How is Wuthering Heights?

[SirJazzHands]

Great, awful, so-so?
I've been wanting to read it forever, for some reason. I have these oddly high expectations for it, so if it happens to suck, I'll be disappointed. How is it?

[Scheherazade]

A little noisy and a little high?

:p

[manolia]

Not great in my opinion, but very good and worth your time ;)

[SirRaustusBear]

I loved it

[LadyWentworth]

I have these oddly high expectations for it, so if it happens to suck, I'll be disappointed. How is it?

I have felt that way about so many things in life (particularly movies) where I always end up so disappointed. So I have gotten into the habit of not expecting too much anymore. :)

Anyway, onto the novel, I really, really liked it. I can't say that I would necessarily recommend it to just anyone, but that is because I don't think this novel is really universal in its appeal. But I did really like it. So, I say give it a try. Just don't go into it expecting to read one of the greatest novels of all-time. Not because it isn't one of the best (I would personally place it high on my list of the best, though), but because I think you would be let-down by it if you did. :) Then, maybe, if you don't expect it to be one of the best, it will turn out to be one of the best that you have ever read. :)

Did I even make sense with what I said? :p I think I did. Maybe. :D

[LitNetIsGreat]

The greatest novel ever written.

However, after our discussion in the other thread, I don't think you are ready for it, and I am not being condescending. I read it first when I was young and hated it, but it is the very best novel ever written, of this I am sure.

[SirJazzHands]

I'm not particularly offended, just wondering: why am I "not ready" for it?

Oh right, I just looked back at your posts and realized you're the person from the other topic I made today. Are you saying that just because I don't appreciate Macbeth? I don't think it's fair to say someone "isn't ready" for something just because they dislike a particular book. I already said I love Julius Caesar, Hamlet, and Othello, so it isn't like I totally hate the man or anything. Regardless, though, I checked out the book and am hoping I'll enjoy it. =)

Just curious, Neely, what are a few of your other favorites?

[LitNetIsGreat]

It is just that it is quite a dense work that requires slow, careful reading and in my mind if you didn’t appreciate Macbeth or Romeo and Juliet then you probably wouldn’t appreciate Wuthering Heights. Incidentally, many critics draw parallels between the bleakness and wildness of Shakespeare’s King Lear and Wuthering Heights, which I would go along with, so comparison between the two is not totally without merit. I did forget that you said you enjoyed the other Shakespeare works, so hopefully you will prove me wrong, hope so.

As to my particular favorites, well it is quite wide ranging almost anything from Greek mythology to late Victorian fiction, but to list some of the books at the top of my bookcase would be: Shakespeare, Wilde, Ovid, Keats, Shelley, Wordsworth, Homer, Milton, lots of Victorian fiction: Brontës, Hardy, Austen, things like that. I have been recently been getting more and more into Greek tragedy, Euripides in particular, but my studies pull me in other directions. One of my favourite novels is The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde and of Shakespeare it is probably King Lear.

[wessexgirl]

It's one of my all-time favourites. I've read it a few times, and I love it, but I can understand that it's not to everyones taste. It is a strange and emotional book, and I think a lot of people misjudge it, and see it as a "romance" in the sense of a Mills & Boon style bodice-ripper, with Heathcliff as this brooding hero. He certainly is brooding, but he's not a hero, in fact I think he's pretty much a pyschopath, and very cruel. But the wild emotions which abound in the novel and in the execution are the antithesis to more reasoned prose and style writers. So if you like simple, direct writing, or calm, restrained prose, you may not like it. But I would say, give it a go. If you don't like it, you haven't lost anything, (except some precious reading time :).
It takes a bit of an effort to get your head around the dialect, but I think it's worth it.

[grace86]

My dad is about 64 now. When he was in college I guess Wuthering Heights came out as a movie so he and a friend went to see it at a drive in. Well the movie left two college aged males in complete tears by the end. Compelling enough for me to want to read it, but for others, I don't know. :D Who knows?

It's my plan to read it whenever I find enough time. I'd give it a try if I were you. About the conversation on being ready for it, mind my asking your age?

It's just that there are some books that carry a different meaning when one reads it as a youth as opposed to when one is older. This could have a lot to do with patience as one is drifting through very descriptive and dense passages, or merely having some personal experiences which make it more enriching of a read. Don't get me wrong, I am not making any assumptions on you...I'd say read it. But it just might be worth reading a second time later on..unless of course you find that you don't like it the first way around.

[Emil Miller]

Great, awful, so-so?
I've been wanting to read it forever, for some reason. I have these oddly high expectations for it, so if it happens to suck, I'll be disappointed. How is it?

I suggest that you see the film first ( the 1939 version, forget the others they don't come anywhere near it ) the book is a good deal longer than the film whch ends with the ghosts of the two main characters being seen on the moor. However, the direction, acting and overall production are superb and it is safe to say will never be bettered.
If you like the film, you will be better prepared for the book which as a story of the destructive power of human passion has probably never been bettered.

[mona amon]

Great, awful, so-so?
I've been wanting to read it forever, for some reason. I have these oddly high expectations for it, so if it happens to suck, I'll be disappointed. How is it?

It's one of my all time favourites, beautifully crafted and very imaginative. I first read an abridged version when I was about ten and the icy cold ghostly hand really got me hooked!

Will you like it? Maybe, maybe not. But go ahead and read it, or you'll never know! ;) And do come here and tell us what you thought of it :)

[LadyWentworth]

I suggest that you see the film first ( the 1939 version, forget the others they don't come anywhere near it ) the book is a good deal longer than the film whch ends with the ghosts of the two main characters being seen on the moor. However, the direction, acting and overall production are superb and it is safe to say will never be bettered.
If you like the film, you will be better prepared for the book which as a story of the destructive power of human passion has probably never been bettered.

You know what? I actually do agree with this statement. Probably because this is how I experienced the story. I was a kid when I first saw this film, but I liked it so much that it prompted me to read the novel. So I do agree with the idea of watching the movie first. As the book is longer, there is more to the story that is left out beyond where the film ends. So that will make the book all that more interesting while reading it.

[classics junkie]

Yes! Definately read WH! ;) The use of language and word choice is gripping. A little dry for the first three chapters, but they're pretty short and the story moves on from there pretty fast. The characters will make you think even after you're done reading the book. Please, read the book and enjoy.

[weltanschauung]

heavy and depressing.

[hoope]

sounds a great book .. i always wanted to read it..
I guess i will now :-)

[AshleyMare]

I loved it. It was great actually. It's worth your time.

[MataHari]

One of my favorite reads,yes,worth your time.

[Fleecaroline19]

I am french and I read a lot in english. I really do want to read wuthering height. I have already read David Copperfield in english. Does wuthering height is harder than that? I would like to read Romeo and Juliette in english too. I think I would give it a try this summer.
Please tell me what you think about that. Thanks