RonPrice (Apr 3, 2006)

*Gold, Sapphire And Blood*

Emile Bronte wrote the novel Wuthering Heights and a body of poetry called the Gondal just before and just after the Declaration of the Bab.  A study of this remarkable woman and her writings will reveal some interesting juxtapositions between the writings of this young, single woman in her twenties in England and the birth of a new revelation.-Ron Price

What were those three inner gods
that warred so long in thee?
Are they the same that still fight on
so passionately in me?

What were those three rivers which
ran of equal depth and flow?
Gold, sapphire and blood they were,
tumbling in an inky sea below.

Not His writings, surely not!
What was that dazzling gaze?
That Ocean's sudden blaze?
The glad deep sparkled wide and bright,
white as the sun and far more fair
in the midst of your gloomy night.

That seer that you missed back then:
His glorious eye,
lighting the clouds
but once1,
He may have helped you
wish for life and not the
sleep of death.


1 so much of this poem comes from Emile Bronte's poem "A27" written on February 3, 1845. In this poem Bronte expresses the desire for death after years of suffering.

Ron Price
17 July 1998


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## RonPrice (Apr 3, 2006)

*Emily Bronte, Wuthering Heights and the 1840s*

RADIANCE AND THE TRAGIC

Elizabeth Barrett Browning(1806-1861) was the most successful woman poet of the Victorian period.  In 1840, when her brother Edward died, she became a recluse and spent nearly all her time in her room on the third floor of her father’s house.  Here she wrote her famous book of poetry entitled Poems published in 1844.  She was seriously considered as a successor to Wordsworth as England’s poet laureate when Wordsworth died in 1850. Another poet, Robert Browning, became attracted to her poetry, especially the poetry in Poems and in 1945 he became attracted to her. They were married in 1846. 

That same year Emily Bronte put her Gondal poems, which she had been working on for some years, into a separate collection.  The following prose-poem is an expression of my appreciation both Bronte’s and Browning’s poetry and of what I see as a remarkable coincidence between the origins of their poetry and the origins of the Babi-Baha’i Faiths in that year 1844, mirabile dictu.  I also include some personal autobiographical comments.     -Ron Price, “Elizabeth Browning Internet Sites,” Pioneering Over Four Epochs, April 2nd 2006. 

12 months after He said
I am, I am, I am and your
secret epistolary romance, 
turned into a meeting--at last
and you found a husband to be,1 
your poems made you famous, 
the greatest female poet ever, 
most inspired in history: some said.

That same year Emily put her
Gondalsaga poems into a book,
her imaginary world that came,
invaded, dominated & destroyed
her real one--became her real one
and she called it Wuthering Heights
and it told of a radiant, a mystical 
oneness in the world of existence
with its misery, its insanity, its agony.

And so it was---tragic and mystical.
That same year signaled the start,
the opening of the most glorious
epoch in the greatest cycle which
the spiritual history of humankind 
had yet witnessed: the most tragic,
the most spectacular, eventful in 
the first century of the Baha’i Era.

1 Elizabeth met Robert Browning in May 1845.

Ron Price
April 2nd 2006


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## A_MacLaren (Apr 3, 2006)

I studied Wuthering Heights just last year for my uni class. Couldn't stand it.


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## evadri (Apr 3, 2006)

I never read introductions before I read the book, unless it's by the author. Some books actually advise you not to read the intro first.

I also read WH right after Jane Eyre. I liked Jane Eyre better, as I really really really identified with Jane. In WH, I had to read Joseph's speech aloud to understand it. I found I was consentrating more on understanding the words than understanding the meaning of what he was saying - that was annoying. I'm of the syntax school, not the phonetic school.


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## sebastian (Apr 27, 2006)

I totally adored WH. found it wonderful for the characterisation and world she had created on the yourkshire moores (v creepy - kinda like myra hyndly style  atmosphere). WH is a very violent book, but this absolutly adds to the sentiment of the story that is unfolding as we read. i love it! especially the circular nature of the novel and how it transpires from a gothic ghost story to a domestic drama. what i really hate though is the awful film and TV adaptations that get spewed out of the BBC!


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## xshatteredximagex (Apr 27, 2006)

I adored Wuthering Heights. I read it two years ago for my grade 11 english project, and I just loved it. It's so dark and romantic. The first part of it was hard, but once I got into it I couldn't put it down.


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## BeautifulDisaster (Jun 8, 2006)

I read Wuthering Heights this year and I think it's a very strange novel. I didn't like it, but I didn't hate it either. 

Oh, and I don't know if anyone else knows this.. but there's a rumor that a re-make movie of Wuthering Heights will be made with Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp (of course he'd play Heathcliff- he always plays such weird characters).


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## BillyLiar (Jun 9, 2006)

Wuthering Heights was by far the dryest piece of work I've ever had the displeasure of reading. I could not get into it for the life of me. Although, going over it in class, I still felt like I wasn't missing much.


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## Bob Loblaw (Jun 9, 2006)

I actually liked _Wuthering Heights_, which was actually surprising: I expected a Jane Austen wanna-be-- don't get me wrong, I love Jane Austen, but there's only one Jane Austen!

Anyway, it liked it-- It's a weird love story, but I still love it. I also found the various points-of-view amazing-- I never read a book like that, and I don't know any writer who could pull it off.

The only thing I didn't really like was Joseph's accent; I confesss-- I rarely read what he said, because I couldn't understand it. He's kinda like that farmer in _The Waterboy _who just speaks gibberish (in my opinion).

And as for introductions, I actually find them interesting (some provide analysis and I like analyzing stuff); but it's much better to read the work first because the introduction gives so much away (don't get me started about the Penguin Edition's introduction to _Don Quxiote_). The authors of these introduction write on the assumption that since these books are "classics," everyone knows the story, which is completely false.


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## Mike C (Jun 10, 2006)

BillyLiar said:
			
		

> Wuthering Heights was by far the dryest piece of work I've ever had the displeasure of reading. I could not get into it for the life of me. Although, going over it in class, I still felt like I wasn't missing much.



Here's a tip for you:

It's ok not to like the classics, really it is. If you missed the point, or didn't get it, that's fine. Not every book is for every reader. But they are classics for a reason, and to be that dismissive makes you look really dumb without lessening the reputation of the book one iota.

WH gives you two love stories, a commentary on the precariousness of the class-based society, the destructiveness of love that never changes and a love that transcends death. 

It's a romance, a gothic ghost story, and social commentary. If you find that dry, best stick to comics.


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## andreaypich (Jul 29, 2006)

Mike C's description of WH's themes is spot on.

I read it at the age of 14 and then re-read it this year for university. I want to read it again now. It's probably one of my favourite novels. Has anyone watched the film? Does it do the book justice?


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## Kane (Jul 29, 2006)

Mike C said:
			
		

> Here's a tip for you:
> 
> It's ok not to like the classics, really it is. If you missed the point, or didn't get it, that's fine. Not every book is for every reader. But they are classics for a reason, and to be that dismissive makes you look really dumb without lessening the reputation of the book one iota.
> 
> ...



Even the greatest of themes can be diminished by delivery.  All of the themes you mentioned do sound worth reading about, or hearing about, but if they are presented in a way that is unappealing to the reader, then they are worthless.  It is as you said, "not every book is for every reader."  This has as much to do with style as it does theme or genre.  

I've read several of the classics, and hundreds of books written in modern times.  In nearly every case, I found the classic prose to be extremely dry, an effort to be plodded through, rather than enjoyed.  The Iliad was a notable exception, among a few others, but for the most part I didn't enjoy what I read.  I don't read comic books, and the insinuation that one must enjoy the prose of long dead authors who lived and spoke and wrote in various periods of history not our own is a ridiculous one, born of snobbery.


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## Mike C (Jul 30, 2006)

Kane said:
			
		

> I've read several of the classics, and hundreds of books written in modern times.



Well done.



			
				Kane said:
			
		

> In nearly every case, I found the classic prose to be extremely dry, an effort to be plodded through, rather than enjoyed.



Maybe you should stop trying until they bring out the Redneck EZ-Reader version?

I think you've let the whole point bypass you somewhere along the line Kane.


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## Kane (Jul 30, 2006)

And what exactly is the point?  That if I don't like to read books that were written in 15th century prose, or that I'm not always fond of translations of three thousand year old books, then I am a redneck?  Don't be such a snob.  My reading comprehension is of the highest level.  I simply become bored with dry prose very easily.


