Wuthering Heights

A photograph of ‘Wuthering Heights’ – by Emily Bronte

𝙄𝙩 𝙗𝙚𝙜𝙞𝙣𝙨 𝙖𝙨 𝙖 𝙢𝙖𝙣 𝙞𝙨 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙘𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙝𝙚𝙡𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙖𝙩 𝙖 𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚, 𝙜𝙧𝙞𝙢 𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙔𝙤𝙧𝙠𝙨𝙝𝙞𝙧𝙚 𝙢𝙤𝙤𝙧𝙨 𝙙𝙪𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖 𝙨𝙣𝙤𝙬𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙢. 𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙘𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙚𝙢𝙥𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙪𝙤𝙪𝙨 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙤𝙤𝙠 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙮𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙨 𝙗𝙚𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙚: 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙨𝙚 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙩𝙬𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝘾𝙖𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙚 𝙀𝙖𝙧𝙣𝙨𝙝𝙖𝙬 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙃𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙝𝙘𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙛, 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙗𝙚𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙮𝙖𝙡 𝙤𝙛 𝙝𝙞𝙢 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙧𝙞𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣𝙜𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙪𝙚𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙝𝙖𝙪𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙚𝙣𝙩.

I was quite disappointed that I felt like I had to give this book three stars in the end as I really wanted it to live up to my expectations - it’s always been highly praised from what I’ve heard in the past and I was told I would fall in love with it. However, I found it quite a slow, confusing reading for the most part and I really struggled to get into it.

Don’t get me wrong, I totally get why others have loved it much more and why it’s so highly acclaimed but personally I wasn’t all that impressed. Maybe in a few years I’ll be able to appreciate it more but I was nowhere near invested enough in it to justify giving it any higher of a rating.

To help myself get through some of the heavier chapters, I started using the audiobook alongside reading it and found that this did help so I would recommend doing this if you’re in the same boat! I found a really good one that’s available on Spotify for free.

Overall, I admired how strong Brontë’s character development was, it was just a shame that I couldn’t seem to take a liking to the two main protagonists. Some of the characters frustrated me to no end, especially Cathy and Heathcliff themselves.

However, I didn’t completely dislike it and found the second half much more bearable and started to enjoy it a bit more. Reading about the generation after Cathy and Heathcliff made it less of a chore as I found that on the whole they were much more likeable. For me the second half definitely bumped up my overall rating of it.

I would definitely be interesting in reading more of Emily Brontë’s work as I feel like it wouldn’t be fair to say I dislike her as an author just from this experience! (If anyone has any recommendations let me know!)

Have you read Wuthering Heights? Did you really enjoy it or feel the same way as me?