5.0 out of 5 stars Emily Brontë is a Force of Nature

R. · May 5, 2024

Readers either love or hate Wuthering Heights with a passion but under no circumstance are they indifferent and there is a reason for that. This book is a too powerful force of nature that devours the reader and does not let they leave. Many hate to be dragged like that. I'm among those who love it, and here are three reasons why:First, I was overwhelmed by the intricate structure of the narrative, which flashes back and forward and intertwines several layers of narrators, from the ostensive Lockwood, to the fantastic voice of Nelly Dean, and then in another layer to what Nelly heard and read from Heathcliff, Isabella and Zillah. Emily Brontë manages to transition from one voice to the next smoothly and seamlessly, while sustaining a cohesive and consistent narrative that, for the length of time it covers, moves really fast. Indeed, I was amazed with how well she cuts any 'shoe leather' (there is particularly one transition, from the moors to inside Heathcliff's house in Chapter 27 that made me wow.) Nelly is a formidable storyteller if not a film editor, not only for what she tells and comments but also for what she disregards or conveniently excludes altogether. Some people say there are unnecessary characters, Lockwood being the most notorious one. But to me, having Lockwood to open room for Nelly is as clever as using Ellis Bell as a pen name, because with that Emily Brontë not only circumvented the prejudice against women authors in the Victorian Society but managed to tell a story in which a housekeeper has a lot to say and do. And imho this device also serves the plot well, because Lockwood's interest on Catherine adds to his unreliability (while he seems to let Nelly's voice reverberate untouched) as much as Nelly's own subtle influence on the destinies of the Earnshaws and Lintons goes unnoticed.Second, there is a formidable storytelling that is both dark, cold and gloomy but also bright, warm, tender and beautiful, and this balance is so well put that readers can either see the novel as a romantic love story or a horror tale of violence and hatred. There are many duplicates and characters are also multifaceted. Most readers detest all characters because of their arrogant, selfish and even violent behavior but, in my view, they are tremendously rich of vulnerability and ambiguity. There is no one to clearly root for but at least to me it was difficult to hate them either. I may be a too indulgent kind of reader, but I felt WH was like Shyamalan's Servant where characters are mostly dislikeable but you just can't let them go. They are a too interesting pack of people to be forsaken. Virginia Woolf describes these characters as impossible in the real world, but yet captivating, which she attributes to Emily's rarest of all powers in a poet: "She could free life from its dependence on facts; with a few touches indicate the spirit of a face so that it needs no body." These characters are not real people, but they feel like people you know all the same.Third, there is the supernatural. From the first scene when Lockwood meets Heathcliff, it became clear that Emily Brontë was no Jane Austen. Indeed, I began WH imagining Heathcliff as a kind of Servant's Uncle George in his natural habitat, rude and rough but tough and disciplined. Then there is the dreamlike haunting scene in Catherine's room (what was that, Kate Bush?) and the creepy, supernatural atmosphere never leaves completely anymore. The second half of the book that covers the second generation was so suffocating that I kept asking myself, as indeed I did in Servant, "why didn't these people escape the evil influence of Heathcliff and go live their lives peacefully elsewhere?" Like Leanne Grayson in Servant, Heathcliff's ability to take control of people seems superhuman, it transcends. Some scholars even see Heathcliff as a demonic figure in the Miltonian tradition of Frankenstein.I didn't know before finishing WH that the Brontë Sisters were not from upper classes in England and wrote their books from their reclusive lives in the far lands of Yorkshire (that made me admire the power of Emily's ideas even more.) Inspiration certainly came from her readings, and I can see Hamlet and Macbeth in WH, while its creepy conclusion goes along with Victor Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre Dame (and now I think, Heathcliff a gypsy just like Esmeralda!). Harold Bloom recognizes Lord Byron, and other scholars explore the hidden parallels of WH with John Milton's Paradise Lost. Richard Ellman mentions that James Joyce once said to Eugene Jolas, while reading WH: "This woman had pure imagination; Kipling had it too, and certainly Yeats." That is more or less how I felt when finishing WH: Emily Brontë's imagination is powerful and irresistible as is her language and style, even when she goes over the top. WH is a force of nature that is futile to resist, it engulfs you with its hyperbolic style, cruel and violent characters, and bleaky and foggy atmosphere. In my case, it took me completely and does not seem to let me go anytime soon.

5.0 out of 5 stars A Book to Get Lost In

i. · May 6, 2012

I am a student in high school who is 17 years old, a product of the modern generation, and being forced to read this book for my AP English Literature class. Going into it, of course I knew of its reputation. But I also knew of its size. And at the same time, one can't help but think how a Victorian Era woman could cross time and gender conflict to get in touch with a 17 year old guy.Boy, was I wrong.Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte is a book to get lost in. The multi-layered, time jumping story absorbs the reader quickly and effortlessly, and doesn't let go until long after one's stay in the English countryside. A lot of the characters in this book are bad people, but none of them are bad characters. From powerful, crystal clear motives to mystery and revenge, Wuthering Heights has it all. And it's not going anywhere, so you might as well hop on the bandwagon and read it.For those of you not in the know, Wuthering Heights is centered around a man named Heathcliff, who rents a house to a certain Mr. Lockwood early on in the book. Lockwood, our narrator, is shocked by some of the conditions Heathcliff is living in, and then asks his maid, Nelly, about it. Lockwood transcribes Nelly's words, creating two narrators.At one point in the novel, Lockwood is writing down Nelly's words about Isabella reading Heathcliff's letter. That's four narrator's at once. Oh. My. Gosh. But don't you worry. Emily Bronte is no lightweight, and she can manage each and every character and story thread. I've touched upon this once and will continue with it for a while: there's a reason this book is a classic and so widely read.On top of the plot, which is all consuming and entertaining (It's almost like Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Book 1), A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 1), or some other fantasy novel the way it creates its own world), there is this fierce underlying theme of love. But what's so great about this books theme is that its not a thesis statement. This book is a discussion of love, what it can do to man, what it creates, what it destroys. You'll find more academic truth in this novel about man's condition than you ever will in ay bare bones medical text book.The strongest point in this book is the characters. Isabella, Linton, Heathcliff, Catherine ( A woman after my own heart), and many, many more stick with you for a long time. Nelly, especially, who isn't just a lame narrator. She truly brings some stuff to the table, and I've known a lot of people like her, so I have a soft spot for her in my heart.It's hard to write a review of this novel because it's literally just so good. And that sounds cheesy, because its a classic and if you're here, you know its supposed to be good. But I cannot stress enough how this one not only lives up to, but it exceeds expectations for how good its supposed ot be. Don't pass this up.

