Wuthering Heights
We’re here as a bit of a follow-on from the recent film1 that came out, and while the makers of the film have suggested they were not trying to make anything that should be compared to the book, we’re going to do that anyway.
I haven’t read this since school and I could have sworn something was missing from the film. Sure enough, the movie barely gets half way through the story before tapping out. That’s understandable perhaps, the second half is cruel and sad and of course Margot Robbie wouldn’t even have been in it.
The book uses a frame-within-a-frame device to tell its story, and I would say the saddest thing that was lost in the film is that this is actually Nelly the housekeeper’s story to tell, and we only get to see the story through her recounting of it. The potential of an unreliable narrator lends an interesting uneasiness to what we read, and the film all but does away with the concept.
What can I say about a 200 year-old book that hasn’t already been said? It still reads well, still resonates, and it takes you to another time and place in a way no modern novel could. The structure sometimes gets a bit fiddly for its own good, but if you can get dialled into it it’s a rewarding novel to read.