Book Review: Wuthering Heights

November 9, 2011 7 Comments


Title: Wuthering Heights
Author: Emily Bronte
Format: Trade Paperback
Publisher: Penguin Classics (Deluxe Editions)
Pub Date: 1847; this edition: 2009
Read: Sept 2009-Nov 2011 (nope, not a typo)
Source: Barnes and Noble
Why: When these three Penguin Deluxe Classics came out, I seized the opportunity to finally read Wuthering Heights. It didn’t quite go as planned.
Fulfills Challenge? Yes.

Synopsis: Everyone a) is an asshole b) hates everyone else c) has the same name

Review/Thoughts:
Based on my synopsis, you’d probably think I hated this book, and well, at first, I totally did. I mean, LOOK AT THE DATE I STARTED READING THIS. I got through maybe 30 or so pages and thought, what the HELL is this writing style? WHAT IS THIS NARRATIVE? I put it aside and didn’t pick it up again for two years, resigned to the fact that I was probably going to hate Emily Bronte. But I finally decided to return to it, and yeah, I still kind of hated it — I mean, I really can’t get over the writing style. It’s not dense, but it feels as though every sentence should be re-written for clarity. I’d blame it on the time period but I never had any problems with Jane Austen and I’m currently reading Jane Eyre and not having these problems. So Emily’s writing and I just don’t get along. But that’s okay…because I ended up liking this book. A lot. And while I do think Gilbert & Gubar’s Madwoman in the Attic had a hand in that (I love their analysis of the book and want to re-read it with it in mind), I suppose Emily Bronte and I are frenemies now.

Seeing as that was not much of a review, I’ve decided to thieve an idea from Gillian except this will be more of a monologue instead of a conversation. While I was reading Wuthering Heights, I was tweeting my thoughts and so I’ve decided to post those tweets here so that you may understand my thought processes as I was reading this book (I suspect this will one day come back to haunt me but whatever).

Reading Wuthering Heights makes want to reread Here on Earth to better understand the parallels and differences I didn’t pick up on before

“The moment her regard ceased, I would have torn his heart out, and drank his blood…” Tell us how you really feel Heathcliff

I’d feel sorry for Isabella but I can’t condone her dumbassery.

Done w/Part I. I can’t wait til the characters named after other characters become more important so I don’t know what the fuck is going on!

Oh god…do I actually kind of…like Wuthering Heights? #wheredidigowrong

I’m reading it during lunch now? When did this get interesting?!

Cousins marrying cousins… OIC.

What could possibly go wrong? #seeslytherin

What the hell is this bizarre hold these people seem to have on each other?!

Am I supposed to like Nelly? Cause I don’t.

Gonna start calling people “bonny lass” #easilyamused

Heathcliff on Heathcliff II/Linton: “he’s such a cobweb, a pinch would annihilate him” *snort*

Heathcliff: “that lass owes me her services for her bread; I’m not going to nurture her in luxury and idleness after Linton is gone”

so let me get this straight: you forced the girl to stay in your home against her will…and now you’re forcing her to “work” for the bread [...]

you had to feed her while she was prisoner? DID I READ THAT RIGHT? #lol4ever

While he’s at it, he should probably start charging her for water as well

On another note, when’s the cobweb gonna die? cause he’s annoying as fuck.

wait he opened her coffin…after 18 years? #thefuck #pleasetellmeImisunderstoodthat

And she was still recognizable…. WHAT IN ACTUAL FUCK.

Lockwood has been relaying the story that Nelly told him and at this point Nelly is relaying the story Zillah told her #fuckyonarrative

I feel like I’m in Inception. WE’VE GOT TO GO DEEPER INTO THE NARRATIVE. Emily Bronte spits on your secondhand account.

wait who the hell is Mrs Linton? Isn’t Catherine II Mrs Heathcliff now? I thought Mrs Linton was dead. #didinotsaythiswouldhappen

I wonder what kind of monster baby Heathcliff and Catherine would have had. WE’LL NEVER KNOW.

I no longer remember where anyone is living — the Heights? the Grange? #doesitevenmatter

Given the absurd number of times I used the word ‘fuck’ you can understand why I keep my twitter private, yes?

