All 1 entries tagged Bronte

Wuthering Heights

This morning I finished reading "Wuthering Heights" and I still don't really know what to think of that book. Well, firstly it was quite a disappointment. After everything my friend told me about how great it is and what I read in reviews and recommendations about it, it certainly didn't meet my expectations. Yet I have a hard time to point at a reason as to why I'm disappointed. I guess I expected it to be rather similar to a book by Jane Austen as the topic and setting were similar. But alas! It was anything but like Austen! As I already had said before I couldn't really take a liking to Brontes style of writing but the main problem I probably had was with the design of the main characters. I've hardly ever read a story containing so much hate between the main characters. Although that shouldn't have repelled me as stories with an anti-hero can be as good as those with a hero. Yet I just couldn't connect with Heathcliff. His feelings (as well as those of Catherine, Hindley, Isabella and Edgar) have been depicted so exaggerated and unrealistic and unreasonable. Yeah this book certainly was not to my taste.

The next book I already started this afternoon. It is "Kafka on the Shore" by Haruki Murakami and was first published in 2002. After all this 18th/19th century literature I need a break and will try something more recent. I've only read like 20 pages yet, but I'm already hooked up on the story. That looks like a promising read.

I've been asked which books to recommend from that list. Well from the 19 (on the list) I've read now I'd especially recommend the Jane Austen ones, The Lord of the Rings (Tolkien), The Picture of Dorian Gray (Wilde), Atonement (McEwan) and Middlesex (Eugenides). Hope that helps! 

:D

: 10 Feb 2008 17:35 |  Tags: Book Bronte |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem