Review: Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

I started this year with an intention to read more classics this year and after asking for recommendations on Facebook I settled on Wuthering Heights as the very first classic I would read. Since it was so highly recommended, the expectations were obviously high. I’m going to be keeping my reviews short and hope that I can write just enough to entice you to read the review and excite you to read the book as well.

Wuthering Heights, written by Emily Bronte, was published in 1847. At the centre of the story is the love that the main protagonists, Heathcliff and Catherine share. Don’t be under the impression that this is a romantic novel though. I most certainly didn’t think so. Wuthering Heights is a story about a man who is ready to go to any lengths to get revenge for love and all the people he encounters on the way. Getting through the initial parts of the book was one of the hardest things I have done. Usually I skim over the parts that I think are boring but I knew that if I skipped something here then I would have a tough time understanding the story later. Then there’s the character of Joseph who speaks in a Scottish (I think) accent and since it is written in the same way in the book it becomes incredibly hard to understand unless you read it really really slow! Luckily though the story did pick up after the half-way point and there’s less exasperation with the characters and you really start to understand them (nothing less than an Indian soap opera if you ask me). All the characters are pretty complex with several emotions and stories going on at the same time and you won’t really feel yourself rooting for any one character at any point of time.

In the end I am glad that I stuck to it and finished the book. By no means is it an easy read and can get frustrating for non-classic readers like me. If like me you are just starting out reading or are just starting out reading classics then I would recommend putting this book on hold till you’re more comfortable with this genre. I hope to come back to this book once I’m a more mature reader and hopefully then I’ll be able to appreciate it more. For now it’s 3/5 for the book.