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The Idle Book Club 22: Wuthering Heights

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The Idle Book Club 22:

The Idle Book Club 22


Wuthering Heights
If you've never read Wuthering Heights, it probably isn't what you expected. And if you haven't read it since high school, it's worth revisiting this unusual novel of obsession and revenge. Rereader Sarah and first-time reader Chris hash out their reactions to Emily Bronte's classic!

 

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haha this book i have an asshole juv3nal story about this book...

 

It was an assigned book in a uni course, one we had to write a paper on. I showed up at lecture not having read the book, underlined every passage the prof quoted from in his lecture and then proceeded to get an A+ on a paper I'd left to the last moment by coming up with some bullshit that tied together those quotes (having totally not taken any other notes and forgotten the context in which those quotes had been discussed) without ever having read the remainder of the book. I basically personified every worst stereotype STEM students have about liberal arts majors "they're all lazy slacker bullshit artists etc."

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Haha.

 

I hope you are encouraged to actually finish it this time! I'm rereading it right now - last read when I was 14 - and am finding it a real joy to read. It's so funny and spooky.

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I've read it in earnest since then, but I might be able to find the time for a reread. It's worth mentioning that it's on gutenberg in case anyone is holding off because of $ reasons.

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I’m glad you chose this one and I’m interested to see how the discussion pans out. Wuthering Heights is one of those books I’ve attempted to finish several times over the years, with little success. I’ve tried quite hard with it, because as a gothic romance, it seems like it should be exactly the kind of thing I find appealing, and it does have some indisputably great moments...

 

...but I still find it a very difficult book to actually read. I mean difficult in the way that people talk about Ulysses or Gravity's Rainbow as difficult - not bad, just hard. It’s nothing to do with the period quality of the prose: I love Jane Eyre and Villette dearly, for example, and I quite like The Tenant of Wildfell Hall too. But there’s something very different about Emily Bronte’s prose; reading it feels like scrambling and splashing slowly across a sodden moorland (if that isn’t too much of a Bronte cliché). You're forever crossing some bleak expanse, which is occasionally spectacular, in search of something which might or might not be there. There’s a perpetual awkwardness about it, perhaps, in comparison to Charlotte Bronte’s much more assured style.

 

I'd be curious to know if anyone else feels the same or if it's just me? (I'm entirely willing to believe it's just me! I hope this doesn't put anyone off the book!)

 

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Yess I hated this book in high school. This is a great excuse to read it again now that by brain is very different than it was when I was 15. 

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Hooray, the first book I've already read! I read this in my early twenties and really liked it, but can't remember all the details of it now. I also like the song.

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3 hours ago, marginalgloss said:

I’m glad you chose this one and I’m interested to see how the discussion pans out. Wuthering Heights is one of those books I’ve attempted to finish several times over the years, with little success. I’ve tried quite hard with it, because as a gothic romance, it seems like it should be exactly the kind of thing I find appealing, and it does have some indisputably great moments...

 

...but I still find it a very difficult book to actually read. I mean difficult in the way that people talk about Ulysses or Gravity's Rainbow as difficult - not bad, just hard. It’s nothing to do with the period quality of the prose: I love Jane Eyre and Villette dearly, for example, and I quite like The Tenant of Wildfell Hall too. But there’s something very different about Emily Bronte’s prose; reading it feels like scrambling and splashing slowly across a sodden moorland (if that isn’t too much of a Bronte cliché). You're forever crossing some bleak expanse, which is occasionally spectacular, in search of something which might or might not be there. There’s a perpetual awkwardness about it, perhaps, in comparison to Charlotte Bronte’s much more assured style.

 

I'd be curious to know if anyone else feels the same or if it's just me? (I'm entirely willing to believe it's just me! I hope this doesn't put anyone off the book!)

 

 

Oh, interesting. I definitely am thinking of revisiting Jane Eyre after finishing Heights, to see how they both compare.

