Don't begin with expectations of a romantic novel..., 22 Dec 2008
I had seen the 1939 film with Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon (numerous times) and loved it, never failing to be moved by the love story of Heathcliff and Cathy which was portrayed so well and with such depth by Laurence Olivier in the penultimate scene (I think). The film is based on the romance of Heathcliff and Cathy but not the depth of the torment, not the bleakness of the characters, and not the destruction that their love and their circumstances results in. If you want a romantic novel, with romantic heroes, this book may not be your cup of tea. But I strongly recommend this book. It's shocking at times, as the characters can be so appalling and are so wronged, but it is gripping and well worth persevering with. I've read reviews that advise reading Jane Eyre instead (which is a wonderful book in it's own right and much more about the "romance") but I wouldn't even compare the two; they're written by sisters but are completely different novels. I'd recommend both! But open your mind to Wuthering Heights. Prepare yourself for a bit of a ride. And don't compare begin the book with expectations of classic Hollywood story-telling or romantic novels. It's neither. And it's fantastic.

Read don't watch, 19 Dec 2008
No film has managed, so far, to do this book justice. It's a great read and one I come back to again and again. Gritty, brutal, beautiful and romantic (without being slushy) all at once. As with most of her books, the characters are extremely well depicted, and it's irrelevant whether you like them or not - you what know what happens next.

Stunning, 14 Nov 2008
I've just read this book for the third time, and it's certainly one of those rare finds that gets better and better with every read. Dark, brooding and passionate, Emily Bronte shows great talent as writer and demonstrates a great understanding and a great flair for the Gothic genre. Despite the unlikeable characters, the reader is sucked into their all-encompassing world of gloom, love, madness, despair and revenge. Heathcliff is certainly the greatest anti-hero created. I only wish EB's last manuscript had not been destroyed, unpublished, after her death - know knows what master-piece she would have created?

Misleading Advertising by Penguin!, 22 Aug 2008
I thought it was time to expand my reading horizons with some classic literature without blowing my budget, so this Penguin Popular Classic at £2 seemed the ideal choice, particularly as, when I used the 'Search Inside' facility, it showed in the list of contents a preface, chronology, introduction and further reading.

When I received the book, these 42 pages were missing, and on closer inspection I see the 'Search Inside' facility shows a completely different, more expensive Penguin edition.

This seems highly misleading to me - it's disappointing that a publisher with the status of Penguin would mislead customers like this.

5 stars for the story, reduced to 3 for cheating!!

The height of great literature, 22 Jun 2008
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.

Don't begin with expectations of a romantic novel..., 22 Dec 2008
I had seen the 1939 film with Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon (numerous times) and loved it, never failing to be moved by the love story of Heathcliff and Cathy which was portrayed so well and with such depth by Laurence Olivier in the penultimate scene (I think). The film is based on the romance of Heathcliff and Cathy but not the depth of the torment, not the bleakness of the characters, and not the destruction that their love and their circumstances results in. If you want a romantic novel, with romantic heroes, this book may not be your cup of tea. But I strongly recommend this book. It's shocking at times, as the characters can be so appalling and are so wronged, but it is gripping and well worth persevering with. I've read reviews that advise reading Jane Eyre instead (which is a wonderful book in it's own right and much more about the "romance") but I wouldn't even compare the two; they're written by sisters but are completely different novels. I'd recommend both! But open your mind to Wuthering Heights. Prepare yourself for a bit of a ride. And don't compare begin the book with expectations of classic Hollywood story-telling or romantic novels. It's neither. And it's fantastic.

Read don't watch, 19 Dec 2008
No film has managed, so far, to do this book justice. It's a great read and one I come back to again and again. Gritty, brutal, beautiful and romantic (without being slushy) all at once. As with most of her books, the characters are extremely well depicted, and it's irrelevant whether you like them or not - you what know what happens next.

Stunning, 14 Nov 2008
I've just read this book for the third time, and it's certainly one of those rare finds that gets better and better with every read. Dark, brooding and passionate, Emily Bronte shows great talent as writer and demonstrates a great understanding and a great flair for the Gothic genre. Despite the unlikeable characters, the reader is sucked into their all-encompassing world of gloom, love, madness, despair and revenge. Heathcliff is certainly the greatest anti-hero created. I only wish EB's last manuscript had not been destroyed, unpublished, after her death - know knows what master-piece she would have created?

Misleading Advertising by Penguin!, 22 Aug 2008
I thought it was time to expand my reading horizons with some classic literature without blowing my budget, so this Penguin Popular Classic at £2 seemed the ideal choice, particularly as, when I used the 'Search Inside' facility, it showed in the list of contents a preface, chronology, introduction and further reading.

When I received the book, these 42 pages were missing, and on closer inspection I see the 'Search Inside' facility shows a completely different, more expensive Penguin edition.

This seems highly misleading to me - it's disappointing that a publisher with the status of Penguin would mislead customers like this.

5 stars for the story, reduced to 3 for cheating!!

The height of great literature, 22 Jun 2008
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.


Simply Witchcraft, 03 Dec 2008
Wuthering Heights defies review and analysis; it is unlike any other book. It is much, much bigger than the sum of its parts and that is why those who love it discuss its effect in terms of an emotional impact on their lives; their hearts and souls. Those who hate it attempt to analyse its structure, plot, character and the quality of its narrative.

I first read Wuthering Heights at the age of 15 or 16 and it had an immediate and profound impact on me. As soon as I began to read, the words seemed to weave a spell that enchanted my soul; I have been haunted by it ever since. As a writer of fiction, I have tried to analyse what makes it such a powerful book and why so many people cite it as their favourite novel of all time. If only I could find the secret, I say, perhaps I could produce something as magnificent. How many authors must have had similar thoughts? What they wouldn't give to write a novel that possessed such power and beauty, even if, Like Emily Bronte, it is the only novel they ever write.

I consider myself to be a rational being, yet it is tempting to describe the affect of Wuthering Heights in terms of magic or witchcraft. Perhaps Emily did a deal with the devil or drew on some ancient power, buried deep in the Yorkshire Moors. How could someone so reserved and isolated, belonging to a world in which women were largely oppressed and subject to a thousand social rules and restrictions, produce something with such dark, sensual energy, breaking all the rules? Even Emily's sister, Charlotte, felt the need to tone it down and justify its existence.

Wuthering Heights has received much literary criticism since publication, and indeed it breaks many rules of `good' writing in terms of structure and narrative. The main characters have few redeeming features; in fact Heathcliff has been described by some as barely human (I don't agree); surely to root for him would be to root for the devil himself. There are many great books out there that are both powerful and beautifully constructed - Madam Bovary, Anna Karenina, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, to name but a few - they can be heavily analysed and deconstructed and still stand up in a way that Wuthering Heights can't. Yet, somehow, despite all of this Wuthering Heights has survived through the decades, the centuries, to enchant new generations of readers. It's almost as if Emily is still working her magic from somewhere beyond the grave.


Probably the best novel of all time, 22 Nov 2007
This book is pure genius. I read it again, and again, and always find something new to admire. It is everything a book should be. It has fantastic characters, wonderful plotting, a pacy, suspenseful story which keeps you turning the pages and is so dense that it throws up new treasures after every read.
This is the only work of Emily Bronte apart from a few poems and some juvenailia, and it is my regret that we will never know if she could have surpassed this great book with her next.
The story is well known, but in brief it is the story of Heathcliff, a foundling, who is brought to the home of Catherine Earnshaw one dark and horrible night by her father who has found him on one of his business trips and decides to rescue him. Catherine and Heathcliff form an unbreakable bond which sustains them through great misfortune and on into death, and is one of the most romantic love stories of all time.
Their love however, is also destructive and terrible. It plays out against the background of the louring moors and their terrible grandeur, which reinforces the natural, brutal cruelty of their feelings for each other and everyone else. Their love is sadistic and at times horrific and the more tragedy that is heaped upon them, the more strangled and terrible their expressions of love become.
The characters of Heathcliff and Catherine are at times utterly vile and repulsive and it is a strength of Bronte's writing that despite this you still will them to have their happy ending, and can't help sympathising with them.
The narrative is fantastically complex, with narrators within narrators and stories within stories, so that Bronte is able to give us a 360 degree view of the story and make the characters completely three dimensional, showing all their humanity, good and bad.
This is the one book I would make compulsory reading for everyone, everywhere.

