Not a Review: My Experience with A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara | Spoiler Alert

 

My Experience with A Little Life (Spoiler Alert 🔔)

Not a Book Review by Dhiraj Sindhi

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

Author: Hanya Yanagihara

ISBN: 978-1447294832

Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Length: 720 Pages

Publication Date: 2015

Publisher: Picador Collection (10 March 2017)

Order your copy right now: https://amzn.to/3NSCqm5

About the author:

Hanya Yanagihara is the author of the internationally bestselling A Little Life. She lives in New York City.

Hanya Yanagihara (The New Yorker)

Instagram: @hanyayanagihara

A Little Life: @alittlelifebook

To Paradise: @toparadisenovel

Disclaimer: This is not a review, it is only intended for initiating discussions. The opinions and views presented in this article are my own and do not reflect anything about the book's author. 

REVIEW

As you start reading, you're happy to know the characters and you appreciate the relationship they share with each other and the friendship, affection, care, and support. Their origins are exposed to you, where they are coming from, some of them simple to understand and the others, complex. You're told of their current struggles, finding a footing in their respective careers, regarding their identity, their altering relationships as they cannot live together anymore and grow apart. Years go by, Thanksgiving after Thanksgiving and they eventually establish prominent positions in their fields.

Meanwhile, there comes a turning point in Jude's life when he is adopted by Harold. Things turn grave from now onwards as these changes and events keep reminding us that life is difficult. Jude suffers a lot because of his leg injury, the reason behind which is yet to be revealed and his traumatic past, only the slightest details of which have been revealed yet. Then comes JB's addiction and how the group literally falls apart. Willem and Malcolm also have their own troubles but now the focus narrows down on Jude's life.

At some points, I felt like I could relate to Jude at many different levels, not to the level or extent Hanya has heightened the stakes and circumstances, but very basic level and I would agree with his perception of the world and the people in his life and his relationship with them and I felt terrified. She has made it so raw and real that you cannot imagine these things outside of your own reality. The episodes I could relate with, which is not a problem anymore thankfully. And whenever there was the 'cutting' scene, after I'd stopped reading, I'll watch my own hands and wrists as if it would have been replaced with Jude's and I'll cover them and wrap arms around myself. And the next bathroom trip wouldn't be easy as you can't brush off these memories that would linger for some time before you distracted yourself. But then you get accustomed to it. I got accustomed to it and accepted Jude's life as it is. 

I loved how Yanagihara announced most of the shocking, horrifying, traumatic events way before they'd take place in the novel. You'll read a line, a sort of advanced notice or forewarning and you'll know how this is going to end. One example is 'He knows Caleb hates his walk' or 'The First time Caleb hit him.' She always lets you choose whether you'd want to continue or not. Once you're past this chapter, there's no going back, things have changed and it only gets worse even if she promises a little relief in 'The Happy Years'. By the end of 'The Axiom of Equality', I imagined tearing apart the book and its pages and drowning it in the water tank and flinging it from the terrace to some unknown terrain that it wouldn't return to me. But I knew, as much as I hated it, I loved reading it too, in fact, more. 

I wanted to know what 'the home' was and who this Dr. Traylor was. And this explanation wasn't too far from where I stood. In the meanwhile, the relationships changed, and everyone was around again. Yanagihara portrayed so well, the situation of Jude, how he felt about everything, how a person thinks after going through what he'd gone through and enduring so much of it. For me, it couldn't get more real than this. Still, now, because of his relationship with Willem, and for Harold, Jude tries even harder to not just survive but do his best at living, the extreme he could touch like he reaches the highest sound frequency, at which it becomes the constant silence. And then comes Harold's point of view, how he discovers gradually what Jude meant when he said he'd be disgusted to learn who he was, rather what he is. That he really thought he deserved this all that he still believed those people, his tormentors, after all. In this particular Harold's narrative, you go through this pain all over again.