Ódio e obsessão com grande talento

L. · February 12, 2021

Comprei Wuthering Heights no idioma original com o objetivo de melhorar a leitura em língua inglesa. Apesar de usar bastante o dicionário, não tive dificuldade em assimilar a força da obra. Somente o dialeto falado pelo servo Joseph foi obstáculo para meu propósito. Para outros propósitos didáticos, a história também é perfeita: a construção da narrativa, do ambiente sombrio e da complexidade dos personagens.Os personagens se movem dentro de duas casas da Inglaterra rural, isolados do ambiente exterior. Wuthering Heights é uma delas. Até mesmo os casamentos ocorrem entre os moradores das charnecas. A história é apresentada através de três camadas. Alguém fora da casa inicia o relato. É Lockwood, o inquilino temporário.O relato continua através de Nelly, a governanta, que narra ao inquilino os vinte anos de convívio com os moradores da charneca. Ela é contada em duas fases, a conversa chega ao final duas vezes.Os diálogos descritos por Nelly completam a terceira camada. Nelly, por sinal, é um personagem tão importante quanto os demais. Onipresente. É interessante que a escritora tenha escolhido uma serviçal para transmitir as ações e sentimentos dos outros personagens com tamanha intensidade, profundidade e detalhes. Nelly é inteligente e tem ótima memória. O valor atribuído a ela talvez pode funcionar como uma das diversas percepções críticas de Bronte na Inglaterra do século 19. Além de tudo, ela é o contraponto de generosidade no meio das relações cada vez mais egocêntricas que vão sendo expressas com o desenrolar da narrativa. Nelly representa “o bem”.O livro é considerado um dos clássicos da literatura inglesa e descreve a intensa e destrutiva paixão entre Heathcliff e Catherine. Heathcliff é filho adotivo de Earnshaw, o patriarca de bons sentimentos e índole fraca. Ele trouxe o menino das ruas de Londres, que têm origem cigana e pele escura. Foi bastante maltratado, e o tratamento abusivo continuou em Wuthering Heights. Heathcliff e Catherine, filha de Earnshaw, cresceram como irmãos, brincando pelos pântanos. Mas a paixão explode entre eles, embora Catherine rejeite Heathcliff como marido. Ele então deixa a morada, mas volta rico anos depois. Aqui há um ponto fraco: a autora não explica como Heathcliff ficou rico. Mas tudo o que acontece fora de Wuthering não tem importância.Como um homem atormentado pela rejeição, Heathcliff volta para se vingar de tudo e de todos. Mas a vingança não é sua redenção. Seu comportamento abusivo vai sendo introjetado nos outros moradores, que se tornam abusivos também. O ódio de Heathcliff e o egoísmo de Catherine é refletido nas crianças, nos animais, nas gerações. O abuso e os ciclos de abuso permeiam toda a trama. O isolamento a que os personagens estão submetidos aumenta a intensidade e a repercussão dos eventos, assim como a falta de compaixão.A força com que Bronte humaniza/desumaniza seus personagens é impactante. Os atributos do lado B dos humanos estão bem representados neste clássico: alcoolismo, abuso de crianças, abuso de animais, sadismo, crueldade, violência, humilhação, autodestruição, incesto, visões fantasmagóricas, alucinações. Sem a roupagem de época, “O morro dos ventos uivantes” é um perfeito conto de terror moderno.

Beautiful edition

L.S. · December 15, 2021

The delivery was fast and the book came in good condition. I really love this edition, it’s even more beautiful irl.

Perfect.

R. · January 23, 2025

Hard cover with bookmark. Will be much easier to read than my old book that is too small. Papers are relatively thin but that doesn’t bother me. I was looking for something to make this particular book easier to read and this is perfect for that. It is also very beautiful for a collection if that’s your thing.

Masterpiece

p. · March 14, 2019

# Wuthering HeightsA monumental attempt at reconciling the quirks of existence, at seeking meaning contained beyond its appearance. That salvation means different things to different people, and that there are just as many ways to seek it, carve it, and just as brazenly "revenge" one's way towards it makes the book intriguing to read through, for there's some bit of darkness inside every one of us that I feel almost anyone sees reflected and reenacted through many "sinners" of characters in the work. The gothic, eerie and at times utterly unearthly settings of the novel makes this exercise of reestablishing and reevaluating this lost connection with the hidden self an enriching and educating experience, that has been fittingly aided by the sublime prose. As a star-crossed love story, it's spectacular, in fact so much so that the spectacle consumed the lovers, every bit of their material and existential well-being. As an interplay of the past, present, the vision of future and the subconscious that underlie them the narrative is masterful and of a lollapalooza kind.

So Beautiful!

Y. · December 10, 2021

Absolutely beautiful! 😱🤩