A genius's masterpiece, 12 Apr 2007
This book is probably the one every writer at the back of their minds wants to write. I know I wish I did. When I first picked it up I thought it would be the typical Victorian romance; boy was I in for a shock! After a slow start it picked up. I remember I was incredibly shocked at the power of the novel & I still am. It is THE most passionate piece of literature ever in the English language maybe because it is so accurate about human emotions but at the same time it shows that human emotions can be uncontrollable/untameable. It seems so unbelievable yet you can't romanticize about the characters especially Heathcliff. The greatest scholars have great difficult analysing this book so I'm not going to start.
Only regret is that Emily didn't live to write any more great literature.

Great, but.., 25 Mar 2007
I wanted to find out what all the fuss was about Wuthering Heights and so I bought this cd set to listen to in the car as I have little time to read but drive alot (they don't mix!). The story has a lot of complexity especially at the start in terms of who's related to who but the language, structure & errie feel of this book make it a clear classic. One note however, this audio version is excellently voiced & produced and I give it 5 stars for that but I did not realise it was abridged. I don't know if I am happy or upset! Now I have something to look forward to again, the bits of the story I missed. And those times I struggled with the story line, was that because of the missing parts. This edition is 3 cds, there is an 11 cd unabridged version for sale on Amazon from the same publishers. This is a great cd set but if you are serious about reading this book & judging it yourself as a classic perhaps, then I think you must hear the full version as it was written.

The dark and brooding tale of Cathy & Heathcliff, 24 Mar 2007
What a great experience to finally reread this classic as an adult. Emily Bronte depicts a very gothic and depressing story of two star-crossed (but not terribly likeable) lovers, Cathy & Heathcliff, and the love between them that transcended the grave. Added to that a wonderful depiction of the dark English moors and the local characters with their strange dialects. This was also told in a very unusual style, like a tale within a tale within a tale, adding more layers and perspectives to the story.

How unfortunate that one's upbringing can so affect a person that their grief and bitterness turn what could have been a fine young man into such a hateful and vengeful person as Heathcliff became. And fortunate that Cathy's daughter and Hareton could overcome their dark upbringing to bring a happier light onto the dark moors of England.

I did not read this version of the book, but one including works of the other Bronte sisters, which did not have all the footnotes. I think I enjoyed that better as I wasn't constantly distracted by looking to the back for the notes and just allowed myself to become engrossed with the story. It's one book you have to read at least twice in your life -- of course in school as required reading and then again as an adult to add that perspective of age and experience in life so that one can more fully appreciate a such a classic tale

Don't begin with expectations of a romantic novel..., 22 Dec 2008
I had seen the 1939 film with Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon (numerous times) and loved it, never failing to be moved by the love story of Heathcliff and Cathy which was portrayed so well and with such depth by Laurence Olivier in the penultimate scene (I think). The film is based on the romance of Heathcliff and Cathy but not the depth of the torment, not the bleakness of the characters, and not the destruction that their love and their circumstances results in. If you want a romantic novel, with romantic heroes, this book may not be your cup of tea. But I strongly recommend this book. It's shocking at times, as the characters can be so appalling and are so wronged, but it is gripping and well worth persevering with. I've read reviews that advise reading Jane Eyre instead (which is a wonderful book in it's own right and much more about the "romance") but I wouldn't even compare the two; they're written by sisters but are completely different novels. I'd recommend both! But open your mind to Wuthering Heights. Prepare yourself for a bit of a ride. And don't compare begin the book with expectations of classic Hollywood story-telling or romantic novels. It's neither. And it's fantastic.

Read don't watch, 19 Dec 2008
No film has managed, so far, to do this book justice. It's a great read and one I come back to again and again. Gritty, brutal, beautiful and romantic (without being slushy) all at once. As with most of her books, the characters are extremely well depicted, and it's irrelevant whether you like them or not - you what know what happens next.

Stunning, 14 Nov 2008
I've just read this book for the third time, and it's certainly one of those rare finds that gets better and better with every read. Dark, brooding and passionate, Emily Bronte shows great talent as writer and demonstrates a great understanding and a great flair for the Gothic genre. Despite the unlikeable characters, the reader is sucked into their all-encompassing world of gloom, love, madness, despair and revenge. Heathcliff is certainly the greatest anti-hero created. I only wish EB's last manuscript had not been destroyed, unpublished, after her death - know knows what master-piece she would have created?

Misleading Advertising by Penguin!, 22 Aug 2008
I thought it was time to expand my reading horizons with some classic literature without blowing my budget, so this Penguin Popular Classic at £2 seemed the ideal choice, particularly as, when I used the 'Search Inside' facility, it showed in the list of contents a preface, chronology, introduction and further reading.

When I received the book, these 42 pages were missing, and on closer inspection I see the 'Search Inside' facility shows a completely different, more expensive Penguin edition.

This seems highly misleading to me - it's disappointing that a publisher with the status of Penguin would mislead customers like this.

5 stars for the story, reduced to 3 for cheating!!

The height of great literature, 22 Jun 2008
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.


Simply Witchcraft, 03 Dec 2008
Wuthering Heights defies review and analysis; it is unlike any other book. It is much, much bigger than the sum of its parts and that is why those who love it discuss its effect in terms of an emotional impact on their lives; their hearts and souls. Those who hate it attempt to analyse its structure, plot, character and the quality of its narrative.

I first read Wuthering Heights at the age of 15 or 16 and it had an immediate and profound impact on me. As soon as I began to read, the words seemed to weave a spell that enchanted my soul; I have been haunted by it ever since. As a writer of fiction, I have tried to analyse what makes it such a powerful book and why so many people cite it as their favourite novel of all time. If only I could find the secret, I say, perhaps I could produce something as magnificent. How many authors must have had similar thoughts? What they wouldn't give to write a novel that possessed such power and beauty, even if, Like Emily Bronte, it is the only novel they ever write.

I consider myself to be a rational being, yet it is tempting to describe the affect of Wuthering Heights in terms of magic or witchcraft. Perhaps Emily did a deal with the devil or drew on some ancient power, buried deep in the Yorkshire Moors. How could someone so reserved and isolated, belonging to a world in which women were largely oppressed and subject to a thousand social rules and restrictions, produce something with such dark, sensual energy, breaking all the rules? Even Emily's sister, Charlotte, felt the need to tone it down and justify its existence.

Wuthering Heights has received much literary criticism since publication, and indeed it breaks many rules of `good' writing in terms of structure and narrative. The main characters have few redeeming features; in fact Heathcliff has been described by some as barely human (I don't agree); surely to root for him would be to root for the devil himself. There are many great books out there that are both powerful and beautifully constructed - Madam Bovary, Anna Karenina, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, to name but a few - they can be heavily analysed and deconstructed and still stand up in a way that Wuthering Heights can't. Yet, somehow, despite all of this Wuthering Heights has survived through the decades, the centuries, to enchant new generations of readers. It's almost as if Emily is still working her magic from somewhere beyond the grave.


Probably the best novel of all time, 22 Nov 2007
This book is pure genius. I read it again, and again, and always find something new to admire. It is everything a book should be. It has fantastic characters, wonderful plotting, a pacy, suspenseful story which keeps you turning the pages and is so dense that it throws up new treasures after every read.
This is the only work of Emily Bronte apart from a few poems and some juvenailia, and it is my regret that we will never know if she could have surpassed this great book with her next.
The story is well known, but in brief it is the story of Heathcliff, a foundling, who is brought to the home of Catherine Earnshaw one dark and horrible night by her father who has found him on one of his business trips and decides to rescue him. Catherine and Heathcliff form an unbreakable bond which sustains them through great misfortune and on into death, and is one of the most romantic love stories of all time.
Their love however, is also destructive and terrible. It plays out against the background of the louring moors and their terrible grandeur, which reinforces the natural, brutal cruelty of their feelings for each other and everyone else. Their love is sadistic and at times horrific and the more tragedy that is heaped upon them, the more strangled and terrible their expressions of love become.
The characters of Heathcliff and Catherine are at times utterly vile and repulsive and it is a strength of Bronte's writing that despite this you still will them to have their happy ending, and can't help sympathising with them.
The narrative is fantastically complex, with narrators within narrators and stories within stories, so that Bronte is able to give us a 360 degree view of the story and make the characters completely three dimensional, showing all their humanity, good and bad.
This is the one book I would make compulsory reading for everyone, everywhere.