Then there are some events you could have never expected to arrive without warning, they hit you suddenly on the face like a slap and you're left dumbstruck. This happens at the end of 'The Happy Hours', still you can't swallow it. I had read the previous 60 pages in one sitting and I tried to continue. I started reading 'Dear Comrade' still unable to accept what had happened. Then this line— 'he goes first to Willem's side of the closet, which he still has not emptied.' and I just couldn't continue reading further. I put aside the book and tried to let the fact sink in and as the night was approaching, I made up my mind that I'll be finishing the remaining 90 pages that night only no matter what. I got over the fact that Willem was gone, nothing can be done, but what about Jude after him? It was painful but a few pages after that I learned none of them survived, not Malcolm, not Sophie. And the dams burst open at the mention of it. I could've kept crying but I needed to get this done with and I wiped away my tears and took a swig from a water bottle and continued.

My face, my cheeks and my head were hurting as I tried to control my emotions, to keep myself from crying because I wouldn't be able to read then. It became a slippery hill from then on, at regular intervals there would come stumbling stones and I will be knocked down. I would fall, I would cry and then get up again and resume descending towards the end we had all anticipated. There are more such stumbling blocks in the last 'Lispenard Street' and because narration has returned to Harold, who is conversing with his son's partner—Willem, it is obvious that it's done. On every page, you expect this to happen like this is the moment and then finally! I gathered myself quickly and resumed. And I read, 'I didn't know Andy would be dead three years later of a heart attack' and I lose it. This destruction is beyond repair. There could be nothing worse than that and you see Harold and Julia left alone, only JB to their company, them reading eight long pages of Jude's confession of what had happened to him.

Do I recommend this book? Most definitely. Not to everyone though. There are enough trigger warnings you can find on Goodreads. And as I said earlier, you will know what to anticipate and you will be forewarned. So it will be completely in your hands whether to continue or not. But yes, mere curiosity and 'want' to cry wouldn't suffice, it'll demand much more effort.

Am I going to re-read it? Yes, of course. I have kept the book very clean for the type of book it is. It can be studied with different readings because it has a lot of content on many subjects. I'll use pencils to underline text, I'll use sticky notes to annotate, I'll use highlighters, etc. That will be my second reading.

Thanks a ton to the person who recommended this book to me: Raul Jeremiah Rai. Wishing him success in his UPSC CSE journey.

Happy Reading!

Are you on Instagram and Goodreads? Let's connect!

Dhiraj's 2022 book montage

Dhiraj Sindhi's favorite books »

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Will see you in the next post. Till then buh-bye. Take Care. Peace. ☮

Corporate Eagle: A Soaring Success Story by Madhukant Acharya

   

Corporate Eagle: A Soaring Success Story by Madhukant Acharya

Corporate Eagle by Madhukant Acharya

Author: Madhukant Acharya

ISBN: 978-1685233372

Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Length: 180 Pages

Publication Date: 23^rd August 2021

Publisher: Notion Press

Order your copy right now: https://amzn.to/32oEoaS

About the author:

Madhukant Acharya was educated in some of the best schools and colleges in India and was adjudged the best student in his class. Soon after he joined the corporate world, working with eminent multinational companies and rose from a management trainee to the company’s board position in a short span of twenty years and was awarded 'Marketing Man of the Year' from the President of India. He has widely travelled in India and abroad and continues to be an avid reader. The author leads an active social life with friends and family and is a popular member of premier clubs. His interests involve being a fitness enthusiast and doing social and charitable work in rural areas. Many of his friends call him ‘people happy’.

Settled in Mumbai for nearly forty years with wife Kalpana, his children pursue careers in the US and Mumbai being doctors, engineers and MBAs. The idea of writing a novel motivated him some years ago after professional retirement when he rescheduled his priorities and lifestyle to devote required time to creating his debut novel Friends and five seasons in two volumes — Rupen's Early Years and Publishing hero Rupen.

Madhukant Acharya

Instagram: @authormadhukant

Twitter: @authormadhukant

Disclaimer: This review is only intended for initiating discussions. The opinions and views presented in this article are my own and do not reflect anything about the book's author. 

