wuthrinheights's reviews
190 reviews

"A Breath of Life" was one of those books where I groaned upon reading the first paragraph because I knew it was going to be really good, it would hurt me. I was taking note after note of my favourite--or most impactful--lines and I felt so out of breath. How do I even describe what this book was? It was raw, it was confessional, it was Clarice splitting herself into two just to bare the universe inside her spirit. 

Maybe it was the timing because I was going through something internally but every time I picked it up, it made me feel so emotional. There was something so spiritual about my quality time with Clarice and I don't know how to explain it. But I feel so seen, and yet I'm learning more things. Things I've never really thought of before. Magic, yes, it was certainly magical. I feel like a Lispector literature worshipper. 

I've grown so fond of Angela. I feel so connected to her, as if she were a younger me. It must've been so painful for Clarice to birth her, to see her walk and grow and to meet her end, like watching your own child. Their relationship resembles a mother-daughter duo. The mother tutting at her naivety, then worrying at how similar they're becoming. 

A wonderful, incredible book. For an incomplete novel, I believe it is never-ending. And not because it was incomplete, but because if you read it from the start, it picks up like a continuous cycle. An ouroboros. 

1. The Yellow Wallpaper
I've been wanting to read this for a long time and I'm finally (gratefully) picking it up. Right from the first page, it has captured my attention, like a hook sinking into a fish's mouth. 

It has this dark, suffocating ambience that I feel like I'm covered with a dark shawl and I'm hearing her through her scribbled entries. Entries written in haste and secrecy. About her life, her marriage, her John. 

John. An immediate red flag. I detested him from the first time she mentioned him. John, so loved by people, so highly sought after, so educated and successful. Evil in the shape of a man. I wasn't looking forward to this. And I was scared for her. 

The story took a slightly different turn, and I didn't even notice it ended. I thought the next story was actually another chapter. Imagine my surprise when the characters had different names and setting. 

But reading up on it, it made more sense. I liked this a lot, I can see myself reading it again someday. 4.25 stars!


2. The Rocking Chair
First of all, I'm honestly very, very interested in Charlotte Perkins Gilman's writings. It has just the right balance of great story telling and making full use of that eerie, gothic feel. I had a feeling I'd enjoy her but I didn't have too much hope after reading some authors/works I thought I'd be a fan of.

Secondly, this story was intense. I had a headache but I couldn't put it down. For a short story, it was incredibly well penned. I wasn't bored, I had no time to be bored. 

You get to meet the characters, immediately caught a glimpse of a waif, the easy relationship between the two characters were established and then cracks started to form, the suspicion and resentment grew, the girl kept slipping through their fingers until their clenched fists were up to each other's necks. And then there's that stomach-dropping end and you just have to live as if it were a normal day but no, you just finished an incredible short story. What a killer author. 5 stars!


3. Old Water
This was probably my least favourite one out of the three but it was still very, very good especially towards the last few pages. Once again we are treading on a slippery slope of territorial men with women they're pursuing. It was terrifying and suffocating. I feared for the girl's life and I couldn't imagine how it would end. 4 stars!


Gilman had such an impressive streak of short stories. I couldn't get enough of it. The themes were recurring but the stories were so different from one another, I could never really tell what to expect (or rather, I didn't want to expect--which proves to be a better reading experience). Safe to say she's quickly being added to my list of favourite authors. 

I don't see enough people talking about this play, and they should! It was thoroughly splendid and entertaining. It reminded me of Twelfth Night, which is my second favourite Shakespeare play. 

I loved Orlando and Rosalind individually but it was great that they got paired up; they were the strongest characters in the play. Such a power couple. I didn't expect it but funnily Shakespeare made me raise my standards in a partner. 

Touchstone was the most catty Shakespeare fool. Some of his lines baffled me. I truly didn't expect to read such things. But him being a hater was funny to me. 

I would've rated it higher if some parts weren't a tad uninteresting, though. Some scenes felt like a filler episode to me. But I do have the urge to reread it again someday. I think I may have missed or misunderstood some parts. 

All in all, this was a great play and I am so happy I enjoyed my first read of the year!

The Trial was certainly... a trial. As a buddy read, we kept encountering ill luck while reading it. Either one of us would fall sick, or her ebook reader crashed, or my lungs suffered. I don't know what Kafka did while writing this but it felt very cursed.

Once again I am irked by the format of his novels, in which he seemed allergic to using paragraphs. Pages were filled with huge blocks of words with no spacings, which made it quite confusing to move through this story that is already confusing plot-wise.

