*This read-along has ended, but you can find all of the updates at the bottom of this post.
Welcome to Wuthering Heights Wednesday! Softdrink is hosting a read-along of this classic novel, and we’re reading (and posting about) 3 chapters a week.
Chapters 1 through 3
My Synopsis
Lockwood, the narrator of our little story, has rented a property owned by Mr. Heathcliff. Heathcliff is a terrible grump of a man and does not like people in general so when Lockwood shows up on his doorstep in the middle of a snowstorm, Heathcliff has no patience for him. However, Lockwood is a bit of a pest and invites himself to dinner and it is then that he meets the rest of the household.
Mrs. Heathcliff, although beautiful in face is a real B. Lockwood is taken with her to a degree but reads her all wrong and mistakes her for Heathcliff’s wife when in fact she is the daughter-in-law and a real thorn in Heathcliff’s side. There’s also Earnshaw, who Lockwood assumes is Heathcliff’s son even though he is sort of a ruffian in looks. We later find out that he is Heathcliff’s nephew and that Heathcliff’s son has been dead for some time. As you can see, Lockwood isn’t making any points with his assumptions.
After dinner Lockwood asks for an escort to take him back to his rental, but Heathcliff scoffs at this. Lockwood begins to panic a little as there is no way he can navigate back to his home in waist-high snow(he’s a bit of a wimp). He ends up spending the night in a room that Zilah, the housekeeper has provided for him, but the room is questionable as it is filled with the memories of Catherine, who I assume is Heathcliff’s dead wife. After a fit of sleeplessness, Lockwood does fall asleep only to be awakened by a horrible nightmare. You see, the room is haunted or at least appears to be.
My Thoughts:
Years ago I tried to read this book and could not get through it. I just didn’t have the patience for it. This time around though I felt as if the first three chapters flowed quite well and I actually had to stop myself from reading on. Heathcliff is a big grump, but I sort of like him so far. I don’t like perky people and he is anything but that. What a miserable group of people though!
Other Weeks:
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6
Week 7
Week 8
Week 9
Week 10
Book Chatter 
This is my first experience with WH, and I had a hard time stopping at the end of chapter 3, too! These people all seem so miserable, the setting so bleak, the nightmare so violent….
I have to confess I read the first 6 chapters in 2 days…then I forced myself to stop. It’s not really a readalong if I finish the book in one week!
I read this years ago and it was okay for me. I do think I might like it better now that I’m more mature!
I have never read this and had wanted to join in on this read along, but am doing The Brothers Karamazov read along instead. After reading your post, I wish I had joined in on this read along though. Wuthering Heights sounds good! My interest is piqued and I’m looking forward to your next review of it. Cheers!
Hello – I am Victoria Twead’s better half.
Rarely do I comment anywhere on the www but seeing this write-up/commentary on Wuthering Heights has forced me from my self-imposed exile.
I recall my school days when we boys (I grew up in an all-boys school) discussed the books their classes had been assigned for English literature lessons. (It should be borne in mind that the vast majority of the boys were not academically minded and could not wait to leave school in exchange for gainful employment.)
Two books were universally detested by all: Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice and Emily Jane Bronte’s Wuthering Heights. Consequently, I steered a course well clear of these ‘monsters’, preferring W E Johns’ Biggles, James Hadley Chase’s novels of murder and mayhem and Alistair McClean’s nonsense about spies and espionage.
Twenty years later I had matured beyond the mental age of 10 and, although 36, had acquired the dizzying mental maturity of an 18 year old. It was then that I decided to give these erstwhile-never-attempted-and-hated volumes a whirl.
Only then did I discover the enormous error of my ways and vowed never again to listen to anybody’s opinion about what does (or doesn’t) constitute a good read.
Both books I regard as amongst the 10 best ever written. Jane we know about; Emily, on the other hand, is an enigma. WH is the only book she wrote but what a book it is… Her breath-taking characters and the dark gloom of the novel are amongst the most perfect ever created. I only wish she had written more.
I would recommend this book to everybody EXCEPT (a) children who frankly are not old enough to appreciate its complexity and who are force-fed its content via vile schools and (b) people who don’t enjoy reading.
Thank you for taking time to read my opinions.
Thanks for coming by. I am only a few chapters into the novel but this may be one of those books that needs to be read at a certain point in your life. So far, I am enjoying it quite a bit and I can tell you that twenty years ago, this was not the case.
I’m a WH newbie, the book has been sitting on my shelf since Christmas but I never picked it up. I’m quite excited to see what happens and also had a hard time stopping!
There are so many books that I feel need to be read. WH is one of them. Jane Eyre is another. I just finished Moby Dick and if I can get through WH this time around I will be more than pleased.
I hosted a read-along on Wuthering Heights last spring, and it was my first time reading it. It went quickly for me, but I thought these people were the most miserable, dysfunctional people I’d ever seen!
I really adored Wuthering Heights and it is one of the few books that I reread. I hope your experience with this read-a-long goes well.