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## Mike C (Jul 30, 2006)

If your reading comprehension is so high, go back over the thread and see where you missed the point.

Don't make me explain things twice.


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## Stewart (Jul 30, 2006)

Kane said:
			
		

> I found the classic prose to be extremely dry, an effort to be plodded through, rather than enjoyed........the insinuation that one must enjoy the prose of long dead authors who lived and spoke and wrote in various periods of history not our own is a ridiculous one, born of snobbery.



I get the impression that you came to the classics as something which must be got through (and thinking of it as a classic) rather than taking it on its own merits and sitting down to read it at leisure.


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## Kane (Jul 30, 2006)

Mike C said:
			
		

> If your reading comprehension is so high, go back over the thread and see where you missed the point.
> 
> Don't make me explain things twice.



Don't patronize me...I read what you wrote.  It doesn't change what I said.


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## keatsian (Dec 7, 2006)

"Wuthering Heights"- The greatest love story I have ever read. I still read it..for the 20 th time I think. The brutality of Heathcliff, the delicate Catherine tossed between a primordial emotion for her rustic boyfriend and a non-chalant gentlemanly affected love for Edgar Linton...the moors behind, the cloudscape of the moors, the painted language of Bronte-My God! Emily would drive me into a rapture whenever I read her. Heathcliff is nothing but a little shabby and rustic Rochester(of 'Jane Eyre').Every passionate heart reading the novel will see a surge in their own passion atleast for a moment. The wilderness sets that tone. 
My most favourite scene in the novel is when Heathcliff returns after runningaway-as a new man in suit...his manners tamed and trimmed...and his heart turned more cruel...At this time, Cathy is extremely excited(on cloud nine) so much so that she never takes her eyes off Heathcliff(all this happens in front of her husband Edgar) and a line reads something like this:
"She never took her eyes off him fearing lest he should vapourise ..."

'Wuthering Heights' is a must read for young hearts!


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## AriMakvas (Dec 8, 2006)

I think Wuthering Heights is amazing. I didn't enjoy it, because it was so depressing, but as a work of literature I think it's well written, well structured, and well developed. Joseph annoys me too, but reading it out loud helps me understand what he's saying.

And I don't ever read introductions. You can read that when you're done with the novel!


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## mvr_moorthy (Dec 13, 2006)

AriMakvas said:
			
		

> I think Wuthering Heights is amazing. I didn't enjoy it, because it was so depressing, but as a work of literature I think it's well written, well structured, and well developed. Joseph annoys me too, but reading it out loud helps me understand what he's saying.
> 
> And I don't ever read introductions. You can read that when you're done with the novel!


I too prefer to avoid reading introductions. But “Wuthering Heights”
left in me a sense of desolation and the dark gloomy feeling haunted
 me for a long time. I wanted to know more about Emily Bronte and 
the Bronte family but what all biographical details I could collect were 
of no avail. Then I happened to read a weird book--- I don’t remember
the author’s name--- “The Infernal World of  Branwell Bronte”. It was 
Emily’s brother who was considered the most talented person in the
 family , but who hovered on the brink of insanity, crime and finally 
committed suicide. Emily was the brave girl of the family, the sympathetic, 
understanding sister who struggled relentlessly to keep her brother within
the bounds of sanity. I understood what inspired Emily Bronte to create a
character like Heathcliff--- the agony and the anguish of her experience.
This is what makes WH such a great creation where the stark wild
power of human instinct is inseparably interlaced with the utmost
 tenderness of human emotion.


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## huntingtonb (Dec 16, 2006)

Kate Bush wrote and sang an awesome song based on the novel and called, well, "Wuthering Heights". It's on her "The Whole Story" compilation, I believe. It's sung from the point of view of Cathy when she's trying to get in Heathcliff's window as a spirit. Haunting, intense.
Pat Benetar did an incredible cover of it on her 'Crimes of Passion' album.


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## lisajane (Dec 16, 2006)

Hayley Westerna also did a cover of it on her debut album (forgotten what it was called). I love the song.

WUTHERING HEIGHTS - The Short Version:

Lockwood 
I think I'll stay here. Tell me a story, woman. 

Nelly Dean 
I'm no gossip, mind you, but this guy Heathcliff got adopted, everyone hated him, and his love Catherine died. 