A genius's masterpiece, 12 Apr 2007
This book is probably the one every writer at the back of their minds wants to write. I know I wish I did. When I first picked it up I thought it would be the typical Victorian romance; boy was I in for a shock! After a slow start it picked up. I remember I was incredibly shocked at the power of the novel & I still am. It is THE most passionate piece of literature ever in the English language maybe because it is so accurate about human emotions but at the same time it shows that human emotions can be uncontrollable/untameable. It seems so unbelievable yet you can't romanticize about the characters especially Heathcliff. The greatest scholars have great difficult analysing this book so I'm not going to start.
Only regret is that Emily didn't live to write any more great literature.

Great, but.., 25 Mar 2007
I wanted to find out what all the fuss was about Wuthering Heights and so I bought this cd set to listen to in the car as I have little time to read but drive alot (they don't mix!). The story has a lot of complexity especially at the start in terms of who's related to who but the language, structure & errie feel of this book make it a clear classic. One note however, this audio version is excellently voiced & produced and I give it 5 stars for that but I did not realise it was abridged. I don't know if I am happy or upset! Now I have something to look forward to again, the bits of the story I missed. And those times I struggled with the story line, was that because of the missing parts. This edition is 3 cds, there is an 11 cd unabridged version for sale on Amazon from the same publishers. This is a great cd set but if you are serious about reading this book & judging it yourself as a classic perhaps, then I think you must hear the full version as it was written.

The dark and brooding tale of Cathy & Heathcliff, 24 Mar 2007
What a great experience to finally reread this classic as an adult. Emily Bronte depicts a very gothic and depressing story of two star-crossed (but not terribly likeable) lovers, Cathy & Heathcliff, and the love between them that transcended the grave. Added to that a wonderful depiction of the dark English moors and the local characters with their strange dialects. This was also told in a very unusual style, like a tale within a tale within a tale, adding more layers and perspectives to the story.

How unfortunate that one's upbringing can so affect a person that their grief and bitterness turn what could have been a fine young man into such a hateful and vengeful person as Heathcliff became. And fortunate that Cathy's daughter and Hareton could overcome their dark upbringing to bring a happier light onto the dark moors of England.

I did not read this version of the book, but one including works of the other Bronte sisters, which did not have all the footnotes. I think I enjoyed that better as I wasn't constantly distracted by looking to the back for the notes and just allowed myself to become engrossed with the story. It's one book you have to read at least twice in your life -- of course in school as required reading and then again as an adult to add that perspective of age and experience in life so that one can more fully appreciate a such a classic tale

Don't begin with expectations of a romantic novel..., 22 Dec 2008
I had seen the 1939 film with Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon (numerous times) and loved it, never failing to be moved by the love story of Heathcliff and Cathy which was portrayed so well and with such depth by Laurence Olivier in the penultimate scene (I think). The film is based on the romance of Heathcliff and Cathy but not the depth of the torment, not the bleakness of the characters, and not the destruction that their love and their circumstances results in. If you want a romantic novel, with romantic heroes, this book may not be your cup of tea. But I strongly recommend this book. It's shocking at times, as the characters can be so appalling and are so wronged, but it is gripping and well worth persevering with. I've read reviews that advise reading Jane Eyre instead (which is a wonderful book in it's own right and much more about the "romance") but I wouldn't even compare the two; they're written by sisters but are completely different novels. I'd recommend both! But open your mind to Wuthering Heights. Prepare yourself for a bit of a ride. And don't compare begin the book with expectations of classic Hollywood story-telling or romantic novels. It's neither. And it's fantastic.

Read don't watch, 19 Dec 2008
No film has managed, so far, to do this book justice. It's a great read and one I come back to again and again. Gritty, brutal, beautiful and romantic (without being slushy) all at once. As with most of her books, the characters are extremely well depicted, and it's irrelevant whether you like them or not - you what know what happens next.

Stunning, 14 Nov 2008
I've just read this book for the third time, and it's certainly one of those rare finds that gets better and better with every read. Dark, brooding and passionate, Emily Bronte shows great talent as writer and demonstrates a great understanding and a great flair for the Gothic genre. Despite the unlikeable characters, the reader is sucked into their all-encompassing world of gloom, love, madness, despair and revenge. Heathcliff is certainly the greatest anti-hero created. I only wish EB's last manuscript had not been destroyed, unpublished, after her death - know knows what master-piece she would have created?

Misleading Advertising by Penguin!, 22 Aug 2008
I thought it was time to expand my reading horizons with some classic literature without blowing my budget, so this Penguin Popular Classic at £2 seemed the ideal choice, particularly as, when I used the 'Search Inside' facility, it showed in the list of contents a preface, chronology, introduction and further reading.

When I received the book, these 42 pages were missing, and on closer inspection I see the 'Search Inside' facility shows a completely different, more expensive Penguin edition.

This seems highly misleading to me - it's disappointing that a publisher with the status of Penguin would mislead customers like this.

5 stars for the story, reduced to 3 for cheating!!

The height of great literature, 22 Jun 2008
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.

Don't begin with expectations of a romantic novel..., 22 Dec 2008
I had seen the 1939 film with Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon (numerous times) and loved it, never failing to be moved by the love story of Heathcliff and Cathy which was portrayed so well and with such depth by Laurence Olivier in the penultimate scene (I think). The film is based on the romance of Heathcliff and Cathy but not the depth of the torment, not the bleakness of the characters, and not the destruction that their love and their circumstances results in. If you want a romantic novel, with romantic heroes, this book may not be your cup of tea. But I strongly recommend this book. It's shocking at times, as the characters can be so appalling and are so wronged, but it is gripping and well worth persevering with. I've read reviews that advise reading Jane Eyre instead (which is a wonderful book in it's own right and much more about the "romance") but I wouldn't even compare the two; they're written by sisters but are completely different novels. I'd recommend both! But open your mind to Wuthering Heights. Prepare yourself for a bit of a ride. And don't compare begin the book with expectations of classic Hollywood story-telling or romantic novels. It's neither. And it's fantastic.

Read don't watch, 19 Dec 2008
No film has managed, so far, to do this book justice. It's a great read and one I come back to again and again. Gritty, brutal, beautiful and romantic (without being slushy) all at once. As with most of her books, the characters are extremely well depicted, and it's irrelevant whether you like them or not - you what know what happens next.

Stunning, 14 Nov 2008
I've just read this book for the third time, and it's certainly one of those rare finds that gets better and better with every read. Dark, brooding and passionate, Emily Bronte shows great talent as writer and demonstrates a great understanding and a great flair for the Gothic genre. Despite the unlikeable characters, the reader is sucked into their all-encompassing world of gloom, love, madness, despair and revenge. Heathcliff is certainly the greatest anti-hero created. I only wish EB's last manuscript had not been destroyed, unpublished, after her death - know knows what master-piece she would have created?

Misleading Advertising by Penguin!, 22 Aug 2008
I thought it was time to expand my reading horizons with some classic literature without blowing my budget, so this Penguin Popular Classic at £2 seemed the ideal choice, particularly as, when I used the 'Search Inside' facility, it showed in the list of contents a preface, chronology, introduction and further reading.

When I received the book, these 42 pages were missing, and on closer inspection I see the 'Search Inside' facility shows a completely different, more expensive Penguin edition.

This seems highly misleading to me - it's disappointing that a publisher with the status of Penguin would mislead customers like this.

5 stars for the story, reduced to 3 for cheating!!

The height of great literature, 22 Jun 2008
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.


Simply Witchcraft, 03 Dec 2008
Wuthering Heights defies review and analysis; it is unlike any other book. It is much, much bigger than the sum of its parts and that is why those who love it discuss its effect in terms of an emotional impact on their lives; their hearts and souls. Those who hate it attempt to analyse its structure, plot, character and the quality of its narrative.

