Wuthering Heights

Good Golly, Ms. Molly! How in heavens I made it through four years of intense English classes at good 'ole Booker T. and never read Emily Bronte's classic, I will never know. Seriously. I have half a mind to call up those teachers (uh...I still keep in contact with some of my high school teachers...yes, I am quite a dork) and chew them out about this...or rather not. They did a wonderful job of introducing me to some of the finest literature ever penned, and I am very grateful for them. Truly, I had awesome English teachers, and I can freely say that now without others assuming I'm just looking for brownie points.

And how in the world it has taken me this long to read this novel, I will never know either. Man, what is wrong with me? Seriously, Wuthering Heights is true literature. Before I began this classic, my friend Jess mentioned that the obsessive love between Cathy and Heathcliff may very well have been the basis for the relationship between Bella and Edward in the Twilight saga. You can read all those Twilight books all you want, but characters like Heathcliff never fade.

Set in the brooding moors of Yorkshire (that's in the north of England, for those of you who don't wish you were born a Brit, like Jess and I do), Bronte tells the story of a young orphan boy found on the streets and brought home by a wealthy father of two children, Hindley and Cathy. Cathy and Heathcliff form an unbreakable bond, while Hindley tortures Heathcliff at every opportunity. As Cathy and Heathcliff face the expectations of society, they find themselves being torn apart. As the events unfold, Heathcliff plans his revenge on the world, and the innocent are involved at their own price.

Interestingly enough, apparently the Bronte sisters did not enjoy Jane Austen's works (they both published after her). Their styles are very different from one another, but I do appreciate both. Authors don't seem to produce works like these anymore, so it's important to appreciate them to their fullest extent.  There are also several film adaptations of the book. I watched this one a few weeks ago; it's pretty well done, although the screenplay does not follow the novel precisely.