Item: Wuthering Heights
Rating: 4
Author: Jocelyn_Phoenix

2 марта 2026

Oh boy, what do I even say…

It was kind of fun hating reading this book and trying to figure out why I hated it and what others saw in it that I didn’t. It was also interesting to try and figure out what I saw in it when I read it 20ish years ago and gave it 5 stars.

What I felt the book did well: showing how trauma and abuse perpetuate themselves through generations, hurt people hurt people and all that kind of things; showing how traumatised, isolated, bored people drive themselves and others nuts. I also kind of liked the plot, the bare bones idea of it, but I wish it were written so much differently.

What I felt the book didn’t do well: basically everything else…

I kind of hated how the whole story was put together. We are being told by Lockwood (who’s otherwise pointless and very annoying), who’s being told by Nelly, who’s occasionally being told by other people. What is it, third, fourth hand narrative? Most of it also happened decades ago. I actually googled what was the point of that, and some say it makes the story more myth-like or some such, and I did not feel that, I just found it really hard to care. Nelly being the primary source of the story also results in things like her being there in the scenes she should not be in, and her knowing stuff she isn’t supposed to while plot-conveniently not knowing some of the things she definitely could’ve.

I was thoroughly annoyed by the character relationships in the book. I wasn’t expecting a love story because this definitely isn’t one, but what is it a story of then? Some say it is a great revenge story, but all I saw was toddler-level spitefulness - you broke my toy so I’ll break yours. But also, what is the point of revenge if the targets of your revenge are dead or don’t care? At some point it just felt dumb.

Then there’s all the talking. The characters in the book talk a lot, and whatever little happens is usually told, not shown. This also makes the supposed passionate feelings feel ungrounded and fake. Heathcliff and Catherine are close as kids, then she’s horrible to him as a teen, he’s horrible to her in return, they are both horrible to each other as adults. When they confess their undying love - not to each other, but, each one separately, to Nelly, - it sounds like a bad performance. It is possessiveness at best, resulting from boredom and isolation.

There’s also the matter of the characters’ choices. While I recognise that it would have been hard to make other choices in these circumstances, the main characters make the worst, dumbest, most melodramatic choices possible every time. It doesn’t even feel tragic because they don’t have to make them, they are not forced - or at least it isn’t ever shown that they are.

I’ve read a review saying that we are supposed to want to see beyond Nelly’s account of the events, to yearn for the true story, but I don’t. I just couldn’t see beyond all the annoyingly childish stuff. I admit that a large part of it is on me, but, well, it’s a subjective review of my subjective experience of reading this book.

I guess I’ll reread this book again in another 20ish years and see if my impression changes. Or I won’t.

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