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W is for Wuthering Heights

12:57:00 pm

Sometimes you come across a book that just consumes you. You start reading, and before you know it, you are inside it, living with the characters, feeling their pain and praying for them. And when it ends, you feel a strange sort of disconnect, like you belong neither in their world nor yours. That is the power of a book as exceptional as Wuthering Heights.


I’d like to say one thing at the outset – this book is not for the faint hearted. Passion is the keyword as far as this book is concerned and it’s there in all emotions – love, anger, hatred and heartbreak. In a nutshell, the book is a love story, but it’s also about revenge, wrong choices and the cycle of violence.

The main characters of the book, Heathcliff and Catherine, are less likeable than most of the other characters, but you still hurt for them. Emily Bronte’s characters are flawed people, but it only makes them humans who feel deeply. The intensity of their feelings is probably because of where they live – the Yorkshire moorland. The moors feature significantly throughout the book, and you can hear the hollow moaning across the withered trees and the vast lands.


Yes, the setting is rather bleak, but the love story isn’t a happy one either. At several places in the book, there come instances where you understand why the character is acting so, but you still want him or her to stop. The characterization is brilliant, and you can truly feel the character’s love, pain and anger.

If you’re a generally calm and collected person, the events in Wuthering Heights may seem a little over the top. As for me, Wuthering Heights has been a book that holds me in its power whenever I read it and it only makes me love it more.



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6 comments

  1. Replies
    1. It does, doesn't it? It even gives you a hangover!

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  2. True, I have found it difficult to come out of the feeling once entered into it too!

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  3. I always found this book too intense. Perhaps as an older person it may be more enjoyable

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    Replies
    1. I'd recommend reading it again. So many books attain new meaning as we grow older and gain more life experience.

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