I first read Wuthering Heights at the age of 15 or 16 and it had an immediate and profound impact on me. As soon as I began to read, the words seemed to weave a spell that enchanted my soul; I have been haunted by it ever since. As a writer of fiction, I have tried to analyse what makes it such a powerful book and why so many people cite it as their favourite novel of all time. If only I could find the secret, I say, perhaps I could produce something as magnificent. How many authors must have had similar thoughts? What they wouldn't give to write a novel that possessed such power and beauty, even if, Like Emily Bronte, it is the only novel they ever write.

I consider myself to be a rational being, yet it is tempting to describe the affect of Wuthering Heights in terms of magic or witchcraft. Perhaps Emily did a deal with the devil or drew on some ancient power, buried deep in the Yorkshire Moors. How could someone so reserved and isolated, belonging to a world in which women were largely oppressed and subject to a thousand social rules and restrictions, produce something with such dark, sensual energy, breaking all the rules? Even Emily's sister, Charlotte, felt the need to tone it down and justify its existence.

Wuthering Heights has received much literary criticism since publication, and indeed it breaks many rules of `good' writing in terms of structure and narrative. The main characters have few redeeming features; in fact Heathcliff has been described by some as barely human (I don't agree); surely to root for him would be to root for the devil himself. There are many great books out there that are both powerful and beautifully constructed - Madam Bovary, Anna Karenina, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, to name but a few - they can be heavily analysed and deconstructed and still stand up in a way that Wuthering Heights can't. Yet, somehow, despite all of this Wuthering Heights has survived through the decades, the centuries, to enchant new generations of readers. It's almost as if Emily is still working her magic from somewhere beyond the grave.


Probably the best novel of all time, 22 Nov 2007
This book is pure genius. I read it again, and again, and always find something new to admire. It is everything a book should be. It has fantastic characters, wonderful plotting, a pacy, suspenseful story which keeps you turning the pages and is so dense that it throws up new treasures after every read.
This is the only work of Emily Bronte apart from a few poems and some juvenailia, and it is my regret that we will never know if she could have surpassed this great book with her next.
The story is well known, but in brief it is the story of Heathcliff, a foundling, who is brought to the home of Catherine Earnshaw one dark and horrible night by her father who has found him on one of his business trips and decides to rescue him. Catherine and Heathcliff form an unbreakable bond which sustains them through great misfortune and on into death, and is one of the most romantic love stories of all time.
Their love however, is also destructive and terrible. It plays out against the background of the louring moors and their terrible grandeur, which reinforces the natural, brutal cruelty of their feelings for each other and everyone else. Their love is sadistic and at times horrific and the more tragedy that is heaped upon them, the more strangled and terrible their expressions of love become.
The characters of Heathcliff and Catherine are at times utterly vile and repulsive and it is a strength of Bronte's writing that despite this you still will them to have their happy ending, and can't help sympathising with them.
The narrative is fantastically complex, with narrators within narrators and stories within stories, so that Bronte is able to give us a 360 degree view of the story and make the characters completely three dimensional, showing all their humanity, good and bad.
This is the one book I would make compulsory reading for everyone, everywhere.

A genius's masterpiece, 12 Apr 2007
This book is probably the one every writer at the back of their minds wants to write. I know I wish I did. When I first picked it up I thought it would be the typical Victorian romance; boy was I in for a shock! After a slow start it picked up. I remember I was incredibly shocked at the power of the novel & I still am. It is THE most passionate piece of literature ever in the English language maybe because it is so accurate about human emotions but at the same time it shows that human emotions can be uncontrollable/untameable. It seems so unbelievable yet you can't romanticize about the characters especially Heathcliff. The greatest scholars have great difficult analysing this book so I'm not going to start.
Only regret is that Emily didn't live to write any more great literature.

Great, but.., 25 Mar 2007
I wanted to find out what all the fuss was about Wuthering Heights and so I bought this cd set to listen to in the car as I have little time to read but drive alot (they don't mix!). The story has a lot of complexity especially at the start in terms of who's related to who but the language, structure & errie feel of this book make it a clear classic. One note however, this audio version is excellently voiced & produced and I give it 5 stars for that but I did not realise it was abridged. I don't know if I am happy or upset! Now I have something to look forward to again, the bits of the story I missed. And those times I struggled with the story line, was that because of the missing parts. This edition is 3 cds, there is an 11 cd unabridged version for sale on Amazon from the same publishers. This is a great cd set but if you are serious about reading this book & judging it yourself as a classic perhaps, then I think you must hear the full version as it was written.

The dark and brooding tale of Cathy & Heathcliff, 24 Mar 2007
What a great experience to finally reread this classic as an adult. Emily Bronte depicts a very gothic and depressing story of two star-crossed (but not terribly likeable) lovers, Cathy & Heathcliff, and the love between them that transcended the grave. Added to that a wonderful depiction of the dark English moors and the local characters with their strange dialects. This was also told in a very unusual style, like a tale within a tale within a tale, adding more layers and perspectives to the story.

How unfortunate that one's upbringing can so affect a person that their grief and bitterness turn what could have been a fine young man into such a hateful and vengeful person as Heathcliff became. And fortunate that Cathy's daughter and Hareton could overcome their dark upbringing to bring a happier light onto the dark moors of England.

I did not read this version of the book, but one including works of the other Bronte sisters, which did not have all the footnotes. I think I enjoyed that better as I wasn't constantly distracted by looking to the back for the notes and just allowed myself to become engrossed with the story. It's one book you have to read at least twice in your life -- of course in school as required reading and then again as an adult to add that perspective of age and experience in life so that one can more fully appreciate a such a classic tale

Don't begin with expectations of a romantic novel..., 22 Dec 2008
I had seen the 1939 film with Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon (numerous times) and loved it, never failing to be moved by the love story of Heathcliff and Cathy which was portrayed so well and with such depth by Laurence Olivier in the penultimate scene (I think). The film is based on the romance of Heathcliff and Cathy but not the depth of the torment, not the bleakness of the characters, and not the destruction that their love and their circumstances results in. If you want a romantic novel, with romantic heroes, this book may not be your cup of tea. But I strongly recommend this book. It's shocking at times, as the characters can be so appalling and are so wronged, but it is gripping and well worth persevering with. I've read reviews that advise reading Jane Eyre instead (which is a wonderful book in it's own right and much more about the "romance") but I wouldn't even compare the two; they're written by sisters but are completely different novels. I'd recommend both! But open your mind to Wuthering Heights. Prepare yourself for a bit of a ride. And don't compare begin the book with expectations of classic Hollywood story-telling or romantic novels. It's neither. And it's fantastic.

Read don't watch, 19 Dec 2008
No film has managed, so far, to do this book justice. It's a great read and one I come back to again and again. Gritty, brutal, beautiful and romantic (without being slushy) all at once. As with most of her books, the characters are extremely well depicted, and it's irrelevant whether you like them or not - you what know what happens next.

Stunning, 14 Nov 2008
I've just read this book for the third time, and it's certainly one of those rare finds that gets better and better with every read. Dark, brooding and passionate, Emily Bronte shows great talent as writer and demonstrates a great understanding and a great flair for the Gothic genre. Despite the unlikeable characters, the reader is sucked into their all-encompassing world of gloom, love, madness, despair and revenge. Heathcliff is certainly the greatest anti-hero created. I only wish EB's last manuscript had not been destroyed, unpublished, after her death - know knows what master-piece she would have created?

Misleading Advertising by Penguin!, 22 Aug 2008
I thought it was time to expand my reading horizons with some classic literature without blowing my budget, so this Penguin Popular Classic at £2 seemed the ideal choice, particularly as, when I used the 'Search Inside' facility, it showed in the list of contents a preface, chronology, introduction and further reading.

When I received the book, these 42 pages were missing, and on closer inspection I see the 'Search Inside' facility shows a completely different, more expensive Penguin edition.

This seems highly misleading to me - it's disappointing that a publisher with the status of Penguin would mislead customers like this.

5 stars for the story, reduced to 3 for cheating!!

The height of great literature, 22 Jun 2008
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.


