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Wuthering Heights

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Wuthering Heights

By: Emily Brontë
Narrated by: Michael Kitchen
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About this listen

Michael Kitchen gives us a masterclass in narration with this intelligent and believable performance of Emily Brontë's classic work. Listeners will be swept up in Heathcliff and Cathy's turbulent love affair, not to be released until long after the final word.

The only novel written by Emily Bronte, Wuthering Heights was originally published under the pseudonym Ellis Bell, and at first was thought to be the work of Emily's sister, Charlotte, the author of the classic Jane Eyre.

Wuthering Heights tells the tale of Heathcliff, a young orphaned gypsy boy, who is brought to the windswept moors of Yorkshire by Mr Earnshaw, the master of Wuthering Heights. Heathcliff's childhood there is riddled with bullying and humiliation, but the master's daughter, the precocious and untameable Cathy, becomes his ally, and a childhood fondness for one another grows to a great passion.

Following a misunderstanding, Heathcliff believes that Cathy has rejected him, and he leaves Wuthering Heights, only to return after three years have passed. When he returns, now mysteriously rich, he learns of Cathy's marriage to another and vows to focus his passionate nature on merciless revenge. Heathcliff's retribution proves so destructive that left in its wake are not only his enemies, but the very object of his obsession and, ultimately, himself.

Public Domain (P)2014 Audible, Inc.
Classics Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Historical Fiction Literary Fiction Romance Victorian Emotionally Gripping Revenge

Critic reviews

"Search no further. A masterful vocal talent has found a masterpiece of world literature to perform.... Kitchen's intoxicatingly rich voice is the perfect medium for Bronte's romantic lyricism.... His interpretation is so precise and intelligent.... Michael Kitchen has given a long-awaited voice to a timeless classic." (AudioFile)

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I've been looking forward to re-reading this for a long time now. I remember feeling that I was missing out by the piecemeal reading of it in school almost twenty years ago, but it took me this long to get back to it. This time around I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed the book from start to finish. It has been reviewed so many times that there is nothing new for me to add, but here is a summary of my thoughts nonetheless.



I've often seen Wuthering Heights categorised as a classic romance novel. Although it is certainly a classic, I'd rather describe it as an anti-romance novel. There is a happy ending, of sorts, which sees two people together in love but even this is perhaps more by pragmatic acceptance of their situation than real romance. As for the rest of the plot, the message is clearly that any hint of romantic attachment results in loss, pain, retribution, madness and death.



A key element to the plot is the class struggle and divide between the key characters, and it is the subjugation of Heathcliff as orphan adoptee which first sets events in motion that will destroy almost everyone and everything. The key characters are extremely unsympathetic, at least to a modern reader. They read as foolish, naive, vindictive, and self-absorbed. Set in an isolated corner of nineteenth-century England with the class structure of the time to create tensions though, the characters remain believable if not likeable.



If I had to make a criticism, it would be that the last few chapters (originally published as volume three of three) are a bit rushed, and ended up feeling like an attempt to tie up all of the loose ends as quickly as possible.



All in all though, a brilliant read, and one I will probably revisit again. Highly recommended to everyone and anyone!

Still brilliant!

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This is a difficult book to read because of the intensity of the language and the extreme characters, but Michael Kitchen tackles it brilliantly. His understated style allows the language to create the intense impact the author intended without tipping into melodrama.

Wuthering Heights is not an easy book. As a youngster I loved the passion and intensity but now I find it gruelling and life experience has taught me to view the characters in rather a different light. This reading, however, is very accessible. It delivers all the intensity but also brings out the flashes of humour (albeit rare and rather dark) inherent in characters such as Lockwood and Joseph which usually disappears beneath what is otherwise the unremitting dourness of the tale.

Excellent

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What made the experience of listening to Wuthering Heights the most enjoyable?

This is a great reading that gives the words life and passion and makes it feel as its the books was written yesterday.

A greate reading full of life

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Enjoyed this book immensely, and spent a few sleepless nights compelled to listen til the end. Well reader, will search out more books read by Kitchen.

fantastic! read brilliantly

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Have listened to another version of this book before and found it hard going but Michael Kitchen made it so listenable I will do so again

Really enjoyed it

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