Wuthering Heights

I'm not sure how I escaped from college with an English degree without reading any of the Bronte sisters. I did an entire semester on Jane Austen but never cracked a single book by either Emily, Charlotte, or Anne. About a year ago I remedied that by picking up Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre. I loved the book but remember thinking that it wasn't what I was expecting. Apparently all the sisters have that in common.

I've heard tons about Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte's immortal novel. It has been described as one of the most romantic books ever written. It has been described as passionate and powerful. Many say that the love story between Catherine and Heathcliff is one of the most obsessive and powerful they'd ever read. Just today I saw it listed by two different writers, as they're favorite romantic book. So I was expecting a romance. When I finally read the book last week I found something completely different.

I didn't consider Wuthering Heights a romance. Yes, there is a romance between Catherine and Heathcliff. But that takes up only the first quarter of the book. It is what happens after that seemed to me the focus of the story. Instead this is a book about a tragic family. It is a book about revenge. It is a book about a villain. Far from romantic, I found Heathcliff to be horrible. The man was a villain of the first degree. After Catherine's meladramatic and mostly foolish death, he falls apart and begins to take systematic revenge upon everyone who'd ever come in contact with her. He starts with her sister-in-law, then her husband (yes Catherine marries someone else), then her brother. Eventually he moves on to his own son, Catherine's daughter, and any other person who may once have been involved in the family.

Now don't get me wrong, Heathcliff is not a killer. Instead, his villany is far more creative. He simply plots and schemes to take everything from them. He manages to steal away everything from Catherine's brother (who also happens to be his. It's complicated). He takes revenge on Catherine's husband by forcing their daughter to marry his son against her wishes, thereby giving all of their estate to him. After Catherine's death it is simply one heineous deed after another as he takes his revenge on everyone around him. The interesting thing about this whole book is that I never manage to see the connection between him and Catherine. They claim, at separate times, to be in love with each other but I, as reader, didn't really ever see it. They stood up for each other in childhood, they adventured together as adolescents. And then later, after Catherine is married, do they finally state that they love each other. But both Catherine and Heathcliff are such dispicable characters that by that point I didn't really care.

You would think that after all this talk that I hated the book, which is not true. I devoured the book. Not one of the characters is likable. I found myself constantly yelling at the characters that they were acting like idiots. I was shocked by the pure malice in the book. And I was still surprised that this was not a romance. But through all of this, the story of this family is so sad, so tortured that I had to continue. Each character was flawed but distinct. This book, told by the former housekeeper, is delicious gossip. We get to know the characters from the vantage point of looking in. We see their struggles but from the detached observer standpoint. And like a train wreck it was tough to look away. Tolstoy famously started Anna Karenina with this line. "Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." Wuthering Heights is the story of an unhappy family and the tragedies that befall them. Tragic, powerful, and beautiful, this book is everything but romantic.

Book Review: Population 485

My aunt and uncle were in town at the end of January from Chicago. They had come in to take my great aunt back and to watch the Super Bowl. We had a fantastic time with them, talking music and books and family and football. My aunt was reading the book Population 485: Meeting Your Neighbors One Siren at a Time by Michael Perry. I mentioned that I had heard great things about the book and wouldn't mind reading it. I said I'd grab it from the library eventually.

So I was shocked last week when a package arrived from my aunt. After she finished the book she had shipped it to me. I opened it on Friday and haven't wanted to stop reading. This memoir is wonderfully told. Perry describes how he moved back to the little Wisconsin town he had grown up in and joined the town's fire department. He trained as a firefighter and an EMT and started fitting back into the old neighborhood. As a writer in a mostly blue collar town he talks about the difference between him and his neighbors but mostly the similarities. Perry does not tell the story as a straight narrative but in little vignettes that give you a great idea of the place and the people. This is a book about how community and people can change and enhance you.

For three years Jeff worked as a volunteer firefighter and EMT for our previous city, so the stories are somewhat familiar. The two a.m. alarm calls that stir you out of a sound sleep and set your heart racing. The dinners interrupted for false alarms. And the discussions after he had come home from a tough EMT call. Perry describes what it is like to climb into burning buildings but he does it without all the glorifying heroism that firefighting is often cast in. He shows how real the people are instead. In fact, one hilarious chapter called Oops, describes how he sometimes feels so unheroic when making mistakes in uniform.

He reminds us that EMTs and firefighters are not perfect but he also shows the amazing compassion and dedication that so many of them have. When my sister was going through Paramedic training (and Jeff said the same thing) she mentioned that the hardest part and the best part is that you are meeting people on what may be the worst day of their lives. Hardest because there is often nothing you can do... but best because at least someone is there to offer aid. Perry says a very similar thing. We can feel how much he cares.

This book discusses both the tragedy of firefighting/EMT along with the comedy and real human element. He describes the happy times, sad times, and sometimes just boring times. We get to know both Perry and the people surrounding him. We hear the stories of his brothers and mother (also EMTs and firefighters). We hear stories of the townsfolk and the emergencies that connect them. And we get a feel for the land itself. It is a beautiful book. I have handed it off to Jeff to read. I will be curious how it matches his experiences.

{Edit: While on Michael Perry's website Sneezing Cow, I discovered a couple new books of his that I really want to read but also that he will be in Des Moines in June. Yay!!}