REVIEW

Corporate Eagle by Madhukant Acharya is a fiction book spanning Mohan Dutt’s twenty-five years long corporate life that is indeed, as the title suggests, successful and always moving in an upward direction; set in India, it covers a handful of remarkable events that took place from the late 1970s to the mid-2000s; the book depicts the journey of its canny, perspicacious and enterprising protagonist from being a management trainee to becoming the chairman and country head of the fashion and clothing company, for which he worked doggedly and made contributions that proved indispensable to the making of one of the top corporate giant conglomerate in India; gives you an insight into the challenges and crucial decision-making processes faced by companies and the ethics and policies to go by to keep soaring high in the air; lastly, it shows how giving back to the society (CSR) is important, not only for the economic and social upliftment of the country but also the company itself.

The stated corporate theme here has strong political overtones, which is obvious because the influence of politics within and outside industries cannot be overlooked in any case. The book also starts with the communists winning the elections and what followed was the exodus of industrialists from West Bengal to other parts of India because of the labour disputes and lock-outs. There are a lot of such political events in the book inspired by Indian political history. For instance, finance minister Manmohan Singh and prime minister PV Narsimha Rao doing away with the license-raj regime. The other part of the theme is corporate warfare, which includes dealing with other rival companies, countering their efforts of a hostile takeover, remaining competitive in the market, warding off unwanted influences, etc. The protagonist Mohan deals with it very tactfully and manages to keep his records clean. Additionally, he looks for opportunities to expand the company in whatever aspects he could. Being a chairman, he keeps every department head in check and provides required guidance dutifully. There come a lot of obstacles and challenges pertaining to income tax, shifting of headquarters, politicians withholding raw materials, the factory shut down, legal battles, etc. The author has given detailed insights into the decisions that the protagonist takes while dealing with the obstacles as well as while planning for the expansion of the company into various other fields such as Information Technology, Finance, Sports, etc. 

As you can see that the corporate journey of the protagonist as well as the company is very compelling, although the novel as a whole is not as compelling considering the plot, narration, and setting. The book reads as if being non-fiction, documenting the life of a veteran industrialist in a particular company, stating data and information without any regard for surrounding elements. This also makes it an overview of the many modifications and expansions that the company has undergone. For instance, a single chapter runs you through several years of company-related happenings but doesn't offer how it is executed on the ground. While the corporate-specific insights may be interesting, the novel falls prey to the problem of ‘too much information’, where each chapter has the potential to be an independent novel. Being a successful story, this novel doesn’t even have a single falling moment, a crisis or a disaster, which also discards any possibilities of having any climax. However, as compensation for the missing action, the novel has two significant sports events that will keep you on the edge towards the end. The book is definitely not what you would expect after reading the synopsis on the back cover, because the novel exceeds your expectations in the corporate aspect, while also failing to deliver what it promises—the presence of Kumud and Cindy. They were mentioned in the book now and then, but they didn’t have even the littlest of roles to play.

Happy Reading!

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Will see you in the next post. Till then buh-bye. Take Care. Peace. ☮

A House Full of Men by Parinda Joshi | A Book Review

 

A House Full of Men by Parinda Joshi

Book Review by Dhiraj Sindhi

A House Full of Men by Parinda Joshi (Cover design: Sudeepti Tucker)

Author: Parinda Joshi

ISBN: 978-9354227011

Genre: Contemporary Fiction 

Length: 357 Pages

Publication Date: 8^th September 2021

Publisher: HarperCollins India

Cover Design: Sudeepti Tucker

Cover Designer: Website: platform-mag.com/ | Instagram: @sudeepti.tucker

Order your copy right now: https://amzn.to/2ZtAiwj

About the author:

Parinda Joshi was born and raised in Ahmedabad and later immigrated to Los Angeles with her new husband where she navigated the challenges of starting life from scratch in an unfamiliar milieu, enriching herself with an MS in computer science, testing her limits and redefining herself. She now resides in Silicon Valley where leads growth analytics for a startup in the fashion industry, is mother to her precocious mini-me, a budding screenwriter, a lover of modern poetry, fitness enthusiast, an avid traveler and photographer and a humor junkie. She is the author of two novels, Live From London and Powerplay. She has also contributed to a short story anthology, The Turning Point: Best of Young Indian Writers, and several online publications including GQ India and The South Asian Times (New York).

