Wuthering Heights book review

As a young boy, I remember pulling Wuthering Heights off the book shelf in our local school library. I read a few paragraphs, but quickly put it back on the shelf. Unfortunately, it was too stuffy and poetic for my youthfully unrefined tastes. Recently, however, I read the whole book, and was shocked and intrigued by the content. Here is our Wuthering Heights book review and book banter.

Rest assured that during this book review, I won’t reveal the ending, or disclose major plot twists-and-turns. Instead, I will focus on the intriguing and disturbing major characters in this surprisingly deranged romantic novel from Emily Brontë.

During my life of reading all types of diverse novels, I have never been more shocked and started as I read Wuthering Heights. I thought this was going to be a nice and pretty romance novel with lots of cuddles.

But no, this is not nice and pretty at all. Instead, I was really shocked at the psychological torture that was inflicted on poor, helpless children, and on their powerless pets. Wow, I was mortified!

Not only that, but there were violent altercations between adults. And, the aggressive but odd offenders were affluent and educated, and otherwise responsible adults.

So, if you decide to read Wuthering Heights (which I recommend you do), prepare yourself for the violence. But before I go any further, let’s introduce the main characters, and analyze their personalities.

Mr. Lockwood is a young man who is a tenant of Thrushcross Grange, a rural estate with a large house in the beautiful countryside of rural England. His home is located four miles away from Wuthering Heights, another more run-down estate where the landlord, Heathcliff, lives.

He’s the one who opens this story with his narration. In addition to telling us about his trip to Wuthering Heights and how he was initially welcomed to stay there overnight. But, he also tell us about the bizarre, unexpected violent episodes between the estate’s owner, his children, and his servants.

Not surprisingly, the well-traveled Mr. Lockwood is startled (just like I was) by the violently dysfunctional family unit, especially in the run-down Wuthering Heights estate.

During Mr. Lockwood’s stay at Thrushcross Grange, he asked the housekeeper, Ellen Dean or Nelly, for more information about his peculiar but intriguing landlord.

Nelly is a housekeeper who worked at Thrushcross Grange. At the time she met Mr. Lockwood, she was young. As the story progresses through multiple generations, she also ages!

One night during Mr. Lockwood’s time spent at Thrushcross Grange, he asked Nelly all about his odd landlord, and the other gruff and uncivilized occupants and servants at Wuthering Heights. So, Nelly begins the narration, and her story continues, off-and-on, throughout the decades whenever she sees Mr. Lockwood in his travels to Thrushcross Grange.

Mr. Earnshaw, Wuthering Heights’ original owner, found Heathcliff living on the streets of London. He was an abandoned, poor orphan.

Despite his concern for Heathcliff, Earnshaw treated Heathcliff as an outsider, and never considered him a part of the Earnshaw family. Maybe it was because of Heathcliff’s dark skin, or maybe it was Heathcliff’s dark personality and poor background.

Either way, Heathcliff grows up enduring brutal psychological and physical violence, which further deepened his dark, mysterious, and revenge-seeking personality.

Heathcliff, along with Catherine Earnshaw and her daughter, also named Catherine, were among the principal protagonists in this novel. As the novel progressed, Heathcliff became more and more obsessed with Catherine and her daughter, and even more seduced by his love for revenge.

While I could understand Heathcliff’s desire to seek revenge for Earnshaw’s harsh treatment, I still could not empathize with this character. He devoted his whole life to getting revenge, and being obsessed with Catherine Earnshaw. Ironically, his almost demonic lust for revenge and obsession with Catherine compelled me to continue reading.

Young Catherine was the daughter of Mr. Earnshaw. She grew up in Wuthering Heights, and was kept in an isolated and sheltered environment.

Shockingly, she saw the arbitrary violence that her father inflicted on Heathcliff and the staff at the estate. Fortunately, she was never the recipient of that violence.

But, as Catherine matured, she became aware of and was psychologically attracted to Heathcliff, and his dark personality. Maybe she felt sorry for him, or maybe his outsider-identity and smoldering persona seduced her to get closer to Heathcliff.

In general, Catherine was described as being pretty, and she did attract the attention of other boys and men. Later, she would marry Edgar Linton, the wealthy bachelor who lived at Thrushcross Grange.

As a well-educated, and relatively wealthy young man, Edgar Linton was the opposite of the rebellious young Heathcliff. Edgar loved to read, and he had a large library of books.

In addition, he had a refined, cultured manner, that reflected his high-society, wealthier background. His personality was quietly reflective, and he was a soft-spoken, kind-hearted person.

