Friday 22 June 2012

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

After a month or so of not reading, I was almost required to pick up and read this book as part of my degree due to failing a previous exam on it. However, I can't really complain as, despite a slow start, Emily Brontë's only novel, was a pretty decent read.

Set in the deep hills of Yorkshire, W.H. follows the lives of the Heathcliff, Earnshaw an Linton families along with Mr. Lockwood and Mrs. Dean.

Slightly gothic and dark-spirited in nature, W.H. is an insight into how people lived in the early 19th century as well as an exploration into death, illness, family matters and borderline incest.

When I first picked this book up I didn't expect much, but as I delved deeper in, I found that it included a number of subjects which I often search for when reading (death, darkness, controversy) which, in turn, satisfied my needs/requirements.

Much like a realistic version of Frankenstein, this is a book which I now feel any person interested in classic or gothic literature should have a go at reading. I can't guarantee that I'll be re-reading this in the near future, but I may do so in a few years. We'll see.

In the meantime I think I'll rate this one at 3.5/5.