Parinda Joshi

Instagram: @parindajoshi

Twitter: @parindajoshi

Website: parindajoshi.com

Disclaimer: This review is only intended for initiating discussions. The opinions and views presented in this article are my own and do not reflect anything about the book's author. 

REVIEW

Hooking its readers from the very first page, A House Full of Men by Parinda Joshi—a contemporary fiction novel, introduces you to its complex protagonist with a complicated past that is weighing her down with anxiety laden with overthinking, misgivings and trepidations. After the demise of her mother some 10 years ago, she takes it upon herself to fill in the void that her mother has left in the Pant household and the lives of her grandfather—‘High BP’, her father—Ravi and her twin & younger brothers—Shamik and Nishant. Maybe because of the deep-rooted patriarchal mindset, she thinks, if not her, who will? Thus, she is the only woman in a house full of men, including a male dog—Bark Twain and a frame of PG Wodehouse in her bedroom.

The novel gains tremendous pace after 100 pages of the establishment of characters and the situation as in where the protagonist stands in her life. The spirit of this book is its characters that are either highly relatable or straight out of your screens that your mind actually associates the faces of actors to these characters. My favourite character is the soul of the Pant household—Kittu’s grandfather, who is portrayed as mostly witty and sarcastic, still the wisest of all. His humour is the best from what I have read recently. The novel, for a significant part, seemed to be inspired by Bollywood and Indian Television tropes, which makes that part completely irrelevant yet funny at its best. 

Kittu’s life is getting rough by day as her relationship is dying and she thinks she has got no one by her side to listen because her family members are mostly busy arguing with each other, and if not, dealing with their own issues. Kittu cares for everyone in the house but because of gender differences, no man of the house addresses or recognises her problems, be it long-persistent anxiety issues with regards to travel or her love life. This leads to Kittu closeting her feelings and emotions and out surfaces her personality that is obsessed with setting things right even if there’s nothing to fix, which makes her a complex character, a blend of pure concern and love for everyone, ambitions, a dozen troubles and unwanted thought spirals. 

Considering the overall story, there are quite many adventures, moments and dialogues that I loved reading. The relationship Kittu shares with other characters in the novel is crafted cleverly to induce a sense of attachment, which readers will happily subscribe to, instantly. The climax and the end are pretty satisfying as the author manages to wrap everything up smoothly. On the other hand, there are some references and details that don’t fit the narrative. Lastly, the author has tried to address the issues of name-calling and bullying. While the author may have achieved the effect she wanted to produce, although a part of it also encourages the internalization of such practices as well as homophobia. The said passages may be intended to be a mirror to the world or to tackle the very subject, but that would be incomplete or unfair unless of course, condemned the right way. 

Lastly, in A House Full of Men, I found a character with whom I could relate at many levels. Illustrious writing style along with some brilliant characters, this novel captures how holding grudges and prejudices can turn you into a different person altogether.

Happy Reading!

Thank you @vivekisms for the review copy!

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It Must Have Been Love by Jigar Prajapati | Book Review

 

It Must Have Been Love by Jigar Prajapati

Book Review by Dhiraj Sindhi

It Must Have Been Love by Jigar Prajapati

Author: Jigar Prajapati

ISBN: 978-9390441068

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Length: 168 Pages

Publication Date: 8th December 2020

Publisher: Srishti Publishers & Distributors

Order your copy right now: https://amzn.to/3y8WHM0

About the author:

Jigar Prajapati holds a Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering. Having finished his schooling in regional language, writing a book in English seemed like a distant dream. But writing became his passion during his post-graduation in Construction Management. Now, along with being a well-known builder in Ahmedabad, he is also writing to his heart’s content.

Jigar Prajapati

Instagram: @jigar_author

Facebook: @JigarMPrajapati

REVIEW

It Must Have Been Love, as the title and cover suggest, is a contemporary romance book written with the plainest of words that stirs up a storm of thoughts, questions, opinions, and judgments regarding the characters’ actions; whether they are right or wrong, appropriate or inappropriate, good or bad. While some dramatic fragments seem to be inspired by Bollywood and daily soap operas, other segments are creative, fun, and cleverly plotted that keep you rooted in the story being told. 

