Trust & Obey

Wuthering Heights, a gloomy estate that holds the story of the Earnshaw family and the orphan they take in, who changes everything. Mr. Lockwood tells us the story from the perspective of a woman named Nelly.

Emily Brontë’s book Wuthering Heights tells the tale of a man named Heathcliff and his obsession with Catherine Earnshaw, his adopted sister. It follows him on the dark, gothic Moors of Wuthering Heights.

I read this book last summer and it was extremely unique to me. It has a Jane Austen-esque tone but with heavy, Gothic bits. Obsession seems to be an iconic theme with the Gothic genre of the nineteenth century. This same era holds other authors like Edgar Allen Poe, Frankenstien‘s Mary Shelly, and Bram Stoker. Wuthering Heights, though, has more of a macabre undertone and setting than a main focal point.

Where I did struggle is this: I was anticipating a bit more horror and that was definitely not in this book. It’s gothic, for sure, but horror or thriller, no. I was hoping for a larger Poe book and it was more Austen than Poe. So, I think if I would have been prepared for that, I would have liked it far better. The story is elegant and complex, it’s definitely a thought provoking read. I should probably read it again and maybe go more in depth with Sparknotes or something.

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë is a must read if you have the right idea heading into it. If I would’ve started it thinking Jane Austen, I think I would have loved it!

What do you think of Gothic novels? Tell me about it in the comments!