Wuthering Heights

Okay, okay I am finally getting around to doing a book review on this. I first read this book when I was 16. We had been on holiday and somehow I picked up the book at the holiday place, I didnt actually know anything about the book when I started reading it, or about the authors at all. I started reading on the morning that we left and by the time we got back home I had finished the book! I have not read it again, until the Wuthering Heights Readalong came along.
The basic story line is like this. Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw grow up together after Heathcliff is found and adopted by Catherines father. Unfortunately the father soon dies and Catherines brother banishes Heathcliff to work on the farm. Catherine and Heathcliff become very close, however it is an obsessive kind of love. Cathering subsequently marries somebody else and all sorts of disaster follows! Heathcliff tries to win Cathy back, but that doesnt work and he sets out for revenge on the whole family.
What I found amazing this time was how differently I viewed the book reading it at this age as I did when I was 16.When I was a teenager I viewed Heathcliff as the little poor boy, misunderstood who if he was just accepted and loved would have been perfect. Very much the "bad boy persona" who all girls think they are going to change. As an adult I can see just how disfunctional and evil he is. What I also didn't pick up the last time was just how much of his revenge was planned rather than a lucky break, if that makes sense.
As for Catherine, I found her to be a real little cow, spoiled and just wanting her own way. Most of the bad things that happen can be brought back to just how spoiled she was.
Edgar and Isabella Linton I think were the nicest characters although both were real wimps. But there was no harm in either of them, and they at least showed some signs of taking responsibility for their lives.
Hindley is the other person who I viewed differently as an adult. I had a much softer view of him this time. Before, I viewed him as the evil older brother, this time I realised fully how much he was actually wronged by Heathcliff.
Cathy Linton (Catherine and Edgar's daughter) was also very spoiled and did exactly what she wanted, however I did make allowances for her in that I didnt feel that there was any malice in her. Also, everything she did she was really trying to keep others happy.
Lastly, perhaps the only person that I felt any feelings for was Hareton Earnshaw. I really felt like he was actually the nicest person in the book and the most wronged. He really didn't stand a chance from the beginning and it was almost like all of Heathcliffs revenge just worked out to his disadvantage.
As for the book itself, I thoroughly enjoyed it, but wow is it dark and gloomy. Not a light read at all!