'Wuthering Heights' Review: A Novel of Pride, Selfishness, and Generational Pain

I hope from my title you don't expect a light and easy read, because if you do, STEER AWAY from this novel, for it is more tragedy than romcom. If you want something that feels like the new movie trailer we received for 2026, don't bother to pick it up because Emily's is nothing of that sort.

But . . . if you desire a novel with a deep emotional tug and an exploration of human despair, this is it. If you want a novel that forces you to think and awakens horror at the depraved way we [humanity] can be, you will love it. If you like to be shaken and to ponder, pick it up and grab a coffee.

Interestingly, I began chronicling my thoughts on this novel before I completed it because of the intense depth and tangle of this story. All my life, I assumed this to be a romantic gothic work; one of passion and desire, but from afar.

I was stunned by what lined the pages.

The actuality of this novel is much darker and heavier in aspect. 

Many have pondered the ‘why’ of Emily writing such a twisted tale of revenge, self-focus, and the darkness of human action overtaking its characters. Heathcliff and Catherine, even Nelly, take on self-bent outlooks that continue to threaten and ruin the lives of those around them, yet they have no idea . . . or care, it seems. It is a heavy read, but one that kept pulling me back in. I suppose from curiosity, or the need to know the end as every human is addicted to story. Much like Mr. Lockwood from the novel.

Wuthering Heights is a “romantic” story in the sense of how the emotions saturate this novel.

Vengeance, selfishness, hate, desire, friendship, and regret follow this generational family saga. I continue to feel over and over that Emily set out to create more than a gothic, secluded English story. She was trying to unravel human emotions. She lifted them for us to see how raw emotions bred in the hearts of people without a moral compass only turn dark and dangerous, poisonous to the heart. Good things become twisted and destructive when we hold them in the wrong regard.

Catherine’s passionate friendship and her love of freedom become her tools of madness when her selfishness and violence overtake her. Her obsession steals all goodness and eventually life, blinding her to the way people are affected by her actions, thus challenging the modern view of ‘my actions only affect me and do not hurt anyone.’

Heathcliff’s ambition and love are killed by his overwhelming need to prove himself and rid anyone in his path, even staining his vision and friendship with Cathy. His pride further wounds him as he begins to use love as a tool of vengeance, which seems he will never shake, pushing him to resort to using his own son and Cathy’s daughter for his wayward plot. 

Isabella and Edgar were redeeming, at least. But Isabella also let her wiles guide her instead of any wisdom, listening to words over actions. Edgar, dare I say, was the only one who ever demonstrated true love, but his grief overshadowed him for the rest of his life. This showcased (again) the careful balance we have to have on our emotions unless we wish to lose ourselves to them.

Nelly, whom served Catherine and her daughter as their maid, continued to put the security of her job above truly protecting someone. She sees person after person wounded, and simply allows it to happen.

Her convictions never leave her mind, but are kept safely tucked away for the sake of her job and others’ feelings. 

Wuthering Heights was a classic that truly pulled me in faster than many others I have picked up. (If not simply for the shocking truths and twisted characters lining the pages.)

It is more of a horror novel of human choices than one of idealized romance.

But for all of that the younger Cathy and Hareton, even Nelly and Joseph, offer a glimpse of redemption and change as we reach the final pages. 

Emily’s writing feels much more experimental than defined, but her story speaks for itself. I am rendered in my resting place each time I close these pages, waiting and wondering about my own destructive natures when I return to the world outside of books.

Wuthering Heights is not the romantic, simple story; it is not the provocative plot we often see, it is far from all of those . . . it is a tale of generational failings within the moors where love could have lived but rotted amongst the pain, regret, and vengeance stemming from broken emotions and broken hearts. Madness and selfishness. Pride and blame.

It is a book that will crush you as you wish for the characters to learn, to change and find inner peace. Alas, Emily dipped her pen in ink, and rips our heart out with precision.

'WH' is a tale of self-destruction in humanity, but at the very end, we see - as does Mr. Lockwood - that even the most tragic tales do contain an end that can offer us hope amidst a world that can often seem loveless.