“My love for Linton is like the foliage in the woods: time will change it, I’m well aware, as winter changes the trees. My love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks beneath: a source of visible delight, but necessary.”
If anyone knows me well enough, then they know my favorite book of all-time will always always be Wuthering Heights. I’ve read it about 10 times since I first became interested in it by watching the movie when I was 11. It’s one of the few books I was inspired to read because of the movie. I was watching it while babysitting but had to leave for home before the ending. The movie was so intriguing and I couldn’t find it again on TV (where was Tivo when I needed it then?) so I decided to read the book to discover the ending.
The rest is history. Wuthering Heights has everything I’ve ever looked for in a story. There is love, consequence, revenge, mystery, darkness, and renewal. Before there was ever an Atonement, there was Wuthering Heights. This book follows the romance between Catherine Earnshaw (a high-society but free-spirited woman) and Heathcliff (a Gypsy orphan brought into the family by Catherine’s father). Although Heathcliff was part of the family, he was never considered to be blood relations by the Earnshaw children, Catherine (Cathy) and Hindley. Through a series of events, Heathcliff loses all rights to the Earnshaw household after the father dies and is forever treated as a lowly servant, not even allowed to sleep in the house itself. Despite all this hardship, there was a bond that could not be broken between Cathy and Heathcliff. What first started out as friendship turned into love.
If only it could have ended simply with love. But the story explores the fact that love does not conquer all. Cathy cannot bring herself to be with Heathcliff because of his low status in society. She denied herself their love to give herself security and safety by marrying an equally high-status man (Edgar Linton) instead. She admits “I've no more business to marry Edgar Linton than I have to be in heaven; and if [Hindley] had not brought Heathcliff so low, I shouldn't have thought of it.” Heathcliff, heartbroken, leaves an embittered man and returns years later to seek revenge. There is far more to tell but would not want to ruin the experience of discovering it for yourself.
Even though, Cathy chose the safe route, she destroyed her heart and the man she truly loved in the process. Who is brave enough to truly follow their heart? She fell into the trap of fear and expectations that we all face and she succumbed to them to her detriment. What would have happened if she had chosen Heathcliff? Would you even want someone that dangerously in love with you? Choosing Heathcliff would have made for a short novel but it would have shown true bravery and courage instead of the cowardice that actually happened and the lies, deceit, and treachery that spawned as a result.
Emily Bronte never married and she died a year after she wrote Wuthering Heights. This is the only novel she authored.
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Monday, October 20, 2008
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas – John Boyne
Just finished reading this book. It’s a children’s book about the Holocaust but told in a way that I’ve never read before. And it made it a refreshing, easy read if you’ll allow me to say that about a book discussing the Holocaust. The plot revolves around 2 young boys forming a friendship at a concentration camp. They have the same birthday, even down to the year, and this begins the start of their close friendship over the course of a year. The catch is that one boy, Bruno, is the son of the German Commandant of the concentration camp; and the other, Schmuel, is a prisoner within that same camp. The way they meet is rather far-fetched; but, for a work of fiction AND a children’s book, it is allowable. They meet almost everyday in the afternoon at a certain part of the fence that keeps Schmuel and the other Jews inside the camp, and Bruno and the other non-Jews outside the fence. The hardest part for me to believe is that neither Schmuel nor Bruno knows why they are separated, they just are. And this lack of knowledge is justified because they are 9. I probably doubt this because I’m thinking with my adult mind plus I have hindsight. When I was 9, I probably knew nothing of what was going on in the world and was most concerned with my secret crush on Brandon Moss, my homework, and Nick Jr. So I guess this could pass for true. All Schmuel knows is that he hates the soldiers that are cruel to him and his people but he likes Bruno because he has found a true and good friend in this hard place. Bruno is equally simplistic in that he hates being moved there from Berlin but delights in the fact that he has finally found someone he can talk to that is his age. Their one regret during their whole year in talking is that they were never able to play with each other once.
The hardships that happened in the concentration camp are hinted at. And, to be honest, I’m glad they weren’t a focal point because that has been discussed to death I think. One of the best things about this book is that it focuses on the relationships created and severed by the Holocaust, and not from a horror perspective (which there was plenty), but from a simple view of friendships made and friendships broken, ties made and ties broken, irregardless of whether they were German or Jew. There were points, though, where you felt Bruno was being insensitive for having complaints at all. But you have to understand that Bruno’s world was turned upside down too and he was almost as much a victim, in his innocence, as the Jews were.
One of the only things I didn’t like about this book is that the characters were a bit too one-dimensional for me. Anytime a character would deviate from the norm was a side note, a hint at another side of their character. Didn’t the father ever doubt himself in his mission? Weren’t there ever moments when he could see the humanness in the Jews he killed and for one brief moment, felt an ounce of shame? This shame comes eventually but has nothing to do with the Jews. I suspect that I’m expecting too much from a children’s book to ask for deeply multi-faceted characters. And this also would pull more focus on the horrors caused by the Holocaust and not on the relationship between two boys separated by a fence. I just hope the movie, which is made for adults (I think), will dig more into these details.
The hardships that happened in the concentration camp are hinted at. And, to be honest, I’m glad they weren’t a focal point because that has been discussed to death I think. One of the best things about this book is that it focuses on the relationships created and severed by the Holocaust, and not from a horror perspective (which there was plenty), but from a simple view of friendships made and friendships broken, ties made and ties broken, irregardless of whether they were German or Jew. There were points, though, where you felt Bruno was being insensitive for having complaints at all. But you have to understand that Bruno’s world was turned upside down too and he was almost as much a victim, in his innocence, as the Jews were.
One of the only things I didn’t like about this book is that the characters were a bit too one-dimensional for me. Anytime a character would deviate from the norm was a side note, a hint at another side of their character. Didn’t the father ever doubt himself in his mission? Weren’t there ever moments when he could see the humanness in the Jews he killed and for one brief moment, felt an ounce of shame? This shame comes eventually but has nothing to do with the Jews. I suspect that I’m expecting too much from a children’s book to ask for deeply multi-faceted characters. And this also would pull more focus on the horrors caused by the Holocaust and not on the relationship between two boys separated by a fence. I just hope the movie, which is made for adults (I think), will dig more into these details.
Let's Do It Again
I tried blogging a while back and lost the urge because my posts had no purpose anymore. And frankly, I was getting bored with what I wrote myself. So I'm trying it again. This time this blog will be mainly dedicated to book reviews. No matter what has happened in my life, I've always loved to read. It's my #1 love and I feel like something is missing when I don't have one near. Being able to go to a new world right in your own head is an amazing experience. And it tests your creative ability to visualize the worlds these authors create. For this reason, I mainly read fiction because non-fiction is confined to the reality of this world.
Another amazing thing about reading is thinking about the writing process. Imagining that author putting these fantastic ideas on paper in a way that is interesting and meaningful to the world gets my utmost respect. I've tried doing it myself and have failed to find the flow in my writing that is crucial to a good novel. It's hard to do and those gifted with this are blessed.
I wish I could be a writer myself one day but, for now, I will settle for using this blog to post reviews of books I read.
Hope you enjoy. Comments and suggestions are welcome.
Nichole
Another amazing thing about reading is thinking about the writing process. Imagining that author putting these fantastic ideas on paper in a way that is interesting and meaningful to the world gets my utmost respect. I've tried doing it myself and have failed to find the flow in my writing that is crucial to a good novel. It's hard to do and those gifted with this are blessed.
I wish I could be a writer myself one day but, for now, I will settle for using this blog to post reviews of books I read.
Hope you enjoy. Comments and suggestions are welcome.
Nichole
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)