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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:
Indith · 07/01/2008 09:51

No

I hated it

rosybud · 07/01/2008 09:51

Oh yes we read that for book group and thought it very gloomy and dreary, doesn't improve much.

TheGoatofBitterness · 07/01/2008 09:52

omg - this was one of my favourite books as a starry eyed teenager. haven't dared reread it as an adult.

i think cold comfort farm was a tongue in cheek homage to wuthering heights.

get kate bush wailing on full volume in the back ground. wrap yourself up in a scratchy blanket in a draughty room and embrace your inner kathy.

Original poster
MaryAnnSingleton · 07/01/2008 09:52

I am not looking forward to reading the rest,that's for sure !

OP posts:
ahundredtimes · 07/01/2008 09:52

Oh god I don't think it's dreary. I think it's dark and strange and passionate.

But I read a while ago I suppose.

Not like Cold Comfort Farm - why should it be?

I liked it v. much, all that wind and rain.

TheGoatofBitterness · 07/01/2008 09:53

kisses 100 times then savagely mutilates her puppy.

Original poster
MaryAnnSingleton · 07/01/2008 09:54

don't like Kate Bush either, so that won't help. I think it's something someone has read as a teenager and thought it wonderful as you do then and wanted to read it again. I got them to read Cold Comfort Farm last year btw !

OP posts:
ahundredtimes · 07/01/2008 09:54

[swoons in delight]

LoveAngel · 07/01/2008 09:54

I loved Wuthering Heights. Read it many times during my teens and early twenties. It's unrelentingly dark and bleak, but I thought very, very good.

lalalonglegs · 07/01/2008 09:56

Wuthering Heights is wonderful - so extreme and unspeakable. However, I did hear a woman on the radio speaking about it recently and she said if you hadn't read it when you were an impressionable teenager and learned to love it then, you might not really get into it in adulthood. Funny, because the themes are very, very adult - so much cruelty, betrayal and downright sadism. Very uncomfortable but completely absorbing (once you get past the first few pages with effete townie being told background).

Persist.

ahundredtimes · 07/01/2008 09:56

See? Me and LoveAngel are wandering the moors, tapping on windows and having a lovely time.

Original poster
MaryAnnSingleton · 07/01/2008 09:57

I'm wondering if I'd feel the same about re reading The Rainbow,which I did for A level - loved it at the time, all that symbolism and whatnot,very appealing to a teenager, but don't think I'd feel the same now !

OP posts:
TripleyTigger · 07/01/2008 09:57

Its one of my favorites too!! Stick with it!!
Have you thought about watching the film? Its crap compared to the book but it might help you to get into it more

Threadworm · 07/01/2008 09:57

I don't really like it. It seemed like a book written by an talented person who just hadn't got the mechanics of a novel right. Maybe like a draft of a novel or something. And the characters are so ridiculously over the top that it does also seem like a bit of a parody.

ahundredtimes · 07/01/2008 09:58

The Rainbow is sexy.

FrannyandZooey · 07/01/2008 10:00

god dreary? how bizarre

mind you I find Jane Eyre the height of erotica so don't mind me

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...

ahundredtimes · 07/01/2008 10:03

Oh yes Jane Eyre is incredibly erotic, I agree.

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!

TripleyTigger · 07/01/2008 10:03

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

Think I was born too late

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.

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.

TripleyTigger · 07/01/2008 10:04

Spelt right of course Doh!!

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.....

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.

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