Wuthering Heights- York Notes, 15 Mar 2005
This study guide is an invaluable tool to anybody wishing to gain a very basic understanding of Bronte's text,wuthering Heights.
It very clearly sets out plot with a general synopsis and chapter by chapter explanation and summary's and also comments on theme, style language and gender within the novel.

Don't begin with expectations of a romantic novel..., 22 Dec 2008
I had seen the 1939 film with Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon (numerous times) and loved it, never failing to be moved by the love story of Heathcliff and Cathy which was portrayed so well and with such depth by Laurence Olivier in the penultimate scene (I think). The film is based on the romance of Heathcliff and Cathy but not the depth of the torment, not the bleakness of the characters, and not the destruction that their love and their circumstances results in. If you want a romantic novel, with romantic heroes, this book may not be your cup of tea. But I strongly recommend this book. It's shocking at times, as the characters can be so appalling and are so wronged, but it is gripping and well worth persevering with. I've read reviews that advise reading Jane Eyre instead (which is a wonderful book in it's own right and much more about the "romance") but I wouldn't even compare the two; they're written by sisters but are completely different novels. I'd recommend both! But open your mind to Wuthering Heights. Prepare yourself for a bit of a ride. And don't compare begin the book with expectations of classic Hollywood story-telling or romantic novels. It's neither. And it's fantastic.

Read don't watch, 19 Dec 2008
No film has managed, so far, to do this book justice. It's a great read and one I come back to again and again. Gritty, brutal, beautiful and romantic (without being slushy) all at once. As with most of her books, the characters are extremely well depicted, and it's irrelevant whether you like them or not - you what know what happens next.

Stunning, 14 Nov 2008
I've just read this book for the third time, and it's certainly one of those rare finds that gets better and better with every read. Dark, brooding and passionate, Emily Bronte shows great talent as writer and demonstrates a great understanding and a great flair for the Gothic genre. Despite the unlikeable characters, the reader is sucked into their all-encompassing world of gloom, love, madness, despair and revenge. Heathcliff is certainly the greatest anti-hero created. I only wish EB's last manuscript had not been destroyed, unpublished, after her death - know knows what master-piece she would have created?

Misleading Advertising by Penguin!, 22 Aug 2008
I thought it was time to expand my reading horizons with some classic literature without blowing my budget, so this Penguin Popular Classic at £2 seemed the ideal choice, particularly as, when I used the 'Search Inside' facility, it showed in the list of contents a preface, chronology, introduction and further reading.

When I received the book, these 42 pages were missing, and on closer inspection I see the 'Search Inside' facility shows a completely different, more expensive Penguin edition.

This seems highly misleading to me - it's disappointing that a publisher with the status of Penguin would mislead customers like this.

5 stars for the story, reduced to 3 for cheating!!

The height of great literature, 22 Jun 2008
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.


Simply Witchcraft, 03 Dec 2008
Wuthering Heights defies review and analysis; it is unlike any other book. It is much, much bigger than the sum of its parts and that is why those who love it discuss its effect in terms of an emotional impact on their lives; their hearts and souls. Those who hate it attempt to analyse its structure, plot, character and the quality of its narrative.

I first read Wuthering Heights at the age of 15 or 16 and it had an immediate and profound impact on me. As soon as I began to read, the words seemed to weave a spell that enchanted my soul; I have been haunted by it ever since. As a writer of fiction, I have tried to analyse what makes it such a powerful book and why so many people cite it as their favourite novel of all time. If only I could find the secret, I say, perhaps I could produce something as magnificent. How many authors must have had similar thoughts? What they wouldn't give to write a novel that possessed such power and beauty, even if, Like Emily Bronte, it is the only novel they ever write.

I consider myself to be a rational being, yet it is tempting to describe the affect of Wuthering Heights in terms of magic or witchcraft. Perhaps Emily did a deal with the devil or drew on some ancient power, buried deep in the Yorkshire Moors. How could someone so reserved and isolated, belonging to a world in which women were largely oppressed and subject to a thousand social rules and restrictions, produce something with such dark, sensual energy, breaking all the rules? Even Emily's sister, Charlotte, felt the need to tone it down and justify its existence.

Wuthering Heights has received much literary criticism since publication, and indeed it breaks many rules of `good' writing in terms of structure and narrative. The main characters have few redeeming features; in fact Heathcliff has been described by some as barely human (I don't agree); surely to root for him would be to root for the devil himself. There are many great books out there that are both powerful and beautifully constructed - Madam Bovary, Anna Karenina, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, to name but a few - they can be heavily analysed and deconstructed and still stand up in a way that Wuthering Heights can't. Yet, somehow, despite all of this Wuthering Heights has survived through the decades, the centuries, to enchant new generations of readers. It's almost as if Emily is still working her magic from somewhere beyond the grave.


Probably the best novel of all time, 22 Nov 2007
This book is pure genius. I read it again, and again, and always find something new to admire. It is everything a book should be. It has fantastic characters, wonderful plotting, a pacy, suspenseful story which keeps you turning the pages and is so dense that it throws up new treasures after every read.
This is the only work of Emily Bronte apart from a few poems and some juvenailia, and it is my regret that we will never know if she could have surpassed this great book with her next.
The story is well known, but in brief it is the story of Heathcliff, a foundling, who is brought to the home of Catherine Earnshaw one dark and horrible night by her father who has found him on one of his business trips and decides to rescue him. Catherine and Heathcliff form an unbreakable bond which sustains them through great misfortune and on into death, and is one of the most romantic love stories of all time.
Their love however, is also destructive and terrible. It plays out against the background of the louring moors and their terrible grandeur, which reinforces the natural, brutal cruelty of their feelings for each other and everyone else. Their love is sadistic and at times horrific and the more tragedy that is heaped upon them, the more strangled and terrible their expressions of love become.
The characters of Heathcliff and Catherine are at times utterly vile and repulsive and it is a strength of Bronte's writing that despite this you still will them to have their happy ending, and can't help sympathising with them.
The narrative is fantastically complex, with narrators within narrators and stories within stories, so that Bronte is able to give us a 360 degree view of the story and make the characters completely three dimensional, showing all their humanity, good and bad.
This is the one book I would make compulsory reading for everyone, everywhere.

A genius's masterpiece, 12 Apr 2007
This book is probably the one every writer at the back of their minds wants to write. I know I wish I did. When I first picked it up I thought it would be the typical Victorian romance; boy was I in for a shock! After a slow start it picked up. I remember I was incredibly shocked at the power of the novel & I still am. It is THE most passionate piece of literature ever in the English language maybe because it is so accurate about human emotions but at the same time it shows that human emotions can be uncontrollable/untameable. It seems so unbelievable yet you can't romanticize about the characters especially Heathcliff. The greatest scholars have great difficult analysing this book so I'm not going to start.
Only regret is that Emily didn't live to write any more great literature.

Great, but.., 25 Mar 2007
I wanted to find out what all the fuss was about Wuthering Heights and so I bought this cd set to listen to in the car as I have little time to read but drive alot (they don't mix!). The story has a lot of complexity especially at the start in terms of who's related to who but the language, structure & errie feel of this book make it a clear classic. One note however, this audio version is excellently voiced & produced and I give it 5 stars for that but I did not realise it was abridged. I don't know if I am happy or upset! Now I have something to look forward to again, the bits of the story I missed. And those times I struggled with the story line, was that because of the missing parts. This edition is 3 cds, there is an 11 cd unabridged version for sale on Amazon from the same publishers. This is a great cd set but if you are serious about reading this book & judging it yourself as a classic perhaps, then I think you must hear the full version as it was written.

The dark and brooding tale of Cathy & Heathcliff, 24 Mar 2007
What a great experience to finally reread this classic as an adult. Emily Bronte depicts a very gothic and depressing story of two star-crossed (but not terribly likeable) lovers, Cathy & Heathcliff, and the love between them that transcended the grave. Added to that a wonderful depiction of the dark English moors and the local characters with their strange dialects. This was also told in a very unusual style, like a tale within a tale within a tale, adding more layers and perspectives to the story.

How unfortunate that one's upbringing can so affect a person that their grief and bitterness turn what could have been a fine young man into such a hateful and vengeful person as Heathcliff became. And fortunate that Cathy's daughter and Hareton could overcome their dark upbringing to bring a happier light onto the dark moors of England.

