Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

Have you ever read a book and hated it? But then slowly after a while, say after two three days you finally understood its depth and hated it lesser? This is exactly what happened with me when I finished reading ‘Wuthering Heights’. My hate for it now has almost diminished. Ok, let’s be honest I still don’t entirely love it (because I started this book with lots of pre-conceived notions, like it’s a passionate love story blah blah blah! And it’s going to be all goody like ‘Mansfield Park’ or ‘Northanger Abbey’….Boy! I was SO wrong).

So, these were my initial thoughts:

WHAT DID I JUST READ? How did this dark, bleak, convoluted book happen to become a classic? Why would anyone (and that too especially a woman) consider writing such a horrendous tale? Why these characters are so narcissistic and why do they lack depth and emotions? And ofcourse, ‘How in the world are first cousins allowed to get married?’ I mean I had no idea that this notion was so commonly practiced in olden days. ANYWAYS.

So yes, I mean if you are a Jane Austen fan like me who represents the term ‘Classic Romance’ in a very endearing manner. THEN mind you, this classic is not endearing. This romance isn’t endearing AT ALL. Nothing about this book felt endearing (to me atleast).

And now my after-thoughts:

This book was never supposed to be endearing. It wasn’t supposed to represent any classic romance. It was meant to be BAD and HORRIBLE. That is the catch. Wuthering Heights is a place you would never want to visit if you are sane and normal person. But, if you are somewhat like me, you would definitely like to go there and wander in its cursed, mysterious world!

In the end I would just say that:

This book will stay with you for a long time. I know it’s going to stay with me for sure. It has evoked some of my deep hidden fears and passions. This is the catch. This book throws something at you which you are not willing to handle, your sane mind is repulsed with its narrative, you want to run away from Heathcliff, from Catherine and from that illiterate Joseph. You despise them, you want to forget them as soon as possible and yet you can’t, yet you keep reading, yet you want to know what happens next because secretly you know these people exist inside every single one of us. This is the catch. You eventually understand that this book doesn’t represent classic romance however, what it does represent is ‘Human Nature at its worse’.

THAT IS THE CATCH.

Let me know what you guys felt after reading this book. Keep reading, keep smiling. Take care.