I read some of Charlotte Brontë’s work in high school, so I’m excited to dive into another of the Brontë sisters’ works. I was surprised to find out that she published this book the year before she died of a fever (because she was too stubborn to call for a doctor), a fact that was included in the introduction of this book.

Read: March 4 – March 8, 2024

Genre: Classic, Romance
Audience: Adult
Book contains: death, madness, illness, cruelty

Purchase a copy from Amazon.ca

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A Tragic Love Story

Mr. Lockwood, a new tenant, is met with a hellish welcome by his landlord Heathcliff, and, after staying one night in the horrid house, turns to Mrs. Dean, the housekeeper of his own abode, to tell him what made the man the way he is.

This story begins in first person from the perspective of Mr Lockwood. It is told in past tense, as a sort of diary or journal entry. It then shifts into the first person perspective of Mrs. Dean, who is telling Mr. Lockwood of Heathcliff’s childhood. She breaks in here and there to make comments directly to Mr. Lockwood, but for the most part, simply describes the goings-on. Stories like this always surprise and delight me, because there is no realistic way for someone to remember exact dialogue in the way it’s described—but I digress.

I listened along to this book via audiobook on Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/episode/28bSL3mgzi10A0vNXUn1YS], though my physical copy is a beautiful little hardcover by Arcturus. The audiobook was a little over eleven hours long, but I mostly listened at 2.5x speed, so it took me just shy of five hours throughout the week to listen to it.

I was surprised to find that while Heathcliff is the protagonist of this story, the main character is actually Mr. Lockwood, who is Heathcliff’s tenant. This is done much the same way as The Great Gatsby. Most of the story takes place before the time where it starts, as the housekeeper, Nelly Dean, tells Mr Lockwood the story of Heathcliff’s life.

Most of the relationships in this book are a mess. Heathcliff, for sure, has the most complicated relationships of any other character, being a misanthrope in every sense of the word. He hates everyone and everything aside from Catherine—for what reason she lodged so deeply in his heart, I don’t know. He is also determined to get revenge on all others around him by taking their land and destroying their legacies, as seen by his treatment of his nephew, who he turned from the potential of a gentleman to an illiterate servant, and his own son, whom he groomed to follow his instructions and marry Miss Cathy (Catherine’s daughter) so he may also take the land of Edgar Linton.

Emily Brontë writes similarly to her sister Charlotte Brontë, which isn’t surprising. Though a majority of the book takes place within the retelling of a story, it doesn’t skip on the details of the world around, be it by sight, smell, or sound.

The pacing of this book was all right. It drags on a bit longer than would keep me interested, but it’s on par with other classics in this genre, if even shorter.

I’d recommend this classic to readers who enjoy an unconventional love story. It’s not any kind of love story I’ve read before, and I applaud that it didn’t portray the obsessive love and horrid behaviour in any romantic fashion.

Related Reviews:

Villette by Charlotte Brontë
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux