Remixed classics are an area of literature I am always excited to access. Taking stories that have for so long been billed as universal and making changes aiming to make those works meaningfully more accessible to the majority of people who do not see their own experiences reflected is a worthwhile and necessary exercise. To be a part of what we consider to be the literary canon, I believe a work must constantly justify its continued relevance. This bold retelling of Wuthering Heights does exactly that. I've read Wuthering Heights many times and have loved it since my first reading, but that doesn't mean I'm blind to its flaws. This retelling preserved the most necessary and lively elements of the original text. Beyond that, it brought them into a contemporary understanding that allowed the characters to have deeper personal lives and engage with the inherent flaws of their society as a whole, which made the exploration richer.

SPOILERS:
Framing Cathy as capable of malicious and foolish choices but not irrational and still deeply sensitive and loving was consistent with a feminist reading of the text. However, making much of the subtext text was a strong choice that made her more engaging. Cathy came into her own, realizing that her father had tried to erase her heritage after taking baby Catherine and one of her two brothers back to Europe against their mother's wishes. Despite justifying many of his actions, the guilt of his complicity as an employee of the British East India Company explained the family's status and dysfunction. I can understand why lovers of the original book might miss how originally there was a senselessness driving many of the character's actions, but the Brontë version will always remain alive and well.
I am impressed that Tasha Suri created a story where she empowered the characters to make different choices than in the source material, but only with great difficulty and actual sacrifice. Reading this book was thrilling, and it clarified many of my thoughts about the value of modernizing literature. ( )

We go and sit with Isabella. The sugared tea is sweet on my tongue, and the cakes sweeter. I think of the first night I was carried into this parlor with a dog bite on my leg and was offered a little slice of a current scone by Edgar, his hands trembling. And how - how I put it onto my tongue, and it was like a vow I had made, a fairy thing. I had eaten here, and tasted sweetness, tasted what it meant to be rich, and now I could never run again for the craving of it, even it if would one day strike me dead.

Then I'll come back to the Heights, Cathy. Only then. I'll come back broken and twisted, wealthy and vicious. I'll come back and break Hindley better than he could ever have broken me. I'll come back and I won't be low any more. I won't be beneath you. But my love for you won't be this soft thing that fills me up and bleeds more than a heart ever could. It'll be cold waves, drowning me. And drowning you.

If this series of remixed classics by Feiwel & Friends is written as well as this one is than I will need another shelf for my TBR. Such gorgeous writing. This retelling solidly gives Heathcliff an Indian ancestry and also monkeys with Hindley's and Catherine's backstory as well. It informs some of the pain and trauma that all of them have going on. The timeline is following Heathcliff's departure but before Cathy becomes Mrs Linton. I think many who have problems with the original tale will like the changes that have been made for this one. I really enjoyed it and read it all in one sitting - simply captivating for a WH fangirl like myself. ( )

DNF - read 96 pages. Retelling a need to be better written or have interesting spins for me - this had neither

While it wasn't one of my favorite classics, I once stayed at least somewhat intrigued enough by Wuthering Heights to read the whole thing.

In my younger days, I think I could stick with certain books better when, even if I didn't particularly care for the stories, I liked the fact that I was reading them and could understand them.

As a reader, I've changed since then.

Indeed, the cultural and historical basis of this remix was a huge draw for me, and the author has such an affecting, lyrical, haunting way with words.

I can do dark, somber, haunting reads on occasion if I'm gripped by the plot and pacing. However, the pacing of this story was just too slow for me not to find the darkness too depressing. I gave it more than an hour before I decided not to finish it.

On a different note, though, I really like the book cover. Especially the hero's look.

Wuthering Heights with Cathy and Heathcliff recast as Indian orphans adopted by a British merchant who made his fortune at the expense of the colonialized (for which he feels guilty).

I read to p. 50 but saw no reason for Cathy and Heathcliff to be so heartbroken over the other. Probably it would be explained in time, but isn't that ache and angst the whole point of this story? The recasting with Brown minorities could be interesting but I didn't really care to keep reading as it were.