Wuthering Heights Book Review (by lovefreeforever)
I first read Wuthering Heights for my grade 11 English Lit course and instantly fell in love with Ms. Bronte's haunting and mysterious writing style, her unusual protagonists and powerful ability to provoke emotion. Reading it a second time conjured these same feelings, but surprisingly, greatly magnified, here is my review of this brilliant masterpiece.
How many stars do you rate the book? ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ (4 out of five)
How many stars do you rate the author? ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ (4 out of five)
What is your favorite quote? You teach me now how cruel you've been—cruel and false. Why did you despise me? Why did you betray your own heart, Cathy? I have not one word of comfort. You deserve this. You have killed yourself. Yes, you may kiss me, and cry; and wring out my kisses and tears: they'll blight you—they'll damn you. You loved me—then what right had you to leave me? What right—answer me—for the poor fancy you felt for Linton? Because misery and degradation, and death, and nothing that God or Satan could inflict would have parted us, you, of your own will, did it. I have not broken your heart—you have broken it; and in breaking it, you have broken mine. So much the worse for me that I am strong. Do I want to live? What kind of living will it be when you—oh, God! would you like to live with your soul in the grave? (Chapter 15)
Do you like the ending? What would you change about it? The ending to Wuthering Heights is quite unlike that of any other Gothic romance. It is much more introspective - the tension unravelling quietly within Heathcliff’s soul. It is well suited to the mood of the novel as a whole, and while some may find it frustratingly anticlimactic, it speaks on a deeper level to the common human feelings of love, lust, and revenge. I firmly do not believe in considering alternate endings to author's works as they have chosen their ending with a specific goal and/or purpose in mind, and even if I did, I would not change a thing - Emily Bronte cleverly juxtaposes the extremes of human emotion throughout.
Any life lessons learned? Certainly, and perhaps the greatest life lesson of all: That it is perhaps the greatest folly to deny your heart’s greatest passion.
Final thoughts? My only criticism is that one usually enjoys a novel more thoroughly if they are able to identify with a main character, yet Ms. Bronte presents perhaps some of the most loathsome characters in classic literature whose redeeming qualities are few and far between.