I did not read this version of the book, but one including works of the other Bronte sisters, which did not have all the footnotes. I think I enjoyed that better as I wasn't constantly distracted by looking to the back for the notes and just allowed myself to become engrossed with the story. It's one book you have to read at least twice in your life -- of course in school as required reading and then again as an adult to add that perspective of age and experience in life so that one can more fully appreciate a such a classic tale

Don't begin with expectations of a romantic novel..., 22 Dec 2008
I had seen the 1939 film with Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon (numerous times) and loved it, never failing to be moved by the love story of Heathcliff and Cathy which was portrayed so well and with such depth by Laurence Olivier in the penultimate scene (I think). The film is based on the romance of Heathcliff and Cathy but not the depth of the torment, not the bleakness of the characters, and not the destruction that their love and their circumstances results in. If you want a romantic novel, with romantic heroes, this book may not be your cup of tea. But I strongly recommend this book. It's shocking at times, as the characters can be so appalling and are so wronged, but it is gripping and well worth persevering with. I've read reviews that advise reading Jane Eyre instead (which is a wonderful book in it's own right and much more about the "romance") but I wouldn't even compare the two; they're written by sisters but are completely different novels. I'd recommend both! But open your mind to Wuthering Heights. Prepare yourself for a bit of a ride. And don't compare begin the book with expectations of classic Hollywood story-telling or romantic novels. It's neither. And it's fantastic.

Read don't watch, 19 Dec 2008
No film has managed, so far, to do this book justice. It's a great read and one I come back to again and again. Gritty, brutal, beautiful and romantic (without being slushy) all at once. As with most of her books, the characters are extremely well depicted, and it's irrelevant whether you like them or not - you what know what happens next.

Stunning, 14 Nov 2008
I've just read this book for the third time, and it's certainly one of those rare finds that gets better and better with every read. Dark, brooding and passionate, Emily Bronte shows great talent as writer and demonstrates a great understanding and a great flair for the Gothic genre. Despite the unlikeable characters, the reader is sucked into their all-encompassing world of gloom, love, madness, despair and revenge. Heathcliff is certainly the greatest anti-hero created. I only wish EB's last manuscript had not been destroyed, unpublished, after her death - know knows what master-piece she would have created?

Misleading Advertising by Penguin!, 22 Aug 2008
I thought it was time to expand my reading horizons with some classic literature without blowing my budget, so this Penguin Popular Classic at £2 seemed the ideal choice, particularly as, when I used the 'Search Inside' facility, it showed in the list of contents a preface, chronology, introduction and further reading.

When I received the book, these 42 pages were missing, and on closer inspection I see the 'Search Inside' facility shows a completely different, more expensive Penguin edition.

This seems highly misleading to me - it's disappointing that a publisher with the status of Penguin would mislead customers like this.

5 stars for the story, reduced to 3 for cheating!!

The height of great literature, 22 Jun 2008
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.


Wuthering Heights- York Notes, 15 Mar 2005
This study guide is an invaluable tool to anybody wishing to gain a very basic understanding of Bronte's text,wuthering Heights.
It very clearly sets out plot with a general synopsis and chapter by chapter explanation and summary's and also comments on theme, style language and gender within the novel.

worth a read, 06 Jan 2008
I approached this thinking i was about to read a love story - "the greatest love story of all" - as i was led to believe but finished the book having the completely opposite attitude i thought i would have. Wuthering Heights is more about the consequences of selfishness, arrogance and revenge rather than pure love. Its a dark read. Its interesting how Bronte managed to make a timeless story based around the lives and legacies of two characters who seem so unloveable. I disliked both Catherine and Heathcliffe but found myself constantly turning the pages to find out what happened next.

A Twisted Tale of Obsession, Love, Class, Hate and Fate, 25 Oct 2006
Wuthering Heights is a surprisingly modern novel given that its authorship predates our modern understanding of psychology. Like many modern novels, Ms. Bronte has also explored the darker side of human passions and psyches more thoroughly than the sunnier side. Heathcliff will remind you of classic characters whose lives were twisted by fate like Captain Ahab in Moby Dick, Erik in Phantom of the Opera, Quasimodo in The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, and the mysterious prisoner in The Man in the Iron Mask.

If there were ever two star-crossed lovers who have captured the world's imagination since Romeo and Juliet, they must be Catherine and Heathcliff. Yet, unlike, many such pairs, their unhappiness is heavily influenced by themselves.

As you contemplate their story, you are constantly drawn to the thought, "what if" thus and such had occurred differently? That's part of the great power of the story because it has so many unexpected twistings and turnings. A reader's expectations from a love story are turned upside down, sideways and diagonal from where those expectations normally rest. As a result, you'll probably decide this isn't a love story after all . . . but a tragedy. Taken from that perspective, you'll find yourself hearing echoes of Lady Macbeth and King Lear as you contemplate what occurs when the natural order is disturbed. Few English authors since Shakespeare have captured that sense of what can happen when the universe is disarranged.

What's great about this story? It's pretty simple: Emotional intensity in the writing; deeply memorable characters; doomed lovers; and a haunting glimpse at unshakeable obsession.

What's not so great? The story development itself is pretty awkward. Much of the story is told in flashback which steals power and immediacy from the narration. If ever a story cried out for being told in the first person (by Heathcliff, Catherine, Edgar Linton, Hareton and young Catherine), it's Wuthering Heights. The transitions from one key moment to another are often very abrupt. Sometimes it is 150 pages later before you get the full sense of what Emily Bronte meant to convey in some of those transitions.

What's less than great? The characters aren't nearly as appealing as those you'll usually find in a novel dealing with these issues. In that sense, the novel is more realistic than fictional . . . which helps create some of its immense power. It's probably a worthwhile price to pay.

Whatever you think of Wuthering Heights, you owe it to yourself to read one of the most moving tales that has ever been written. Pick a time when you're feeling reasonably happy to start the book. Otherwise, you may find your mood to be more than a little darkened for a few days.



Complex, disturbing and haunted, 14 Oct 2006
Yes, this is a love story - but it's also so much more. Told through mutiple narrators, who all impose their own biases and viewpoints on the story that they're telling, this novel foregrounds issues of cruelty, love, passion, desire and death. That it was written by the reclusive, socially inept, and most probably virginal Emily Bronte underlines the problematic nature of the text. On one level it is the ultimate female fantasy, as Heathcliffe is Emily's ultimate hero (incestuously based on her brother?) yet on the other, it overturns so many of the conventions of the romantic genre in a transgressive way. The one thing that most readers agree on is the stormy, tumultuous nature of the story and the sense of peace we reach at the end. The only novel that Emily wrote (but read her poetry to savour her genius) this is still an experience that shouldn't be missed.

Wuthering Heights, 14 Jun 2006
A fantastic book. Although I found it extremely frustrating that the above review completely explained the whole story.

the ultimate love story, 12 Apr 2006
Anyone who likes a good love story will be profoundly moved by this classic! Obsession for one another drives Heathcliffe to insanity and Cathy to her death. Even in the afterlife, they cannot be seperated, and Cathy haunts Heathcliffe until he digs up her grave to be near her corpse. Will change your thoughts on true love.

Don't begin with expectations of a romantic novel..., 22 Dec 2008
I had seen the 1939 film with Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon (numerous times) and loved it, never failing to be moved by the love story of Heathcliff and Cathy which was portrayed so well and with such depth by Laurence Olivier in the penultimate scene (I think). The film is based on the romance of Heathcliff and Cathy but not the depth of the torment, not the bleakness of the characters, and not the destruction that their love and their circumstances results in. If you want a romantic novel, with romantic heroes, this book may not be your cup of tea. But I strongly recommend this book. It's shocking at times, as the characters can be so appalling and are so wronged, but it is gripping and well worth persevering with. I've read reviews that advise reading Jane Eyre instead (which is a wonderful book in it's own right and much more about the "romance") but I wouldn't even compare the two; they're written by sisters but are completely different novels. I'd recommend both! But open your mind to Wuthering Heights. Prepare yourself for a bit of a ride. And don't compare begin the book with expectations of classic Hollywood story-telling or romantic novels. It's neither. And it's fantastic.

