Wuthering Heights in Overdue Podcast

May 19, 2013 Tracey rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: audio, 1-star, oh-that-s-why-i-never-read-this, the-movie-was-better

This is one of those classics I was never able to get very far into. The first time I got the whole gist of the story was watching the Olivier-Oberon film some time back, which surprised me with how much I disliked every single soul in the story.

Last year I finally got determined to crack the shell of this thing and listen to the audiobook. Heck, I thought, I listened to one of my most-hated-books-ever, Tess of the Durbervilles, and ended up appreciating it; surely it would work with Wuthering H This is one of those classics I was never able to get very far into. The first time I got the whole gist of the story was watching the Olivier-Oberon film some time back, which surprised me with how much I disliked every single soul in the story.

Last year I finally got determined to crack the shell of this thing and listen to the audiobook. Heck, I thought, I listened to one of my most-hated-books-ever, Tess of the Durbervilles, and ended up appreciating it; surely it would work with Wuthering Heights.

Or not.

Which is nothing against the narrator. Anne Flosnik was the only good thing about the experience: she was excellent.

But the book made me want to bang my head against a wall until it was over. Put it this way: there was a very high body count in this book – it was one grim death after another. But I didn't mind so much in WH because, as in the movie, I hated every single character. They were either so weak that a mouse sneeze would knock them over, or strong in the way that a serial killing psychopath is strong. So there was me listening to the book thinking “Yes! Die! Die! Die!”

I honestly don't know if I've read and enjoyed a book where I've been unable to like anyone involved. And here it was beyond simply not liking anyone – this was a pulsating loathing. I don't know if I'd be able to like this one even if some of the characters were more amiable – there was another big factor in my loathing of this book: the utterly impenetrable dialect. Now, I can usually manage accents, especially British accents of all types. I love 'em. But my lord. A random sample that I pulled out: 'Ony books that yah leave, I shall tak' into th' hahse,' said Joseph, 'and it'll be mitch if yah find 'em agean; soa, yah may plase yerseln!' On paper, I can read that without such a problem. Aloud? It might as well have been Bantu.

Kind of thought it might be now and then.

But no. Hateful characters and impenetrable accents aside, this thing was just so unremittingly bleak, so grim and ugly … Heathcliff hanged Isabella’s dog. As a warning. And now if someone could explain to me why he’s considered (from Wikipedia): “an archetype of the tortured romantic hero”....

“Romantic hero”.

There is more to the word “romantic” than the common usage. I know that. What frightens me is the people who don’t know that, and still call Heathcliff a romantic hero. I would as soon call Ted Bundy a romantic hero. ...more

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Sep 06, 2012 Melissa Wiebe rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, historical-fiction, 2012, classics, english-literature, readalongs

Originally reviewed in 2012 at Jayne's Books.

I first read this book when I was about 14 years old and at the time, I couldn't make sense of it and by the end of the book, I was wanting to throw the book across the room and probably because of the fact that I was unable to get myself to read the book again. Of course I was able to understand it more after watching the BBC miniseries that came out a few years ago, I was able to make more sense of the story and the readalong that I participated thr Originally reviewed in 2012 at Jayne's Books.

I first read this book when I was about 14 years old and at the time, I couldn't make sense of it and by the end of the book, I was wanting to throw the book across the room and probably because of the fact that I was unable to get myself to read the book again. Of course I was able to understand it more after watching the BBC miniseries that came out a few years ago, I was able to make more sense of the story and the readalong that I participated through Unputdownables really helped me understand the story that much more. And based on this last reading of the book, I was able to give the book a full appreciation of really how good the book was and it makes me wonder that if Emily had been able to live for a long time, how good her work could have become. Maybe she would have become a one-hit wonder, or maybe she would have been a prolific writer, like her sister Charlotte, who wrote a number of well-known books through out her lifetime.

One thing that I liked about the book was that the book was basically told like a story that is being related to another individual. I realize that this is stating the obvious, but understanding this fact, helps with the reading of the book, because you don't see Mr. Lockwood that much and hear mostly Nelly's retelling of the story between the two families that clearly dominate the area. Another thing that I like about the book is that its a very complex novel, despite the fact that it really is a pretty simple story line. And that Emily Bronte is able to bring out complex emotions in not only her characters that are so vivid for a number of reasons, but also complex emotions in those that read the book. Its almost a love-hate relationship with the book; there are characters that I absolutely adore and want more of (Cathy Linton [not her mom, who is also named Catherine]) and there are characters that I really do come to loathe (Heathcliff and Isabelle Linton-Heathcliff and possibly Edgar Linton).

There also something extremely dark that kept me wanting to find out what it was and it felt like you got absorbed into that world, just like Cathy [the daughter] did after coming to Wuthering Heights. I think what Bronte does effectively is create a world that is both foreboding, but also inviting, almost like she is seducing the reader to continue on with the book, as though there is something forbidden behind the front doors of Wuthering Heights. ...more

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Jul 18, 2009 Patty rated it really liked it

Bronte was brave enough to make her central characters despicable, real, and tragic. Beautifully written and a much faster read than I would have expected.

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