Naturally, his good-guy personality didn’t strike a passionate flame with the pretty Catherine Earnshaw. While I feel like I should reveal more about Edgar and his relationship with Catherine, I’m afraid if I divulge too much, I’ll spoil your reading pleasure! And, that’s a no-no for me!

Edgar had a younger, more spoiled sister who lived with him at Thrushcross Grange. Her name was Isabella. Of course, she became infatuated with Heathcliff, just like Catherine Earnshaw. And that’s where even more drama and romance erupts!

The main characters from the first volume, just as men and women from all around the world do when they mingle, had children. But, I don’t want to reveal more about these later characters, because that might spoil the enjoyment of reading Wuthering Heights. And, it might divulge too much of this intriguing and surprising plot.

So, that is all I will reveal about the second generation!

Despite the compellingly sinister background that enveloped some of the main characters, I felt like I wasn’t able to empathize with them. Fortunately, I did find the characters interesting. But, for whatever reason, I couldn’t identify with them the way I do with characters from most of the other novels I have read.

Surprisingly, despite my lack of empathy, I did find the novel kept me engaged enough to continue reading. In fact, the plot was so interesting, that I found it difficult to stop reading!

At times, I became really confused by the narrative. As I was reading, I had to really study the text, to discover whether Nelly or Mr. Lockwood was telling the story. That was especially true in volume 2.

Unfortunately, that confusion interrupted the flow of the story, at least for me. Maybe the author’s prose was too poetic, and the flowery poeticism confused me.

Also, there were times when the author (or the printer) confused the genders. For instance, in volume 2, the author often referred to Ellen Dean (Nelly) as “Mr.” Dean! That was really weird, because there was no Mr. Dean in the story—only Mrs. Dean (or Nelly), the servant and the narrator!

In addition, the narration mixed up the genders. For instance, sometimes the narrator referred to a “he” or “him”, when it should have been a “she” or a “her”.

So, those mistakes and other mistakes ruined the flow of an otherwise engaging story. However, maybe those errors were related to the troubles that the author had with the printer. Either way, I was really disappointed about that!

As I just noted above, I found Emily Brontë’s style of writing in this novel to be too poetic. For me, the text was inconsistent and hard-to-understand, maybe because of its flowery poeticism. But, I’m not sure if my conclusion is correct.

Either way, I would have enjoyed this novel much more if the author’s ideas were presented in a more understandable manner. Or, maybe I’m too dense to fully appreciate this otherwise interesting story!

This is a trailer for the 2026 film adaptation of Wuthering Heights. My guess is that the romance will be more cuddly and cute than it was in the book, but maybe I’m wrong about that. If you’ve seen this version, please share your thoughts in the comments section below.

I found that many of the protagonists were so very unconventional, and I love unconventional characters. They didn’t cherish or cling to the ideals of a conventionally civilized society!

In addition, I was really intrigued by Heathcliff’s almost spiritual, or demonic obsession with Catherine Earnshaw. His darkly spiritual attraction carried throughout the entire novel, and even deepened as time passed!

In general, we all know that irrationally strong obsessions are not good for a well-balanced life, and I know that, too. But, I loved how Heathcliff’s obsessions overwhelmed and possessed his life.

Unfortunately, he was also obsessive about his need for revenge. He devoted his whole life to getting revenge on the Earnshaw family. Sure, it was irrational, but Heathcliff’s need to get revenge became a primary goal.

And, in many ways, Heathcliff succeeded, in both his obsession and his vindictiveness. But, that’s all I’m going to reveal about that!

I thought the storyline was very creative, especially the ending. And I enjoyed how the ensemble cast of characters interacted with each other.

At times, the plot was predictable, but other times the storyline was surprising. However, one romantic part of the storyline ending was foreseeable for me. However, Heathcliff’s ending was really cool, and kind-of unpredictable. But, his ending did fit in with his personality, and I loved it!

FINAL VERDICT

While I found Emily Brontë’s writing style confusing prone to errors in parts of her novel, Wuthering Heights, her ensemble cast of interesting characters and creative storyline made up for those flaws.

Overall, Heathcliff’s darkly obsessive and demonically vindictive personality traits kept me reading. In fact, this book was difficult to put down. I had to continue reading to see what evil things he was going to do on the next page.

So, despite the flaws, Wuthering Heights was an excellent book, and should be on everyone’s must-read list. The fact that there have been so many film and television adaptations of this unique story show that it is an emotionally compelling one, indeed!

Thanks for reading our Wuthering Heights book review. If you’ve read the book already, or if you’ve seen any of the film adaptations, please share your thoughts in the comments section below!

Content and photos by Doug Martin and Our Book Banter