Read don't watch, 19 Dec 2008
No film has managed, so far, to do this book justice. It's a great read and one I come back to again and again. Gritty, brutal, beautiful and romantic (without being slushy) all at once. As with most of her books, the characters are extremely well depicted, and it's irrelevant whether you like them or not - you what know what happens next.

Stunning, 14 Nov 2008
I've just read this book for the third time, and it's certainly one of those rare finds that gets better and better with every read. Dark, brooding and passionate, Emily Bronte shows great talent as writer and demonstrates a great understanding and a great flair for the Gothic genre. Despite the unlikeable characters, the reader is sucked into their all-encompassing world of gloom, love, madness, despair and revenge. Heathcliff is certainly the greatest anti-hero created. I only wish EB's last manuscript had not been destroyed, unpublished, after her death - know knows what master-piece she would have created?

Misleading Advertising by Penguin!, 22 Aug 2008
I thought it was time to expand my reading horizons with some classic literature without blowing my budget, so this Penguin Popular Classic at £2 seemed the ideal choice, particularly as, when I used the 'Search Inside' facility, it showed in the list of contents a preface, chronology, introduction and further reading.

When I received the book, these 42 pages were missing, and on closer inspection I see the 'Search Inside' facility shows a completely different, more expensive Penguin edition.

This seems highly misleading to me - it's disappointing that a publisher with the status of Penguin would mislead customers like this.

5 stars for the story, reduced to 3 for cheating!!

The height of great literature, 22 Jun 2008
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.


Simply Witchcraft, 03 Dec 2008
Wuthering Heights defies review and analysis; it is unlike any other book. It is much, much bigger than the sum of its parts and that is why those who love it discuss its effect in terms of an emotional impact on their lives; their hearts and souls. Those who hate it attempt to analyse its structure, plot, character and the quality of its narrative.

I first read Wuthering Heights at the age of 15 or 16 and it had an immediate and profound impact on me. As soon as I began to read, the words seemed to weave a spell that enchanted my soul; I have been haunted by it ever since. As a writer of fiction, I have tried to analyse what makes it such a powerful book and why so many people cite it as their favourite novel of all time. If only I could find the secret, I say, perhaps I could produce something as magnificent. How many authors must have had similar thoughts? What they wouldn't give to write a novel that possessed such power and beauty, even if, Like Emily Bronte, it is the only novel they ever write.

I consider myself to be a rational being, yet it is tempting to describe the affect of Wuthering Heights in terms of magic or witchcraft. Perhaps Emily did a deal with the devil or drew on some ancient power, buried deep in the Yorkshire Moors. How could someone so reserved and isolated, belonging to a world in which women were largely oppressed and subject to a thousand social rules and restrictions, produce something with such dark, sensual energy, breaking all the rules? Even Emily's sister, Charlotte, felt the need to tone it down and justify its existence.

Wuthering Heights has received much literary criticism since publication, and indeed it breaks many rules of `good' writing in terms of structure and narrative. The main characters have few redeeming features; in fact Heathcliff has been described by some as barely human (I don't agree); surely to root for him would be to root for the devil himself. There are many great books out there that are both powerful and beautifully constructed - Madam Bovary, Anna Karenina, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, to name but a few - they can be heavily analysed and deconstructed and still stand up in a way that Wuthering Heights can't. Yet, somehow, despite all of this Wuthering Heights has survived through the decades, the centuries, to enchant new generations of readers. It's almost as if Emily is still working her magic from somewhere beyond the grave.


Probably the best novel of all time, 22 Nov 2007
This book is pure genius. I read it again, and again, and always find something new to admire. It is everything a book should be. It has fantastic characters, wonderful plotting, a pacy, suspenseful story which keeps you turning the pages and is so dense that it throws up new treasures after every read.
This is the only work of Emily Bronte apart from a few poems and some juvenailia, and it is my regret that we will never know if she could have surpassed this great book with her next.
The story is well known, but in brief it is the story of Heathcliff, a foundling, who is brought to the home of Catherine Earnshaw one dark and horrible night by her father who has found him on one of his business trips and decides to rescue him. Catherine and Heathcliff form an unbreakable bond which sustains them through great misfortune and on into death, and is one of the most romantic love stories of all time.
Their love however, is also destructive and terrible. It plays out against the background of the louring moors and their terrible grandeur, which reinforces the natural, brutal cruelty of their feelings for each other and everyone else. Their love is sadistic and at times horrific and the more tragedy that is heaped upon them, the more strangled and terrible their expressions of love become.
The characters of Heathcliff and Catherine are at times utterly vile and repulsive and it is a strength of Bronte's writing that despite this you still will them to have their happy ending, and can't help sympathising with them.
The narrative is fantastically complex, with narrators within narrators and stories within stories, so that Bronte is able to give us a 360 degree view of the story and make the characters completely three dimensional, showing all their humanity, good and bad.
This is the one book I would make compulsory reading for everyone, everywhere.

A genius's masterpiece, 12 Apr 2007
This book is probably the one every writer at the back of their minds wants to write. I know I wish I did. When I first picked it up I thought it would be the typical Victorian romance; boy was I in for a shock! After a slow start it picked up. I remember I was incredibly shocked at the power of the novel & I still am. It is THE most passionate piece of literature ever in the English language maybe because it is so accurate about human emotions but at the same time it shows that human emotions can be uncontrollable/untameable. It seems so unbelievable yet you can't romanticize about the characters especially Heathcliff. The greatest scholars have great difficult analysing this book so I'm not going to start.
Only regret is that Emily didn't live to write any more great literature.

Great, but.., 25 Mar 2007
I wanted to find out what all the fuss was about Wuthering Heights and so I bought this cd set to listen to in the car as I have little time to read but drive alot (they don't mix!). The story has a lot of complexity especially at the start in terms of who's related to who but the language, structure & errie feel of this book make it a clear classic. One note however, this audio version is excellently voiced & produced and I give it 5 stars for that but I did not realise it was abridged. I don't know if I am happy or upset! Now I have something to look forward to again, the bits of the story I missed. And those times I struggled with the story line, was that because of the missing parts. This edition is 3 cds, there is an 11 cd unabridged version for sale on Amazon from the same publishers. This is a great cd set but if you are serious about reading this book & judging it yourself as a classic perhaps, then I think you must hear the full version as it was written.

The dark and brooding tale of Cathy & Heathcliff, 24 Mar 2007
What a great experience to finally reread this classic as an adult. Emily Bronte depicts a very gothic and depressing story of two star-crossed (but not terribly likeable) lovers, Cathy & Heathcliff, and the love between them that transcended the grave. Added to that a wonderful depiction of the dark English moors and the local characters with their strange dialects. This was also told in a very unusual style, like a tale within a tale within a tale, adding more layers and perspectives to the story.

How unfortunate that one's upbringing can so affect a person that their grief and bitterness turn what could have been a fine young man into such a hateful and vengeful person as Heathcliff became. And fortunate that Cathy's daughter and Hareton could overcome their dark upbringing to bring a happier light onto the dark moors of England.

I did not read this version of the book, but one including works of the other Bronte sisters, which did not have all the footnotes. I think I enjoyed that better as I wasn't constantly distracted by looking to the back for the notes and just allowed myself to become engrossed with the story. It's one book you have to read at least twice in your life -- of course in school as required reading and then again as an adult to add that perspective of age and experience in life so that one can more fully appreciate a such a classic tale

Don't begin with expectations of a romantic novel..., 22 Dec 2008
I had seen the 1939 film with Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon (numerous times) and loved it, never failing to be moved by the love story of Heathcliff and Cathy which was portrayed so well and with such depth by Laurence Olivier in the penultimate scene (I think). The film is based on the romance of Heathcliff and Cathy but not the depth of the torment, not the bleakness of the characters, and not the destruction that their love and their circumstances results in. If you want a romantic novel, with romantic heroes, this book may not be your cup of tea. But I strongly recommend this book. It's shocking at times, as the characters can be so appalling and are so wronged, but it is gripping and well worth persevering with. I've read reviews that advise reading Jane Eyre instead (which is a wonderful book in it's own right and much more about the "romance") but I wouldn't even compare the two; they're written by sisters but are completely different novels. I'd recommend both! But open your mind to Wuthering Heights. Prepare yourself for a bit of a ride. And don't compare begin the book with expectations of classic Hollywood story-telling or romantic novels. It's neither. And it's fantastic.