Heathcliff 
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! (dies) 

Lockwood 
I'll be on my way. 

THE END


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## Loulou (Jan 6, 2007)

In my humble, personal opinion 'Wuthering Heights' is the most over-rated classic of all time.  I am aware that it is highly regarded but it just left a sour taste in my mouth.  Love story?  Not at all.  Two main characters with the largest ego's and the least appealing persona's in the history of classic literature shag other people, argue, and die.  This is love?  Don't get me wrong; I love an anti-hero - when that's what they are.  But these two are hero/heroines (supposedly).  I may be dumb but I really don't get the popularity of this story at all.

Now 'Jane Eyre', that's another matter.  Beautiful story, plain girl gets hers, ugly grumpy man gets his.  Simple tale invovling a slowly evolving love, hurdles to be overcome, physical affliction and heartache, ending with the nesessary coming together of two souls.  The pace is wonderful, the pain is exquisite.  Perfect.


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## Fantasy of You (Jan 11, 2007)

Mike, I think you're choosing to dismiss what is a valid argument simply because you can't be bothered to counter it. Don't be such a snob.


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## Amber Leaf (Jan 12, 2007)

wuthering heights is a great book. im studying it at the moment for my A level english. fortunatly i come from yorkshire so i find joseph very easy to understand. i can imagine it being hard to understand though if youre from elsewhere and i give credit to those who have taken the time to understand our dialect.


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## MichelleWritesStuff (Jan 12, 2007)

andreaypich said:
			
		

> Mike C's description of WH's themes is spot on.
> 
> I read it at the age of 14 and then re-read it this year for university. I want to read it again now. It's probably one of my favourite novels. Has anyone watched the film? Does it do the book justice?


 
I read Wuthering Heights when I was 13. There was a Pat Benatar cover of a Kate Bush song about the story, and I was curious. I quite liked it.

(And now see the song had been mentioned. Okay, there was a also a Fantasy Island episode where the woman wanted to be Cathy. Which is...odd.)


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## PandasAndChippo (Mar 8, 2007)

Caolan said:
			
		

> Wuthering Heights is _the_ classic I have read. As in the only one. I really enjoyed even though I found it kind of difficult to read. The only bit that annoyed me was the fact that Joseph's speech was written in accent, which is fair enough, only half the time I couldn't understand a thing he was saying.
> 
> I also hate it how people say 'You  should always read the introduction.' So you do... and it gives away half the story.



That was the last book I had to read for 10th grade English and I burned through it in a day since I procrastinated and the test was the next day.

I hated every moment of it, and it was one of the worst books I've read in my life, right up there with Daphne DuMaurier's Rebecca...


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## Mike C (Mar 9, 2007)

PandasAndChippo said:
			
		

> I hated every moment of it, and it was one of the worst books I've read in my life, right up there with Daphne DuMaurier's Rebecca...



In that case you may find something more to your liking here... http://www.evergreen.edu/library/govdocs/coloringbooks.html


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## slayerofangels (Mar 9, 2007)

Heathcliff was a great character but Cathy was a whore.


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## Mike C (Mar 9, 2007)

Interesting how people perceive characters differently. I saw Heathcliffe as a bully (with some reason) and Cathy as manipulative, but essentially good.


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## Evangelina (Mar 12, 2007)

I LOVE HEATHCLIFF 



sorry, but I do.


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## Minka (Mar 25, 2007)

I adore Wuthering Heights. It was so utterly different from what I expected when I read it, but it still had me gripped. Heathcliff is no doubt the ultimate romantic hero and I think this book is probably the best example of the romantic genre.


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## rocky (May 18, 2007)

Quite frankly...I love this book. I relate to it. At first I didn't, I could not understand the love of Heathcliff, and then as I grew older, I did. Very Good Book! I rather emily than her sister.


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## elizabeth_472 (Jun 8, 2007)

I really liked reading Wuthering Heights.  I recently just finished Jane Eyre.  I must say I liked Jane Eyre better.  I could relate to Jane a lot more than I could relate to Catherine.  But anyways, Wuthering Heights is AMAZING!!!  Yes, I had trouble making out what Joseph was saying as well.  Heathcliff is one of the best characters ever created!  I never really liked Cathy that much.  I really liked the first half of the book better than the second half.  Well, if anyone hasn't read Wuthering Heights, I definitely recommend it.  It isn't very confusing at all.  I'm 16 and I had no trouble understanding it.  One of the best romances ever!