YES.

Final Verdict:

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Book Review: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

June 16, 2011 Leave a Comment

Title: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
Author: Lewis Carroll
Format: Hardcover
Publisher: Collins Design
Pub Date: 1865; this edition: 2010
Read: Apr 2011
Source: amazon
Why: because it’s Alice in Wonderland. I’ve seen the Disney animated film, the 1999 made-for-TV movie, the Tim Burton re-imagining last year, and I’ve played the American McGee’s Alice video game and am psyched about the upcoming release of the next installment… yet I’ve never read it.
Fulfills Challenge? Yes.
Notes: I own 3 different editions of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland — a B&N leatherbound edition which includes Through the Looking Glass and other stories, an annotated edition published by Norton, and the edition pictured here with illustrations by Camille Rose Garcia.

Review/Thoughts:
I think part of my disappointment with this book stems from the fact that I have always had very high hopes for it. Oddly enough, I realized a while ago I didn’t exactly love the Disney version either, and though I was (and am) aware of the differences, I do think my lackluster feelings toward the film may have been a red flag in this case. Perhaps I would have liked it more if I had made use of the annotated edition I had at my disposal instead of the one with the trippy illustrations. But I think I wanted to see if it would hold up on its own without my being able to understand every one of the references/allusions. And I don’t think it does hold up, and that sort of bothers me. I also found it — oh my god I cannot believe I’m about to say this but — boring. Because again, I didn’t get all the symbolism or references, so I’m just reading nonsense and that gets tiresome. I feel like my love of Alice in Wonderland has all been based on this weird lie. What exactly was I even basing it on I wonder? Not the Disney film which is just okay, not the Tim Burton film which is also just okay, definitely not that 1999 version. The video game? I mean, I didn’t even get past the first level (the game actually made me dizzy, I thought it was cool but Alice walked almost sideways and that was visually unsettling to me…hoping for better graphics this time around). My supposed love of this book will forever remain a mystery to me. I was probably basing it on this exchange between the Chesire Cat and Alice

Alice: But I don’t want to go among mad people.
The Cat: Oh, you can’t help that. We’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad.
Alice: How do you know I’m mad?
The Cat: You must be. Or you wouldn’t have come here.

Some brief comparisons with Disney version:
I HATE the Chesire Cat in the Disney version. Read: I think he’s an asshole. For me, he’s actually a lot better in the book. The flowers were missing as were Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum. I know for sure the latter are actually from Through the Looking Glass, but I can’t remember if the flowers are. Either way, the flowers in the Disney film were obnoxious, and I was glad not to have to deal with them in the book. I think the Mad Hatter and March Hare are improved in the Disney version. They don’t particularly stand out in the book whereas they do in the film. Also, I always thought the Disney film ended too abruptly, but the last page or so of the original story isn’t much better. The sister “waxing poetic” about Alice was actually the strangest part of the whole book for me.

This edition is beautiful, with its thick pages and highly stylized illustrations by Camille Rose Garcia. That style is definitely not for everyone (my mom thinks it’s creepy, for example) but if you do like that sort of thing, you won’t be disappointed.

Final Verdict:

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Book Review: Vile Bodies

May 12, 2011 6 Comments

Title: Vile Bodies
Author: Evelyn Waugh
Format: Trade Paper
Publisher: Back Bay Books | Hachette Book Group
Pub Date: 1930; this edition: 1999
Read: April 2011
Purchased: late last year via amazon
Why: ’bout time I read some Evelyn Waugh?
Fulfills Challenge? Yes
Notes: I’d just like to have a round of applause for really big margins. If you’re not sold on that at least then you probably have no soul.

Review/Thoughts:
This is truly one of the most ridiculous books I’ve ever read, in the best possible way. I keep using this comparison but no other one fits to me: it’s like watching a Marx Brothers film. There are times you might not quite know what’s going on or how you got there or how some of this stuff is even possible, but it’s a hilarious bumpy ride nonetheless. I laughed at some truly inappropriate moments. I don’t have very much to say about this book (if I told you what I found funny for example, I’d be giving away too much of the plot), but I highly recommended it to those who like to have their funny with a side of wit and ridiculous.

Final Verdict:

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