Wuthering Heights is the third book on my classic novel reading challenge (where I try and read 100 classic books in three years). I finished reading it a couple of days ago and have now started reading Great Expectations.

Wuthering Heights Reading Statics (from Kobo):

It took me 14 hours to read. On average I read for 23 minutes per session. I read 1 page per minute.

What I thought of Wuthering Heights

Hmmm, I’m still working through what to make of Wuthering Heights. It’s definitely a book that lingers with you. It’s traumatic to say the least. Heathcliff is just a very damaged and brutal person – probably a narcissist. I don’t think we’re supposed to have any sympathy for him – after all, he had the opportunity to build a better life elsewhere after becoming independently wealthy. Instead, he’s driven by a perverse sense of revenge born out of an unhealthy (probably trauma-bonded) attachment to Cathy and anger at her for choosing a more suitable (and rich) husband in Edgar Linton. Yes, he was treated very badly by Hindley, but I think his reaction is disproportionate. And the nastier Heathcliff got, the more I wished for a time machine, so someone could go back and leave him on the streets of Liverpool.

As for the ‘romance’ between Heathcliff and Catherine/Cathy, I didn’t really get a sense of it. That’s probably due to the narrator of the story being Nelly – one of the servants at Wuthering Heights. So, the interactions were what Nelly saw, and I’m not sure how reliable she is as a narrator (she could only repeat what she’d seen or heard or been told – and that was through her lens and what she thought was right and proper). There’s nothing sweet nor endearing about the interactions we do have between Heathcliff and Cathy.

I found the first half of the book, and indeed the very beginning of the book confusing and a bit frustrating – as I didn’t realise it started 20 years after Heathcliff was brought to Wuthering Heights by Mr Earnshaw (Catherine’s father). I really started getting into the story after Catherine died not long after giving birth to her daughter (Cathy). The story of the second generation (Cathy Linton, Hareton Earnshaw and Linton Heathcliff) was far more interesting and at least there was some hope they’d be released from the clutches of Heathcliff. Though having said I preferred this half, it did also have some of the more disturbing and at times plain weird scenes. I’m not surprised the book was so shocking when it was published, as it shocked me in places – and I kept wondering why Heathcliff got away with being so despicable. Oh wait, because he was rich. Not much has changed with the world then, has it? If you’re rich, you can become powerful and get away with pretty much any weird shit you want to.

When Heathcliff dies, I was almost elated. Finally, perhaps a chance of a happy ending. And that’s just what we get.