 

For me at least, any difficulty with the prose is outweighed by how much of a page-turner this book is. Even when it's at it's most ephemeral, it's not enough to pull me away from how much of a joy it is to read. Hilarious, given how many absolutely awful things happen in this book.

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I read Pride and Prejudice for the first time last year, and for some reason I had thought that I was in for more of the same with Wuthering Heights - I've never seen an adaptation or read it before. I also, for some reason, thought that Heathcliffe was a romantic hero. It's been quite a shock.

 

Not quite enough of a shock to send me to my chambers with a brain fever, though.

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I know what Brontë was trying to get at, but I had a good laugh for a few minutes about the implication that Heathcliff's name is Heathcliff Heathcliff

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I had no idea what I was getting into with this book; I had heard the name and understood it to be somewhat beloved, but had no other context. The introduction to my edition (by Daphne Merkin, I believe) was actually kind of insane, and made the book seem like a long dream-like journey where nothing would make sense, and promised that I would not remember any scenes from the book, but instead just remember some sort of an aura. I honestly have no idea what that person was talking about, because plot-wise the book's pretty simple, albeit fantastically executed. I'll admit, I had to refer back to the family tree often in the first 100 pages or so to straighten out the characters (it switches between referring to characters by their first names and last names often), but aside from this I never felt like the book was especially complex. I didn't experience any difficulty with the prose like @marginalgloss did, but I'm not sure why that is since I wouldn't consider myself particularly experienced with prose from this era. I guess my brain just clicked with Bronte's style. 

 

I absolutely loved this book. I was making slow-goings of it, but I powered through the last 100 pages or so in one sitting last night and was riveted. It's just such a brilliantly-told story. I love how the book seems to jump back and forth in regards to who seems sympathetic and who does not; I especially felt torn during the passages regarding Cathy and Linton near the end, because their relationship was so strange and it never seemed like either of them knew what they were trying to do, and how they were hurting each other. 

 

I also read those Kate Beaton comics after finishing and they're great! 

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I know when people call this book a romantic story, they're usually referring to Catherine and Heathcliff. (And I also suspect that they're thinking of movie versions of the book, which as far as I can tell do away with all of Heathcliff's domestic abuse). Reading this a second time though, I found that I was really drawn to the relationship of Cathy and Hareton. Their story ends on a romantic note, a welcome conclusion from the misery that the earlier parts of the book inflicts on the reader.

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Arnolds adaption of the novel is the closest there is to the book. Chris misinterpreted 'love being a force of nature' as a positive thing, not a destructive thing which is more of what the film portrays it. One review I remember described it, particulary towards the end as becoming a horror film.

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2 hours ago, seamus2389 said:

Arnolds adaption of the novel is the closest there is to the book. Chris misinterpreted 'love being a force of nature' as a positive thing, not a destructive thing which is more of what the film portrays it. One review I remember described it, particulary towards the end as becoming a horror film.

 

I'm excited to watch!

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On 2/1/2017 at 4:22 PM, seamus2389 said:

Arnolds adaption of the novel is the closest there is to the book. Chris misinterpreted 'love being a force of nature' as a positive thing, not a destructive thing which is more of what the film portrays it. One review I remember described it, particulary towards the end as becoming a horror film.

 

I was coming in to say this.

 

It was interesting at the end when you both heartily recommended it, because I didn't actually hear much positive response from you about the book. Other than your praise for it's prose at the end, most of the show seemed to be grappling with how surprisingly dark it was. Not that you're obligated to "review" the book in any way (it's not like Wuthering Heights needs it), but to me you came across as more ambivalent than you ultimately were.

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Good episode!

 

Someone pointed out to me once that Nelly Dean is the villain of the book. I can't remember the specifics now, but apart from being a judgmental arsehole, she also willingly cultivates some misunderstandings and resentments a couple of times. She's kind of a Iago figure at times. Don't know how anyone who's read it recently feels about this..?

 

 

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