I think it's maybe only the 4th novel I've actually gotten through in the last 6 years or so. Twilight series and other fantasy/sci-fi novels do not count. Yes, I'm a bit of a snob when it comes to reading, even though I've been a fantasy/sci-fi junkie since I was a kid.
Anyway, having read the book now (which I somehow never read throughout my high school and college educations - also have never read Moby Dick which is kind of a travesty for an American history/literature major), I absolutely do not understand people who look at Heathcliff as a romantic hero. It just makes no sense. Sure he was tortured and misused as a child, but come on. I've rarely encountered a character so vile, so selfish, so manipulative, so abusive, and so vengeful and cruel. I imagine we, the readers, have a relationship with Heathcliff the way some women might have with an abusive husband/boyfriend, making excuses for him when there is really no excusing his deplorable behavior.
In contrast, my favorite character was Hareton Earnshaw, of course. And his mutton chops!