The book starts with chapter zero called ‘The Beginning’ where Jigar has used author surrogate to narrate the chapter with humour. However, that doesn’t last long as he finds one of the lead characters Maan crying at the airport. The rest of the chapters are narrated by Maan, telling his story until the last chapter, which is again narrated by the author surrogate.

Maan’s story starts with his first day at college followed by the making of friends and their hostel adventures. Here, he becomes best friends with Naaz, who is a brilliant character. While they are still not sure about their feelings for each other, Maan decides to marry the girl he met in the process of matchmaking upon his parents’ insistence. This results in subsequent imprudent choices that they both are going to regret later. Maan and Naaz are pretty decent characters but confused AF nonetheless. This makes them classically tragic hero and heroine. 

What I liked:

My most favourite part of this book is the ending that starts shortly before the author surrogate takes over the narration once again. The end makes it up for the mess that has been created by these two. Again, Jigar and his wife, Mona steal the show with their humour-filled venture. 

Secondly, I liked many scenes that could be viewed independently of the storyline, character arcs, etc. These are mostly witty situations sprinkled throughout the book. For instance, Hostel Diaries, College Fun Moments, Attending Marriage and Other Functions, Friendship Goals, etc.

Lastly, I admire the fact that this book is balanced in every way. For instance, I think there is the presence of karma, which serves the characters well. There is also a balance of misery and pleasure, love and deceit, f-ups created by Maan and Naaz, etc. 

What I disliked: 

The book is written in plain language that obviously goes to follow ‘tell, don’t show’, which is quite understandable, although it leaves the onus on readers to wholly interpret and comprehend the storyline, scenes, character arcs, and most importantly, relationship dynamics with the text constrained by limited creativity and exposition.

Another thing that I didn’t like about this book is that I found Maan to be an unreliable narrator. 

Lastly, the typical dramatic stuff, particularly, the ones that went to an extent to make you believe that it’s not the choices of a person but the destiny that is to be blamed.

Happy Reading!

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Book Review: The Part I Left with You by Rahul Saini | Contemporary Fiction

    

Book Review

The Part I Left with You by Rahul Saini

The Part I Left with You by Rahul Saini

Author: Rahul Saini

ISBN: 978-9353451585

Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Length: 236 Pages

Publication Date: 30^th March 2021

Publisher: Juggernaut Books (Sales and Distribution - HarperCollins India)

Cover Design: Amit Malhotra 

Cover Designer: Website: https://www.amit-malhotra.com/ | Instagram: @gul_e_abbasis

Order your copy right now: https://amzn.to/3yhCQug

About the author:

Rahul Saini has a master’s degree in English literature. He is the bestselling author of many novels, including Those Small Lil Things: In Life and Love and Paperback Dreams.

Rahul Saini

Instagram: @writingrahul

Facebook: @rahul.saini.1213

Twitter: @writingrahul

YouTube: Writing Rahul

REVIEW

“Love feels like a great misfortune, a monstrous parasite, a permanent state of emergency that ruins all small pleasures.” – Slavoj Žižek

The Part I Left with You by Rahul Saini is a light-hearted, chucklesome and unputdownable contemporary fiction novel that dives deep into the waters of love; while exploring varied opinions on and experiences of love, relationships, break-ups and moving on, it strives to close in on the realities of this ‘ugly and cruel world’. The book narrates the stories of three main characters – one mostly witty, another melancholic, esoteric and the third who is turning over the page she was stuck on for long in order to start afresh.

The narration of this book involves all these three characters’ POVs. It is a fine and balanced mixture of different kind of narrative techniques, including first-person, third-person (limited omniscient) and epistolary style, which in my opinion, completes any piece of literary work because using these literary devices in the non-linear narrative writing keep us readers hooked and emphasizes on little themes of the story and it is what makes a truly gripping novel such as this. Rahul Saini has handily achieved this. On top of everything, the cozy contemporary writing style worked like a charm on me.

