Customer Reviews

Wuthering Heights

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

3 out of 5, only because it's a bed book. The book itself is in good shape, and it arrived quickly. My gripe is that I didn't see it explained anywhere that it is a Bed book, which means the book reads horizontally not vertically. Not a big deal, but irritating none the less.

Don't buy this book without reading carefully the description. If this "style" of publishing were useful or relevant we would see it proffered by better publishing houses than "Bed Books". This is indeed the stupidest purchase I have ever made and I fully intend to seek a refund.

When I ordered this book, the "Bed Book" was not clarified very clearly or I missed the point of what the bed book meant. It is a difficult reading posture for me maybe for another, it will be five stars.

Maybe I missed something when ordering, but we were completely surprised by this book when it arrived. Apparently a "bed book" is printed horizontally. Not what we expected. We returned it with no problem though.

The book Style was different from anything we had ever seen. Would have been nice to have known that. It's hard to explain the way the pages were layed out. It was a style used for bed ridden individuals that promoted comfortable reading in any position. Really like nothing we had ever seen. Took a little getting use to but nothing worth sending the book back over

This obviously is a great book, but the Bedbook series format takes a lot of getting used to...

This is an interesting book in that people tend to take it in one of two ways. People either feel that Ms. Bronte is drawing a love story between Heathcliff and the 1st Catherine, or that Ms. Bronte is pointing out the 'terrible truth' of the failings of romantic love. I myself lean towards the latter. For one thing, the 1st Catherine dies 1/2 way through the story.

The story is basically this. Mr. Earnshaw (father of Hindley and the 1st Catherine) brings home an abandoned child. (Heathcliff) At the risk of oversimplifying, Heathcliff is basically responsible for rifts in the Earnshaw household. (For one thing, Hindley, with some justification feels that he has lost his father's love to Heathcliff.) Heathcliff seems to bring out the worst in both Hindley and Catherine. While we may sympathize with Heathcliff from time to time, he basically represents vengeance and destruction.

Moving on, you will probably notice that while that while certain characters display passion for each other, the happiness DOES NOT last into the marriage. We may be tempted to think that Nelly Dean is in fact Emily Bronte herself scoffing at the characters she created.

Moving on, the 1st Catherine (who married Edgar Linton) dies leaving behind one daughter Catherine (2). The widowed Hindley dies leaving behind a brain damaged son (Hareton). The story then switches focus to Hareton, the widower Edgar, Edgar's daughter Cathy (2), and Heathcliff's son Linton. It is interesting that Edgar is the most likable once he is a widower trying to raise his daughter. Heathcliff remains a character of darkness and vengeance bringing pain and torment to the surviving characters. (For someone who is famous for loving the 1st Catherine, he sure doesn't mention her much. Nor does he seem to have any problem treating her daughter wickedly.) There is something called false imprisonment, as well as kidnapping!

I don't want to ruin the book for those of you who haven't read it. But there is an interesting resolution that to some extent gives the romantic at heart what they want. However, at the same time, Heathcliff's expansion of character is limited. While many see this as a romantic novel, Miss Bronte is offering us an interesting reality check. (Passions are often short lived, and do not often last once marriage and reality set in).