What an incredible (and incredibly misunderstood) novel.

I want to start off by saying the public representation of this book (the greatest love story ever told between Catherine and Heathcliff) cannot be more wrong. There is nothing romantic about psychologically torturing everyone around you, including the one you claim to love. This reader is NOT a Heathcliff apologist. I maaaaaybe could've excused some of his actions as he was treated as an inhuman beast and second-class citizen by everyone around him including his "love interest" Catherine Sr. I understand him wanting revenge on those around him (and society as a whole) for their treatment, seen through his slow takeover of the Earnshaw and Linton households and raising Hareton, who by birth is of higher "rank", as an uneducated farm worker (big generational trauma themes here). BUT any sympathies I had promptly flew out the window when he mistreated Isabella. AND THEN when he locked Catherine Jr. in his house and forced her to marry his son Linton? I don't have one ounce of pity for that man.

I am also not a Catherine Sr. apologist either, she is AWFUL. First off, I don't think people talk enough about how she's physically violent and will just hit people when she doesn't get her way. She has such a high view of herself and thinks everyone around her is her "plaything" that only exists to serve her happiness. Catherine and Heathcliff's relationship is obsessive -- NOT romantic. I am fully convinced if they had ended up together they would've made each other miserable.

Now that all being said, it's important to highlight the majority of this information is told to us by the true villain of the story: Nelly. (She's not actually a villain, but she's unreliable for sure.) Nelly is judgmental, vain, and insensitive. 90% of this book wouldn't have happened if she had done her damn job -- specifically the flirtation between Catherine Jr and Linton wouldn't have happened if she had told Catherine's father what was going on. Also, she let a pregnant and ill Catherine Sr. who was clearly going through a mental health crisis, wither away without care or food (and she conveniently left out that she was pregnant when she told the story, gotta make yourself look less cruel hearted there eh, Nelly?)

I may have led this review with "This book isn't a romance novel" -- which it isn't, but there is a great romance in it -- Catherine Jr. and Hareton. My copy of the book has a family tree at the beginning, which although it was a lifesaver as the very similar names confused the heck out of me, it also spoiled that they ended up together, and so I fully expected Heathcliff to force her to marry him too. But no! Catherine and Hareton broke the cycle of abuse and were able to find happiness. Hareton wanted to become educated to be worthy of Catherine, and Catherine realized how terribly he was treated and wanted to help him. She even stopped speaking badly of Heathcliff when she realized how engrained Hareton was to his abuser. Their love story, although brief, provided the much needed hope at the end of this novel. Catherine in general was my absolute favorite character -- she had her mother's defiant spirit minus some of her more violent tendencies. May Catherine and Hareton live happily ever after.

Overall, I think this is getting added to the list of books I have to stop myself from rereading every time I finish a book, which is good cause The Picture of Dorian Gray was getting lonely.