Read don't watch, 19 Dec 2008
No film has managed, so far, to do this book justice. It's a great read and one I come back to again and again. Gritty, brutal, beautiful and romantic (without being slushy) all at once. As with most of her books, the characters are extremely well depicted, and it's irrelevant whether you like them or not - you what know what happens next.

Stunning, 14 Nov 2008
I've just read this book for the third time, and it's certainly one of those rare finds that gets better and better with every read. Dark, brooding and passionate, Emily Bronte shows great talent as writer and demonstrates a great understanding and a great flair for the Gothic genre. Despite the unlikeable characters, the reader is sucked into their all-encompassing world of gloom, love, madness, despair and revenge. Heathcliff is certainly the greatest anti-hero created. I only wish EB's last manuscript had not been destroyed, unpublished, after her death - know knows what master-piece she would have created?

Misleading Advertising by Penguin!, 22 Aug 2008
I thought it was time to expand my reading horizons with some classic literature without blowing my budget, so this Penguin Popular Classic at £2 seemed the ideal choice, particularly as, when I used the 'Search Inside' facility, it showed in the list of contents a preface, chronology, introduction and further reading.

When I received the book, these 42 pages were missing, and on closer inspection I see the 'Search Inside' facility shows a completely different, more expensive Penguin edition.

This seems highly misleading to me - it's disappointing that a publisher with the status of Penguin would mislead customers like this.

5 stars for the story, reduced to 3 for cheating!!

The height of great literature, 22 Jun 2008
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.


Wuthering Heights- York Notes, 15 Mar 2005
This study guide is an invaluable tool to anybody wishing to gain a very basic understanding of Bronte's text,wuthering Heights.
It very clearly sets out plot with a general synopsis and chapter by chapter explanation and summary's and also comments on theme, style language and gender within the novel.

worth a read, 06 Jan 2008
I approached this thinking i was about to read a love story - "the greatest love story of all" - as i was led to believe but finished the book having the completely opposite attitude i thought i would have. Wuthering Heights is more about the consequences of selfishness, arrogance and revenge rather than pure love. Its a dark read. Its interesting how Bronte managed to make a timeless story based around the lives and legacies of two characters who seem so unloveable. I disliked both Catherine and Heathcliffe but found myself constantly turning the pages to find out what happened next.

A Twisted Tale of Obsession, Love, Class, Hate and Fate, 25 Oct 2006
Wuthering Heights is a surprisingly modern novel given that its authorship predates our modern understanding of psychology. Like many modern novels, Ms. Bronte has also explored the darker side of human passions and psyches more thoroughly than the sunnier side. Heathcliff will remind you of classic characters whose lives were twisted by fate like Captain Ahab in Moby Dick, Erik in Phantom of the Opera, Quasimodo in The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, and the mysterious prisoner in The Man in the Iron Mask.

If there were ever two star-crossed lovers who have captured the world's imagination since Romeo and Juliet, they must be Catherine and Heathcliff. Yet, unlike, many such pairs, their unhappiness is heavily influenced by themselves.

As you contemplate their story, you are constantly drawn to the thought, "what if" thus and such had occurred differently? That's part of the great power of the story because it has so many unexpected twistings and turnings. A reader's expectations from a love story are turned upside down, sideways and diagonal from where those expectations normally rest. As a result, you'll probably decide this isn't a love story after all . . . but a tragedy. Taken from that perspective, you'll find yourself hearing echoes of Lady Macbeth and King Lear as you contemplate what occurs when the natural order is disturbed. Few English authors since Shakespeare have captured that sense of what can happen when the universe is disarranged.

What's great about this story? It's pretty simple: Emotional intensity in the writing; deeply memorable characters; doomed lovers; and a haunting glimpse at unshakeable obsession.

What's not so great? The story development itself is pretty awkward. Much of the story is told in flashback which steals power and immediacy from the narration. If ever a story cried out for being told in the first person (by Heathcliff, Catherine, Edgar Linton, Hareton and young Catherine), it's Wuthering Heights. The transitions from one key moment to another are often very abrupt. Sometimes it is 150 pages later before you get the full sense of what Emily Bronte meant to convey in some of those transitions.

What's less than great? The characters aren't nearly as appealing as those you'll usually find in a novel dealing with these issues. In that sense, the novel is more realistic than fictional . . . which helps create some of its immense power. It's probably a worthwhile price to pay.

Whatever you think of Wuthering Heights, you owe it to yourself to read one of the most moving tales that has ever been written. Pick a time when you're feeling reasonably happy to start the book. Otherwise, you may find your mood to be more than a little darkened for a few days.



Complex, disturbing and haunted, 14 Oct 2006
Yes, this is a love story - but it's also so much more. Told through mutiple narrators, who all impose their own biases and viewpoints on the story that they're telling, this novel foregrounds issues of cruelty, love, passion, desire and death. That it was written by the reclusive, socially inept, and most probably virginal Emily Bronte underlines the problematic nature of the text. On one level it is the ultimate female fantasy, as Heathcliffe is Emily's ultimate hero (incestuously based on her brother?) yet on the other, it overturns so many of the conventions of the romantic genre in a transgressive way. The one thing that most readers agree on is the stormy, tumultuous nature of the story and the sense of peace we reach at the end. The only novel that Emily wrote (but read her poetry to savour her genius) this is still an experience that shouldn't be missed.

Wuthering Heights, 14 Jun 2006
A fantastic book. Although I found it extremely frustrating that the above review completely explained the whole story.

the ultimate love story, 12 Apr 2006
Anyone who likes a good love story will be profoundly moved by this classic! Obsession for one another drives Heathcliffe to insanity and Cathy to her death. Even in the afterlife, they cannot be seperated, and Cathy haunts Heathcliffe until he digs up her grave to be near her corpse. Will change your thoughts on true love.

A Twisted Tale of Obsession, Love, Class, Hate and Fate, 29 Sep 2007
Wuthering Heights is a surprisingly modern novel given that its authorship predates our modern understanding of psychology. Like many modern novels, Ms. Bronte has also explored the darker side of human passions and psyches more thoroughly than the sunnier side. Heathcliff will remind you of classic characters whose lives were twisted by fate like Captain Ahab in Moby Dick, Erik in Phantom of the Opera, Quasimodo in The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, and the mysterious prisoner in The Man in the Iron Mask.

If there were ever two star-crossed lovers who have captured the world's imagination since Romeo and Juliet, they must be Catherine and Heathcliff. Yet, unlike, many such pairs, their unhappiness is heavily influenced by themselves.

As you contemplate their story, you are constantly drawn to the thought, "what if" thus and such had occurred differently? That's part of the great power of the story because it has so many unexpected twistings and turnings. A reader's expectations from a love story are turned upside down, sideways and diagonal from where those expectations normally rest. As a result, you'll probably decide this isn't a love story after all . . . but a tragedy. Taken from that perspective, you'll find yourself hearing echoes of Lady Macbeth and King Lear as you contemplate what occurs when the natural order is disturbed. Few English authors since Shakespeare have captured that sense of what can happen when the universe is disarranged.

What's great about this story? It's pretty simple: Emotional intensity in the writing; deeply memorable characters; doomed lovers; and a haunting glimpse at unshakeable obsession.

What's not so great? The story development itself is pretty awkward. Much of the story is told in flashback which steals power and immediacy from the narration. If ever a story cried out for being told in the first person (by Heathcliff, Catherine, Edgar Linton, Hareton and young Catherine), it's Wuthering Heights. The transitions from one key moment to another are often very abrupt. Sometimes it is 150 pages later before you get the full sense of what Emily Bronte meant to convey in some of those transitions.

What's less than great? The characters aren't nearly as appealing as those you'll usually find in a novel dealing with these issues. In that sense, the novel is more realistic than fictional . . . which helps create some of its immense power. It's probably a worthwhile price to pay.

Whatever you think of Wuthering Heights, you owe it to yourself to read one of the most moving tales that has ever been written. Pick a time when you're feeling reasonably happy to start the book. Otherwise, you may find your mood to be more than a little darkened for a few days.