I'm thinking of reading Wuthering Heights, mostly because it's just sitting there on the bookshelf and I feel like reading something. But it doesn't really seem like my 'type' and the two pages I've read aren't encouraging me to go further... is it worth reading?

If you haven't been required to read it for an English class by now, probably no point. It is a fine piece of literature, though, as exciting as that sounds.

I do remember arguing successfully against having to study Wuthering Heights in high school. Surely I haven't changed that much.

i did a term paper on it years ago. i actually enjoyed the book but i was reading it a little deeper than the casual reader since it was for a paper. i would read it again if i had the time. i recommend it because it is a classic and to me, a good story although out there sometimes.

This is a strange thing to say, but the cruelty in WH is extremely compelling.

Heathcliff's rise to power to, more or less, crush his adversaries is but one of the reasons you should read this book (though there are many interesting and complex relationships in the book).

An excellent novel.

Look at it this way: better this than the (overrated) Jane Eyre, written by Emily's sister...

At least both of each sister's major novels was better than their other sister's, Anne. Hehehe, not that this matters...

Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre remains a novel I thoroughly enjoy, but I would never place it above Wuthering Heights, which became a story that was appealing and hypnotic and classy. I would recommend you read it; it's not very long and it's not difficult to read, at least not in my opinion. I was very immersed in the novel, not that I ever had to use it for a class, but because it truly overwhelmed me. The character of Heathcliff is very genuine, and like Iago said, his experiences in the story and how he experiences them are what drives this story's intensity. I really empathized with him throughout, although he was so complex a person and the story was not written from his perspective, but from his story - For every part of his person that made me wonder, I think he's one of literature's greatest characters. From his past, eventually confused relationship with Catherine to the wealthy, dark, misunderstood man he was in the present, Heathcliff mesmerized and taunted me - and he was human!

I know we're talking about the book, but I usually come in here to talk about movies. So I'll ask if you've seen the Orson Wells film. Apart from the fact that it deals primarily with the first half of the book and kind of skims the second half, the movie is beautifully done and wonderfully acted. Probably Wells wanted to make a three hour movie and the studio wouldn't let him, so he had to chop down the second half. The 1990's remake is not as good, but does cover more of the storyline than the Wells version.

I like the semaphore version.

i dig the paperback version.

Forget the book and the movie, just get the Kate Bush song.

Is this going to be one of those books where you have to force yourself through the beginning and then it picks up and gets much better? It's just.. so... boring

It is really the sort of book you appreciate when it is over, because you really have no perspective on where it is going until it concludes. It does get going later on, but if you read it for a second time, the first half becomes much more interesting because you catch the ideas you may have missed in the begining and how the small characterizations are prevalent to what the characters become in the end. What I'm trying to say is, it works well as a complete piece, but if you just read 30 pages or so it isn't all that exciting.

Thanks. I'll push myself and keep going. It always seems to be rewarding, the best books I've ever read always seem to be difficult to 'get into' at first.

i finished this yesterday, it was good. worth reading. i don't really know what else to say...

Petra Hayden does a wonderful cover of this song!