Autumn Reads: Wuthering Heights

It is autumn my friends, and high time we had a book review.  This time I thought we'd do a book that suited the spooky season, and a story of haunted love set on the bleak windswept moors seemed a fitting choice.

Every time Rifle Paper Co. releases a series of classics in hardback, I buy them and throw out my now crumbling paperbacks.  So it was with Wuthering Heights, a book I haven't read since high-school and admittedly got lost with all the names.  But the new movie came out (haven't seen it and probably won't since it was panned as being unfaithful to the story and completely awful on the costuming) at the same time as this lovely hardback edition.   So, I bought it and spent the summer reading it, among others.

Hot take on Wuthering Heights:  this story is not nearly as dirty as it's often portrayed in film.  A lot of the passion is felt or implied, but never acted upon in the book.  Cathy loves Heathcliff and says that he is so much a part of her that she is Heathcliff.  She scrawls Mrs. Catherine Heathcliff on her windowsill and bedposts, and even marries a man she loves far less in order to rescue Heathcliff from her brother's tyranny,  but there are no rolls in the hay, and certainly no corset grabbing as in the most recent film adaptation.   

I get that it's easier to show sex scenes than to portray true love and passion, but I'm afraid that's where the films often fall short.  (I did enjoy the Tom Hardy adaptation, but it wasn't perfect) Because this story is about broken people having a genuine human experience, causing more brokenness along the way,  and then their chances at life are spent.  I enjoyed the reread far more than I expected to and can finally see why this book has stood the test of time.   It is at its core a sweeping generational tragedy, not a romance and definitely not a bit of cheap smut like some of the films.  My advice on this story is stick to the book, and skip the movies.

Since we're doing a book review in this post, thought it best to bring out my book print Bernie Dexter for the occasion.

Outfit info:  Bernie Dexter Florence dress in Bookshelf print, YeMak sweater, Bait heels, vintage bag.