The Heights of Passion (Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte)

Name: smcc

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Product:	Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
Date:	28/10/01 (172 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Engrossing, Beautifully descriptive, All-time classic

Disadvantages: Yorkshire dialects are a bit difficult for newcomers, Not my wife's cup of tea(!)

How many times has one read a book or a watched a film with the same old plot? Boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl again...then in some cases, one or both of them die. The End!

Anyone can write a love story, I'm fairly sure of that fact. Writing an original love story is different. Now, I know that Wuthering Heights is over 150 years old and that original plots were easier to find, but even now no-one has matched the passion and power of this story. Add to that fact that the young woman "what wrote this" (ah, E Wise Esq, I owe you that one) had little experience of such happenings, you'll soon realise, after reading this novel, what an amazing feat of story-telling it is.

The opening scene, where we meet Heathcliff for the first time, gives you insight into the rest of the story. For those who have never read or seen Wuthering Heights, let me dispell some common misunderstandings: Heathcliffe was a man devoid of both compassion and passion, Catherine Earnshaw was a young selfish child (even into her late teens, one could never beleive she was mature enough to be called a young woman).

The story revolves around their all-consuming love/hate relationship and how it ruins so many lives around them. In fact, I suppose from my description it doesn't sound much of a love story, more of a loathe story! This is probably true, but there is more to this novel than a simple boy-loves-girl routine. The whole story takes an about-turn half-way through when Catherine pops her clogs and we are left with a gap of about 10 years or more when in comes Catherine Mark II (sequels even then).

This is where most screen adaptions fail miserably; they drop half the story and finish with a bit of the last chapter. But there is so much more to it. Believe me, once you have READ this novel, you will understand how compelling it is. I cannot count the number of times now that I have picked this book up.

Sc
enes of particular note are the dreams of Catherine as a ghost and the reactions to her demise. Upon reaching the final paragraph of the final chapter, you feel as though an epic has been completed. That final paragraph fills you with such tranquility that no other book has done for me.

This is my all-time favourite book, if you had not guessed.

If you have read or decide to read this novel, please comment on my opinion.

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