WUTHERING HEIGHTS

The hulking, gypsy-eyed Heathcliff again broods darkly over the moors in this umpteenth audio version of the 1847 classic of suppressed passions. This abridgment serves well to give us a sense of the author's style, her plot, and her main characters. In an important way, though, this book should not undergo abridgment. Its very length, the pace at which events unfold, is an indispensable element of its genius. The very excellence of Martin Shaw's reading makes one wish he had essayed the whole tome. Truncated, it sounds less morbid and violent, as its first critics carped, than small, nasty, and foreboding. Still, its brilliance of characterization, its superb Victorian diction, its sexual tension are all intact, thanks to Shaw's flawless and understated handling. Y.R. © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine [Published: FEB/MAR 01]