A critic once remarked that this is a book best appreciated in adolesence. Yes, I agree - that is when I first read it, but I also feel that this book, along with the short stories, are the perfect introduction to DHL. This is vintage DHL, the golden period post the early mistakes of over-writing and before the preaching mania took hold.
Think "Angela's Ashes", and you have the Morel family: mismatched and locked in eternal combat, yet held together by unknowable forces. At times, the writing soars on wings of pure poetry, and the ending, for me, foreshadowed Dylan Thomas at his best. It has also been said that this book begins as a 19th century novel, and ends as a 20th century one. DHL manages to straddle the best footholds in both traditions: good, clear story-telling, excellent characterisation, humour, pathos and psychological insight. For me, personally, the author he emulates most closely is Emily Bronte with her sense of another world beneath this physical one. Miriam's aching love for Paul echoes Catherine's and Heatchcliff's - it is frightening and choking, and that is why he must break from her. Reading this book is like seeing the world through a new pair of specs. Indeed, DHL makes everyday household objects tremble with life! Enjoy! And use it as a springboard to the more "difficult" novels.