Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte - Review

Hello Book Lovers!!!

I've finally finished Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte and my word wasn't it a brain mash!!! I did have to keep referring back to the family tree and the summary online as I kept getting lost but more on that later. I'm going to now give you a summary of Wuthering Heights so hopefully you can understand it but there will be lots of spoilers so if you don't want spoilers then you can go straight down to my opinions on the novel.

At the beginning of the story we meet Lockwood who rents a manor house called Thrushcross Grange. He meets the landlord Heathcliff and Lockwood asks his Housekeeper Nelly Dean to tell him about Heathcliff and Wuthering Heights.

Nelly begins her story back in her childhood where she worked as a servant at Wuthering Heights for the owner Mr Earnshaw. Mr Earnshaw goes to Liverpool one day and returns with an orphan boy called Heathcliff and begins to prefer Heathcliff over his own son Hindley. This obviously doesn't set well with Hindley and he begins to detest Heathcliff. Catherine, Hindley's sister, also doesn't like Heathcliff to begin with but begins to love him very quickly. Mr Earnshaw decides to send Hindley to college and keep Heathcliff nearby.

Once Mr Earnshaw dies, Hindley inherits Wuthering Heights and returns with his wife Frances. Once he has arrived, he begins being horrible to Heathcliff and Heathcliff very quickly becomes a common labourer and is forced to work in the fields.

Heathcliff and Catherine are still very close however and they go to annoy Edgar and Isabella Linton, the children who live at Thrushcross Grange. While there however, Catherine is bitten by a dog and forced to stay there to recover but by the time Catherine returns, she has fallen in love with Edgar.

Once Hindley's wife Frances dies, Hindley becomes more horrible to Heathcliff. As well as this, Catherine also becomes engaged to Edgar even though she still loves Heathcliff and Healthcliff leaves Wuthering Heights for three years.

When Heathcliff returns he tries to get revenge on everyone that have hurt him and when Hindley dies, he then inherits Wuthering Heights and also tries to inherit Thrushcross Grange by marrying Isabella Linton.

Catherine unfortunately becomes very ill and dies but gives birth to a baby girl just before. Isabella also flees to London and gives birth to Heathcliff's son Linton and keeps him there.

Thirteen years go by and Nelly Dean becomes young Catherine's nursemaid and Thrushcross Grange but Catherine has no knowledge of Wuthering Heights and one day she discovers a manor and meets Hareton.

Isabella dies and Linton comes to live with Heathcliff but Heathcliff treats him very badly. Three years later however, Catherine meets Heathcliff and visits Wuthering Heights to meet Linton. Herself and Linton fall in love but keep it secret by sending letters to each other instead of actually spending time together. Nelly however destroys these letters when she finds them and so Catherine sneaks out to meet Linton.

Before long, Catherine realises that Linton is being forced to like her by Heathcliff who is wanting them to get married and kidnaps them and keeps them at Wuthering Heights until Catherine agrees to marry Linton. Soon after the wedding, both Linton and Edgar die and now Heathcliff owns both Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange. He forces Catherine to stay at Wuthering Heights and rents Thrushcross Grange to Lockwood.

Although I found this story confusing, I did like some of the characters including Nelly and young Catherine. However I really hated Heathcliff (as you're meant to). He was a powerful character and I wanted to see him pay for the misery he has entailed on others.

I liked the writing style although I did find it rather confusing at times when Emily Bronte wrote in a very broad Yorkshire accent. These times were mostly where I got a bit lost and had to refer back to the summary.

I loved the locations that were described and I could get a clear image in my head of both Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange. I would love to think that these places are real as I would have loved to have been able to visit them.

This is the first book I've read by Emily Bronte and I do think that I will try out some of her other work at some point, but I think for now I need to give my brain a rest. Because of a lot of the characters having the same name as they often got passed down through the family, this also made things rather confusing, but the family tree that was printed in this addition of the book made it easier for me to follow.

Rating /5

3

If you've read Wuthering Heights, then let me know in the comments below what you thought of it, and did you get confused just like me? Also if you have any recommendations by Emily Bronte then also leave those in the comments too.

Happy Reading!!!

xHannahx