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Original poster

wuthering heights - it's...

66 replies

MaryAnnSingleton · 07/01/2008 09:49

... dreary isn't it ? Am reading it for book group and it's very wordy and fiull of cross people so far, a bit like a not funny Cold Comfort Farm - does it improve ?

OP posts:
Original poster
MaryAnnSingleton · 07/01/2008 10:17

no, but I'm renowned for being a bit picky about books, which I suppose is the point of a book group- they'll just think I'm being difficult...
Also,another point, am irritated by having to read Joseph's dialogue written in dialect...

OP posts:
ahundredtimes · 07/01/2008 10:16

Oh no, she must finish. She must light candles and read it out loud, in a draught.

FrannyandZooey · 07/01/2008 10:15

I didn't read it until in 20s but I am quite a teenagey person even now so maybe that helps

I must say I don't have the urge to reread it frequently, unlike Jane Eyre

it's a bit like eating a whole box of very rich chocolates with strange things in them like mustard

lalalonglegs · 07/01/2008 10:15

Note to self: re-read Jane Eyre. Read it as teenager and really hated it... (made to read Villette at university and loathed that).

ahundredtimes · 07/01/2008 10:14

Try reading it out loud MAS. I think that might make a difference. Lock yourself away and get lost in the wordiness.

I tell you that Charlotte did erotic well. Have you ever read Vilette? Cor.

I read Dickens as an adult though, never read before, I mean I read in my 30s. He's a bit big isn't he? And I read Tess as a grown-up - that's just porn.

HairyIrene · 07/01/2008 10:14

yeh, dreary is a bit unfair...

but if you dont click with it...they dont throw you out book clubs for not finishing them do they

TheGoatofBitterness · 07/01/2008 10:14

i loved teh whole utter consuming passion of it but then as a self obsessed crazed teenager it all seemed quite acceptable. i suspect now i would be tutting and saying 'fgs, linton is much nicer and so clean and rich', heh ho.

MrsJohnCusack · 07/01/2008 10:12

not amssively keen on Wuthering Heights I must say. interesting point about not having read it as an impressionable teenager - I didn't read it until I was in my 20s - maybe that's why I don't like it much

Jane Eyre is THE most erotic book ever written IMHO. it is utterly brilliant

Original poster
MaryAnnSingleton · 07/01/2008 10:11

well dreary so far,in my opinion - I am willing to be convinced otherwise as I plod on

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FrannyandZooey · 07/01/2008 10:10

I mean a bit over dramatic sometimes, maybe, but dreary?

HairyIrene · 07/01/2008 10:10

maryann
i think it depends on what age you read certain books
i re-read wuthering heights in adultdome and it was a different book!

i found this with even catcher in the rye too

i would persist though...
brrr its chilly on them moors...brrrrr....

Original poster
MaryAnnSingleton · 07/01/2008 10:09

yes, love the claustrophobia of Austen - where they take a turn about the room in order tobreak the monotony of sitting

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ahundredtimes · 07/01/2008 10:07

Yes dream-like is a good way to describe it. I read it over and over from about 14 onwards. Haven't re-read mind.

lalalonglegs · 07/01/2008 10:07

at LoveAngel not liking Jane Austen - so funny and bitchy and sad all at the same time. Perfectly describes the torture of being expected to fit into some passive woman role in the 1800s - the sitting around, waiting for something to happen, the lack of choices, the claustrophobia.

Original poster
MaryAnnSingleton · 07/01/2008 10:07

now I liked Jane Eyre and loved Persuasion (did that too for A level)- have re read that and still love it...it's spare,whereas WH seems so relentlessly wordy - I will persevere if I possibly can.

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ahundredtimes · 07/01/2008 10:06

Oh now I've got a lot of time for Austen. She's shrewd and dry though, in comparison, but there's room for that I think.

[dry and shrewd emoticon]

LoveAngel · 07/01/2008 10:06

I had always resisted reading 'Rebecca' - not really sure why? - until this summer. Decided if it was on every Tom, Dick & Harry's 'Favourites' list I should probably give it a go. I loved the writing - quite self indulgent, very dream-like.

Clary · 07/01/2008 10:04

Gosh it was my fave book as a 16yo too!

Like Goat, I haven't dared re-read it for a while.

However my book club is doing Jane eyre (another teen fave of mine, lol at erotic F&Z, I thought so too at 16) plus Sargasso Sea next month so we shall see.....

TripleyTigger · 07/01/2008 10:04

Spelt right of course Doh!!

LoveAngel · 07/01/2008 10:04

I find Jane Austen dreary. Awfully clever and can see that she was a skilled writer / clever social commentator of her time - but I struggled to get through any one of her novels.

ahundredtimes · 07/01/2008 10:04

The other classic teenage read is Rebecca. That's v. good on the ghosts of/ fear of womanhood I think.

TripleyTigger · 07/01/2008 10:03

I'm with you!!
Jane Erye, Far From the Madding Crowd.....

Think I was born too late

Buda · 07/01/2008 10:03

Did WH for Leaving Cert (Irish A level equivalent) - have never had a desire to re-read it!

Not sure I have actually ever read Jane Eyre!

ahundredtimes · 07/01/2008 10:03

Oh yes Jane Eyre is incredibly erotic, I agree.

LoveAngel · 07/01/2008 10:02

lol@ahundredtimes - I like the Kate Bush song, too, and I'm not ashamed!

Interesting point @lalalonglegs - Wuthering Heights is the classic angsty teenage girl's read, isn't it? It left a huge impression on me when I first read it aged about 14. I used to dream about Cathy and Heathcliff. I'm not sure I'd be waking in the night with tears in my eyes over it now if I hadn't read it then...