Books I Loathed discussion
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Wuthering Heights
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Jessica (thebluestocking)
(last edited Aug 25, 2016 12:07PM)
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Aug 23, 2007 07:27AM

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It's one book I don't think I'll ever get rid of. I read it again, every once in a while.


Prompted by Anne Fadiman's book "Rereadings" (in which each of 17 writers describe their experience of rereading books that had really moved them upon first reading), I re-read WH again about a year and a half ago, and found that it still held up. Sure, the characters were deeply flawed and behaved despicably at times. But I still cared about them and their behavior seemed believable. Let's face it, some of the more interesting characters in literature are flawed and evil (yes, I'm thinking of Iago).
But, I suspect that if I had only read WH once, I might feel differently about it.


I recently read Eclipse which mentioned WH. The male lead in the book said WH was more about hate then love. I have to say I so much agree with that statement. I don't get that it is a love story. Glad I am not the only one that hated this book.

Uh oh, spoiler alert ....
But mainly I only read to Cathy's death and then put it back on the shelf. Sure they are horrible characters, but that's the point. Love can transcend, and (if you only read as far as Cathy's death) transcend without redemption.
Spoiler over (I feel so silly doing that, but we Brits are absurdly conventional).
Even monsters can love and who better for one monster to love than another. I find that a satisfying concept, which every vampire/zombie/undead writer has tried to build on ever since, but WH succeeds, for me, because its monsters are just small, nasty, vicious people ... a bit like the ones we read about in the newspapers who beat their kids and are cruel to their dogs. Even they, maybe, can love ...




Not for any other reason, though.