Josef K was an unlikeable character (and not in a good way. Trust me. I often love books with terrible characters). He was (pardon my French) an ass. He was a menace to every woman he encountered (and boy, there were quite a few), to the men in the trial, to his maid and neighbours, and to his uncle. I could not pity this man at all and I wouldn't mind arresting him myself. He was a Scrooge in a Kafka way.

The book felt like if someone were to play with the volume dial. One second it's loud, and another it's quiet. My interest in the story went up and down. Some were interesting, some were so boring it was like reading white noise. We do not speak of Chapter 7. Whatever that was. 

However I do applaud Kafka in his ability to write such a grimy book. I felt so suffocated and dirty, like I'm stuck beneath a centipede's belly. Stomach-dropping, headache-inducing, dread-filling book; that's what The Trial was for me.

After Água Viva and handwriting every favourite quote from it, I felt like I had an overdose of Lispector. I couldn't get into this one as quickly as I did with the previous book, because I was still reeling from it. And much like her other books, I never really looked up the synopsis so I didn't know what The Passion was about. 

This novel started out like the narrator's soliloquy. It was slow and at times, felt like it wasn't going anywhere. But I stayed on and hoped for the best. At first I wasn't quite sold on it and thought maybe I should hit pause but it was constantly calling me so eventually I picked it up again. 

Then the novel really started. You get to know the characters. G.H., her life, her penthouse, her maid. And the picture gets clearer as the story goes on. I actually think this book was like a retelling of The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka but from a different point of view; of Gregor's sister or one of his parents. It was quickly piquing my interest.

Once again Lispector had a unique way of writing. With every last line of a chapter, said line will be repeated into the next chapter to start over. It was almost like crocheting. Making another chain stitch to repeat a double crochet, yarn over, front loop.. She was literally stitching together a story and I don't think I've ever encountered that while reading. So fascinating. 

It was a lot to take in. It was a sea of thoughts. It was philosophical. It was theological. It was a horror story. It was mind and gut churning. It was very Lispectorian. 

I was not prepared at all for the final reveal. I had theories but also knew deep down that it wouldn't go that way. No, it went completely the other way. I didn't expect it at all. I exclaimed loudly, which surprised my sister who was next to me. I couldn't wrap my head around it. Like I get it, but I also didn't. I need to sit with it for now. 

A perfect book to read between Christmas Eve and Christmas Day itself! I haven't read this in a really long while, so it almost felt like reading it for the first time. I remember Suzanne from her first appearance but I didn't remember her coming back a second time.

And I definitely didn't remember about her illness, or the bond she had with Todd.

As always, it's a joy to be with the Wakefields. It's so warm and inviting, like I'm truly home for the holidays with my favourite (literary) family. Some of the events were predictable (which knocked off the 0.25 stars) and some, not. But I enjoyed this a lot and I'm happy I picked this as a Christmas read.

Have you ever read a book where it's so good, you have to close it after every few sentences because you need to soak in its essence and messages? Água Viva was like that. It may be a really short book (with less than a hundred pages) but it wasn't a quick read. I couldn't do it. I had to read a little then sit in wonder and awe.

It is a book where you can't just read quietly, either. You have to read it in your head then read it out loud. To feel the words in your mouth, to slosh it around just so you can really embody her words. And in turn, it's almost like reciting a prayer. Just you, her book, and her words. It's magic. 

Reading Clarice Lispector is just a continuous cycle of murmuring "good God.." and taking note of the quote(s) that leave me breathless. How was she able to articulate such deep, instantaneous thoughts? Olga Borelli was correct when she said this book was "breathing together." 

A book with so many things to say, in essence it was about life and death. It was relentless. No matter how much you want to read on or pause, it goes on and on like thoughts you cannot switch off. I don't think I've ever read a book like this. It was witchy.

I think stumbling upon Lispector as a growing woman is the best thing that could've happened. It is life-altering literature. This is a book I think I should always reread because there's always something important and profound that I need to hear and remember.

I took my time rereading this. In between my other CRs, before I sleep, etc, that it took me 4 months to finish it. Well, I actually read nearly half of it just yesterday. It was one of those cold, rainy, gloomy days and I was breezing through this story. I couldn't help it. It felt as familiar as if I were reading my diary regarding my past (no, my past did not resemble this book in the slightest. I just mean it's so comfortable to read Emily's words as if it were home).

This book is so special to me. The gloomy atmosphere, the intense emotions, the wild characters, the beautiful quotes, the tragic family tree, the eerie supernatural sightings, the comedic scenes, the growth and development of the characters, the unforgettable love declarations... oh, what is there not to love? This is such an iconic book. I fiercely love Emily Jane Brontë. 

This is my first time reading the Norton edition and it was enlightening. The essays helped me understand the literature better and it made me be even more in awe of this novel. How Q. D. Leavis compared Cathy to characters from Dickens, Tolstoy, Lawrence; how Inga-Stina Ewbank wrote about the symbols in the book to differentiate characters and societal classes; how John K. Mathison wrote an essay solely on Nelly and how she was an unreliable narrator (which really opened my eyes to a lot of missed details); how Carl R. Woodring wrote about the narrators of the books and how it plays with the events; how Mary Visick compared Cathy to A.G.A, a Gondal heroine; how Mark Schorer analysed WH through the analogies and how "Her metaphors instruct her, and her verbs"; and lastly, how William M. Sale, JR reiterated Miss Fanny Ratchford's conclusion that Wuthering Heights was born from the tales of Gondal. I've spent over an hour reading these essays and I've learned so much in one sitting.

C. P. Sanger summarised the book then went into detail of every date of birth and death of the characters, and wondered how Emily had knowledge of the dates as well as the laws of land ownership. He was in awe of her brilliance and knowledge. He also wrote that this was a "tempestuous book" and I couldn't find a more perfect word to describe it than that. Sums it up greatly. 

David Cecil wrote that to Emily, "man and nature are equally living and in the same way; different manifestations of a single spiritual reality." That she accepted both good and evil in people: "the deeds and passion of humans do not spring from destructive impulses, but they're only destructive if they were diverted from their natural course." And that the characters' intense emotions resemble the forces of nature; they love each other not because of their pleasant personalities, but from a sense of affinity. That's such a brilliant way of reading into her works. Someone finally found the right words to explain a good reason to back up why I love this book despite the terrible characters. 

As for the newspaper clippings of the book reviews, I can only imagine how much Emily must've laughed and felt a surge of pride seeing her words being reviewed in its time (especially when they just didn't get it, nor were they aware of who the actual author was).

All in all, this was such a perfect addition to my collection of WH. It's a must read by fans of Wuthering Heights who want to delve deeper into this brilliant novel. I'm so happy I found a copy so I can find more reasons to love my favourite book. 

I skipped The Importance of Being Earnest for I have read it already before. I will begin my review with the second play: Lady Windermere's Fan. What a fantastic play! It was thoroughly captivating. I was hooked from the start, and wanted to devour it as quickly as I could. It had so much tension and drama, with twists that made me gasp out loud. I was lucky to read this with a buddy, because I needed someone to talk to immediately! Full 5 stars. Great play!

A Woman of no Importance was a slightly slow play to me, especially in the first half. There were too many characters that they all kind of blur together, that I kept referring to the list of names just so I can be sure that I know who's who--as best as I could keep up, for there were so many gossip surrounding each person. It was mostly a play consisting of a group of friends talking about each other behind their backs. But things started to pick up deliciously by the end of Act 2. Suddenly it was going so fast and I was invested. I was so scared about how it was going to end but WOW. What an amazing ending. I loved it in the end! It was also funny that Wilde copied and pasted quotes from his other works (lines from Dorian Gray and Importance of Being Earnest, and then from this play again). 4.5 stars!

An Ideal Husband was different than his other plays. It was longer and more political. But the characters were more lively than usual. I was feeling all kinds of things reading this; curiosity, anger, triumph, disappointment. I couldn't wait to see how it played out but although some felt great, a lot of it felt underwhelming. I wanted more drama and flair like in A Woman of No Importance. Alas, this was my least favourite play. 3.75 stars.

Scratch that. Salomé was the most different out of all the plays he's written (that I've read so far). It actually felt like I was reading a Shakespearian play what with the humour, the omen/foreshadowing, the theatrical dramatic characters. It was completely out of the box, and the ending was utterly shocking. It ended on a wildly abrupt tone. 4.5 stars.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book of compilated plays and I wish it had all of his works as well. I may need to reread Dorian Gray to be sure but I think I enjoy his plays better than his novel. 

Going into this with no idea what it's about, I had little expectations. It wasn't disappointing, but it was also just... fine. 

I only liked one character (Miranda) but the others, even till the end I couldn't remember who everyone was. I kept having to go back to the list of characters throughout the book. 

It was slightly funny and I liked the scenes between Miranda/Prospero/Ferdinand/Ariel the most. The others, not so much. 

I wasn't thrilled about the pacing of the play either. Some felt too rushed, some felt too draggy. But overall it wasn't terrible. I'm glad I gave it a try.

I thought there would be a couple of deaths in the end but no, Shakespeare didn't deliver this time. I felt disappointed that it ended so abruptly and without a punch. I wanted justice for the villains!