Jane Austen is amazing. There is so much behind her writing, and the more I read them the more I see in them. I loved the film Becoming jane and can imagine that she was perhaps like that in rl, dashing off to write down something someone said and using it later in a book. In that film you see a lot of the characters from her books int he people around her. Obviously this is largely speculation, apart from what they got from her letters and such, but I love her quote about "The more I see of the world the more I am dissatisfied with it, and I think this is what she herself felt. I also think I relate to her books more now, having lived in the real world, rather than the safe, teenage world.
I agree about WH, it is a wonderfully romantic book, with the notion of soulmates, and undying love, but as Cathy knew, you can't live on love alone, so she chose the rich guy, and then she learnt that you can't deny your love and suffered for it, sorry to ruin it, but you don't want to read it and I'm hoping you wont care, or that iot might whet your appetite to know more
I think this is why it appeals to teenagers who haven't really experienced real life love and relationships and who still think that it is all sweeping of your feet, longing glances and wonderful, when in fact they discover the reality and have lived longer in the real world, you are perhaps less likely to enjoy this book if you are already a littel jaded.