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## Girl in Story (Jul 8, 2007)

I just finished reading Wuthering Heights. Like, five minutes ago. 

Which bites because I'm at work, so I'm trying really hard not to cry now.


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## Mike C (Jul 9, 2007)

elizabeth_472 said:


> Heathcliff is one of the best characters ever created!



Indeed, and WH revealed one of life's eternal truths - women love bastards.


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## elizabeth_472 (Jul 10, 2007)

Yeah, but, I personally think Catherine was just a whacked up job to begin with.


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## Kest (Aug 16, 2007)

_Wuthering Heights_ is one of my favourites! A beautiful novel, very dark and poignant but a very good read. It's not your typical everything-turns-out-to-be-all-well-and-good. Instead, it reveals the wild nature of desire and love too.


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## superchase32 (Aug 17, 2007)

*I began to read WH*

But didnt understand it either. In what sense is it written? first person? I dont understand about Mrs Heathcliff?? I dont understand why it is so confussing. I had been waiting for him to meet Catherine but I see it takes a while. Any good ideas on how not to drop the book and understand the beggining? I am reading it out of pleasure but honestly I find it difficult to understand, not boring, just difficult to understand why this character talks about himself and then like narrates his actions....???? and then why is he in this place where they treat him so bad?


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## Jiri (Aug 18, 2007)

About understanding Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights.  It can be confusing, just take your time reading it and keep in mind that Heathcliff is the boy Catherine's father adopted or brought home one day to live with the family.

Jiri-


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## TWariner (Sep 22, 2007)

It was a good book.  I read it a long time ago so I'll have to read it again.  I remember it was difficult, but felt I was really accomplishing something to read it.


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## laciemn (Dec 25, 2007)

Oh my Gosh---I love this book! The fiery emotions, ahh. 

I read it solely because of the song by Kate Bush. I adore that song, and I had to know what it was all about.


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## Dr. Malone (Dec 25, 2007)

This book is absolute amazing. Like you, it took me a little while to get into it, but then it grabs you, keeps you up at night reading.

The majority of the story is told from the housekeeper. She's telling the MC about her times at Wuthering Heights with Heathcliff and Katherine.

Give it a chance. It's great. The way she tells the story actually evolves into a form that I greatly admire as a writer and reader. Something I'd like to aspire to or expirement with one day.

It took me awhile to get Joseph's accent as well.  Then it becomes clearer.  I have to admit, that was the hardest part of the read for me too.


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## Lote-Tree (Dec 25, 2007)

Caolan said:


> Wuthering Heights is _the_ classic I have read. As in the only one. I really enjoyed even though I found it kind of difficult to read. The only bit that annoyed me was the fact that Joseph's speech was written in accent, which is fair enough, only half the time I couldn't understand a thing he was saying.
> 
> I also hate it how people say 'You  should always read the introduction.' So you do... and it gives away half the story.


 
Yes I have read this book. But I would not say it is my favourite love story. I would not in fact call it a love story! It is about two characters obsession with each other in which you grew to dislike them both! Love and suffering is understandable. Love and violence - nay!


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## lilacstarflower (Jan 13, 2008)

I'm not too sure what i think about this one. I approached it thinking i was going to read a really great love story about a well-to-do girl and a misunderstood underling and i got this.

I didn't like Catherine or Heathcliffe  at all as characters and wasn't really bothered when they died. The young Cathy was almost as annoying as her mother had been when she was living and the only decent person - her father Edgar died in his prime. As for Joseph - if i could understand a word of his mutterings i'm guessing i would have disliked him also

I continued to read the story to the end because i was intrigued to know what would happen to characters who i really didn't care for - and that is why i am starting to understand why this is a classic.

I did like Emily's style of jumping narrators and getting the story from different perspectives but when i actually thought about it the story is only really coming from one source - Nelly - thus it was only ever a one sided viewpoint.

I think this is a story about revenge, infatuation, madness and inhumanity - definitely not love (for me).

Saying that, i have recommended it to friends but much prefer Charlotte Bronte


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