“Artists’ lives are just endless struggles and that struggle ends only with their last breaths.” – Rahul Saini

Talking about the content, each of the 34 chapters seemed to me like a separate short story discussing a distinct subject, idea or viewpoints, or narrating a subplot, backstory or (my favorites from this book) completely different short tales – story within a story – fascinating and magnificent. What I mean to say is that these chapters have something very unique to offer from craziness to drama to dreams to arguments to philosophy to romance to thrill to sorrow…you name it. These all short stories are linked together by these three characters and what they are seeking out.

Having said that, let me briefly introduce you to the characters. Ratna is in love with her favorite author, Ronit Sukhdev. The book opens with this amazing poem titled ‘Not Gibran, On Love’ written by Ratna (honestly, I recorded this poem several times day after day, but like most of you, I hated my recordings, so it only made to one of my best friends), for she is a literature and journalism student and for this fact and a little lie, she gets an opportunity to stay with the love of her life for a few days. While ecstatic Ratna wants Ronit to be a little cheerful if not as much as her, Ronit‘s life has come to a standstill as he hasn’t yet gotten over his break-up with Nitasha. He has completely isolated himself from the world and does not wish to publish his work anymore. It has been a year since the break-up and Nitasha is finally coming to terms with her choice of letting go of her relationship with Ronit and she’s carving the way out with newfound hope.

“To learn an art is an act of meditation. You can’t keep jumping around, running all the time, trying a hundred things, understanding nothing and pretend that you are learning everything.” – Rahul Saini

The best thing about this book is that it has books everywhere. In every alternate chapter, you can find book titles, quotes, bookstores or other bookish stuff. The author has expounded a lot of powerful arguments, opinions and statements on love, life and the world that are worth knowing by heart. I would like to quote a few such lines here. However, it doesn’t make the book downright ‘serious’. Nope. Rahul Saini has totally wrung out the essence of comfort and amiability from the writing style. Ratna’s character is a witty character, for she can turn anything into humour, be it because of her lack of wisdom or her childlike behavior. She’s a humorous character indeed, but not a caricature at all! I loved everything she did and how she behaved around her crush, for whatever reason, because I can’t imagine staying with my crush and not messing up. She made me laugh and some lines made me emotional too.

The primary theme of the book is what the title suggests. While it’s not appropriate to reduce any work to a sentence, it represents an idea that ‘when two people spend a lot of time together, they lose themselves and gain each other’. This is what is happening in the book. Now, I won’t go in-depth regarding this. There are plenty of other subjects discussed and tackled in those individual short stories I talked about, forming minor themes and elements that hold the potential to make a real difference. There are also things that you would want to ignore, which are just characters being themselves.

“If creative people were happy with the world around them, they would never feel the urge to create anything new.” – Rahul Saini

Anyway, my favorite take-away from this book are those unforgettable, significant stories/chapters that provide you the food for thought. Some of these are – one on Slavoj Žižek (yeah, I copy-pasted that), another on the mirror phase, and the third titled, ‘The Shark in the Pool’. Apart from that, I liked Ratna’s relationship with her father and the depiction of how differently books are important to the lives of authors and readers. Not eulogizing, but I can’t express my admiration enough for the illustrious writing style that really got me high; I relished it, of course except for a few parts.

Lastly, ‘The Part I Left with You’ is a charming, cozy contemporary book and an absolute page-turner that you would want to read around this time to feel lighter; it has way more tales and joy in store for you than what its synopsis promises. 

“When two people spend a lot of time together, they lose themselves and gain each other.” – Rahul Saini

Happy Reading!

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Disclaimer: This review is only intended for initiating discussions. The opinions and views presented in this article are my own and do not reflect anything about the book's author.

Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. Don't forget to subscribe. Don't forget to subscribe for more content. Thank you so much for reading!

