Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Well…I finished.

This is a good story–an excellent story, actually, given that I didn’t want to put it down, and it inspired an almost compulsive need to know what would happen next. Better folks than I have written a lot more about this book, so I really don’t think I need to sell you on its positive qualities.

However, my personal impression–given that everyone talks about this as being one of the great literary romances of all time–was:

“HOLY F**K these are some miserable, petty, selfish characters.”

My favorite character? Nellie Dean, because she appears to be the only one possessed of both a generous spirit, common sense, and the barest degree of foresight.

Ok, that’s not fair to Edgar Linton. He’s all right. And Cathy Linton is young, so she gets a partial pass. And Hareton, well, he’s a pretty solid guy.

I won’t say I disliked the other characters, because I didn’t–I found them fascinating. Yet at the same time I was constantly aghast by how these people could treat each other, and frankly themselves. It’s a fascinating look, really, at nature vs nurture, if you want to read it that way.

While I enjoyed it, I will say this: if I’m going to read a story about horrible, bratty children and morose recluses on the moors, I’ll just read The Secret Garden.

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