3 Tips For Reading Wuthering Heights The First Time

A Guide For First Time Readers

Photo by me

Hello, my lovely bookish friend!!!

Welcome back to my little bookish corner of the internet where I talk all things books.

Today’s letter is very special to me because it’s about the book that is my absolute favourite—Wuthering Heights. I just started re-reading it on Friday, because Friday was 19th April, the day I had started reading Wuthering Heights for the first time.

Wuthering Heights is my absolute favourite book ever, I’ve never read anything like it in my life, I’m quite literally obsessed with it. But at the same time, I understand it’s not exactly a ‘fun’ book to read. It’s violent in nature, quite melodramatic, full of despicable characters. It’s totally normal that it’s not to everyone’s taste. However, when it comes to Wuthering Heights, there’s another problem. It’s quite a difficult book to navigate through. I remember reading it the first time, I was genuinely finding it hard to follow the story, at least at the beginning. So, in today’s letter I decided to mention three tips for anyone reading Wuthering Heights for the first time, to make the reading experience a bit easier. 

So, here they are:

Get a family tree:

First of all, get yourself a family tree.

Most physical copies of the book come with one, and if yours don’t, get one from the internet because you WILL need it. The characters are all related and they have the same names, like Catherine’s daughter is also called Catherine. There even is a character whose name is actually a last name. It all gets very confusing. So, not having a family tree will probably mean you’ll get confused about who is who. So, do yourself a favour and get yourself a family tree.

Get a translation of Joseph’s speech:

Joseph is a major character in the book and he speaks in pure Yorkshire dialect which is practically incomprehensible unless you’re from Yorkshire of course.

I used to think it was because English is my second language, but then I learned that even native English speakers find his dialect difficult to follow. When I was reading the book the first time, I looked for translations of his speeches and thankfully I found one, which was totally a lifesaver. So, you can check it out, or if you find some other translation that you like, that should work too. 

Don’t go in expecting a love story:

If there’s one thing about Wuthering Heights, it’s that it does not conform. It absolutely refuses to conform, to basically any standard you’re familiar with. Anything that you expected to happen, probably won’t happen. And a lot of things you never expected, will happen. All that’s hard enough to stomach if you go into the book not having any preconceived ideas about it. And if you go in with expectations, that’ll only make it worse. So, if you’ve heard it’s a love story and are going into it expecting one, don’t. It is framed around a love story, yes, but it’s probably not what you’re expecting. It’s not Pride and Prejudice or North and South. Don’t expect that.

All in all, I’d like to end this letter by saying that Wuthering Heights is not a pleasant book to read. It’s a book that will consume a lot of your emotional energy, it's extremely violent and intense and unsettling. But it’s also a hauntingly beautiful piece of writing. If you want to make the best of your reading, I’d suggest don’t try to enjoy Wuthering Heights, rather, try to experience it. And you’ll have a reading experience unlike any other.

What about you? Have you read Wuthering Heights? Don’t forget to let me know.

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Also, if you’d like me to write for you, you can contact me at joyiewrites@gmail.com

That’s it for today, I'll be back in your inbox next week.

Until then,

Joyie 🌻