Will see you in the next post. Till then buh-bye. Take Care. Peace. ☮

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë | A Review Cum Analysis

   

Book Review

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

Author: Emily Jane Brontë

ISBN: 8188280062

Genre: Tragedy and Gothic Fiction

Length: 343 Pages

Publication Date: 2002 (Originally: December 1847)

Publisher: Wilco Publishing House (Originally published by Thomas Cautley Newby under the pseudonym – Ellis Bell)

Order your copy right now: https://amzn.to/3mcne5Q

About the author:

The daughters of an Anglican clergyman, Charlotte, Emily, and Anne, lost their mother in early childhood and were brought up in Yorkshire moors. All of them wrote novels and poetry that have since become the Classics of today. Charlotte's Jane Eyre' and Anne's 'Agnes Grey join the immortality status along with Emily's 'Wuthering Heights', and her own great poems.

Emily (Jane) Bronte was perhaps the most prolific writer of the three. It is her lucid verses however, which reveal her real genius.

In a stroke of misfortune for the literary world, the Bronte sisters lived very short lives. Emily and Anne died of tuberculosis at 30 and 29, and Charlotte at 39, during her pregnancy.

Emily's brilliance lives on – with her widely read poems, and of course, with her spellbinding: Wuthering Heights.

Emily Bronte

Bronte Parsonage Museum: https://www.bronte.org.uk/

REVIEW

As you, my readers’ fam, may know that I generally do critical and analytical reviews on my blog, divided into sections based on fundamental literary elements like plot, characters, themes, setting, etc. However, I will not be diving deep into these technicalities for this particular review, because I am planning for yet another reading, focusing on a couple of specific themes. So, without further ado, let’s see what I have been able to perceive so far.

Review

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte was part of my British Novel course, for which I took an examination in February 2021. Although I wasn’t able to read the novel, I had to study it for my exams as I had resolved to pick out Wuthering Heights from amongst all the choices provided. That’s why I was equipped with its summary, analysis, critical essays, and the like before I started reading the novel. But thankfully, for the timeless and mysterious proses, impeccable articulation emanating wildest imaginations, and its ability to transport you to different time and space, as the classic texts often do, my prior knowledge of the text did not even slightly affect my reading experience.

Wuthering Heights showed me myriad shades of human emotions and the destructive consequences of our intense reactions to them. Every character from the novel, at some point in time, seemed to me a villain; their villainy characterized by antipathy, revenge, shifting identities, dishonesty, violence, ill-intensions, etc across all plausible age groups. Having said that, at some point in the novel, each character exuded raw, pure, intuitive, and wild feelings of love, passion, and/or commiseration that I couldn’t keep myself from loving the characters. Well, that’s about the primary theme of the novel, you could consider, leading the narrators to comment on characters and their ways based on their own understanding and commitments towards moral theology; drawing a line between good and evil.

Another major concern that Wuthering Heights brings forth is the presence of gothic elements. The reason that these gothic elements are so naturally and conveniently accommodated in the book is the novel’s setting. Wuthering Heights, as the title suggests, is set in the eerie and gloomy Yorkshire moors and those two country houses/dwellings prevalent throughout the novel – Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange – completely isolated from the surrounding villages. The tumultuous, violent, and raging weather that this setting is often subjected to, symbolizes the dark and negative emotions of characters; the emotions probably leading the characters to unconsciously practice grotesque yet passionate yet unconsummated romance, necrophilia, incest, cruelty, jealousy, revenge, and betrayal. Apart from these, the mysterious, dark, and moody character of Heathcliff emerges as a gothic villain. And his lover, the female protagonist, Catherine Earnshaw is a free spirit, selfish and headstrong; her loyalties torn between two men – her soulmate Heathcliff, and her husband Edgar Linton, who becomes to Catherine a tool for preserving her social status.

The desire for power and social structure has a pronounced influence on the characters of Wuthering Heights and become determining factors for the course of action. The novel put greater emphasis on death, attaining higher and spiritual levels of meaning and being. The lead characters defy even present day morals and ethics; breaking the barriers of an average romance story; powerful and supernatural romantic imagination cutting across the boundaries of heaven and hell; a love story beyond comprehension, reason, civilization, and order, this wildly creative novel seeks an alternative to the basic nature of everyday reality.

Happy Reading!

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Disclaimer: This article is intended for review purposes only. The author does not promote or recommend any behavior illustrated here or claim it to be useful.

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