Help me get into/interested in Wuthering Heights

You've got to get past that first chapter. It is one of my favourite books, but you have to get past the first part and stick with it until the story really begins to unfold and then you'll be hooked.

I got nothing. I was supposed to read it in high school and I just. Could. Not. I had to fake it the best I could and I was a great student. That book just killed me.

My 8th grader is reading it.. she said it took her 60 pages to get into it. Her teacher gave her a bookmark with definitions on it to help her... maybe that will help you?

My suggestion is to watch the movie; there are at least three versions: 1939, with Merle Oberon; 1970, with Timothy Dalton as Heathcliff; and 2011, with actors unknown to me.

"Sense and Sensibility" was my initiation into Jane Austen's writing, and I couldn't have done it without seeing the movie first!

Try an audiobook. I majored in English Literature, but I often find it much more enjoyable to listen to rather than read the classics. It makes sense because most books from that era were read aloud to an audience.

That said, I have read Wuthering Heights twice in print, never audio. I always found it a compelling read, but not in the least romantic. There isn't a single relationship in that book that isn't effed up.

Don't get me started on how effed up Jane Eyre is too.

I started as well and didn't get far. I also couldn't get finish Pride and Prejudice and Emma, yet I can handle Dickens which is frequently described as boring and painful.

I read it in Year 11 English Literature and quite enjoyed the story, but yes it did take a while to get into it. I agree with those who mentioned getting the audio book, it might make it easier to get through.

And now I have Kate Bush in my head.....

"Heathcliff, it's me, I'm Cathy, I've come home
I'm so co-o-o-old
Let me in your window-ow-ow-ow"

Ain't that the truth!



Yes, definitely read past the first 100 pages or so.

You read their relationships and they are just so sad, and mean, and vengeful, and desperate and lonely. And cruel.

This is not a love story, for sure. It is obsession and games.

I liked it better when I read it a few years ago vs my high school reading, but it will never be amazing.
There's a line from near the end that stands out for me, though.

Good Luck!

I only read it in the past few months.
I'd say it definitely gets better than the first few pages...where I didn't really understand what was going on.
The old guy is travelling, then he gets sicks, one of the local women starts to visit him and gradually tells him the story of Catherine and Heathcliff, then  all the characters you meet in the first part of the novel slowly start to make sense.

I say finish it because it's totally different to what you think.
How any Hollywood producer read this and thought "epic love story" is beyond me.
Heathcliff is a psycho-stalker, rapist nutcase & Cathy is immature & cruel (I was also surprised that she's not actually in most of the book)
It's worth reading if only to correct the completely misguided idea that Heathcliff is some sort of misunderstood romantic hero.

It was so different to what I was expecting, and it's really dark and Heathcliff is such a horrible character...with this book and Jane Eyre it made me wonder what sort of men the Bronte sisters knew in real life.

Jane Eyre is my very favorite book so I tend to favor all the Brontes on principle of relation to Charlottr. Even with that bias, I never cared for Wuthering Heights.

No help here. I didn't like the book and don't get the hubbub around it.