Tag: #hiddensee

Strange Families

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë was recently made into a movie, so I thought it would be a good time to read it.

It took a bit to acclimate to the old-fashioned writing style, but once I got going it was fine. Mr. Lockwood is a visitor intending to lodge at Thrushcross Range. He accidentally gets snowed in at the neighboring Wuthering Heights. He meets the odd collection of people living there, including Heathcliff, Catherine Linton, Hareton and some of the help. He experiences strange occurrences in the room he stays in. Upon returning to Thrushcross, he asks the housekeeper, Nelly, to fill him in on the people of Wuthering Heights.

From here she takes over telling the story of the Earnshaws and Linton families who lived in the two homes. She grew up with the Earnshaws and recounts their upbringing and dynamics once Heathcliff was brought home to live with them.

Heathcliff and the late Catherine developed an intense relationship that was never to be due to his station. She married Linton and moved to Thrushcross, leaving her brother and Heathcliff behind. Her brother’s child, Hareton, is born of a sickly mother who passes away. Heathcliff marries her sister in law. The story details all the drama across the two households leading up to and beyond Catherine’s death and the turmoil that follows.

It’s a convoluted love story with intense emotions.

Two for Two

Why two for two?  Well these first two reviews are good reads, but not personal favorites.  Next up is Hiddensee by Gregory Maguire.  Tough one for me.  It was the type of book that I wasn’t really into, but felt compelled to finish since it was recommended by a respected library friend.

I enjoyed Maguire’s Wicked when I first read it quite a while back.  This book didn’t match up.  It was long, wordy and left me waiting for some excitement. It’s the tale of Drosselmeier’s back story from his childhood as a foundling, through his wanderings into adulthood.  The book comes to a close with the story of how the infamous Nutcracker was built, and how it waited through a couple generations before becoming a gift to his goddaughter Klara.  Intertwined with this was the strange near-death experience as a child in which Drosselmeier encounters Pan and Pythia.  I have to admit my Greek mythology knowledge isn’t too strong.  Perhaps I could appreciate this underlying story better if I did my research first.

I think Hiddensee will appeal to those into fairy tale worlds and language.  For me, my mind wandered a bit too much through the tale to keep it all straight.