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Heart of Darkness
Heart of Darkness
Heart of Darkness
Audiobook (abridged)3 hours

Heart of Darkness

Written by Joseph Conrad

Narrated by Joss Ackland

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

3.5/5

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About this audiobook

‘The reaches opened before us and closed behind, as if the forest had stepped leisurely across the water to bar the way for our return. We penetrated deeper and deeper into the heart of darkness.’

At the peak of European Imperialism, steamboat captain Charles Marlow travels deep into the African Congo on his way to relieve the elusive Mr Kurtz, an ivory trader renowned for his fearsome reputation. On his journey into the unknown Marlow takes a terrifying trip into his own subconscious, overwhelmed by his menacing, perilous and horrifying surroundings.

The landscape and the people he meets force him to reflect on human nature and society, and in turn Conrad writes revealingly about the dangers of imperialism.

LanguageEnglish
PublisherHarperCollins
Release dateJun 15, 2005
ISBN9780007218875
Author

Joseph Conrad

Polish-born Joseph Conrad is regarded as a highly influential author, and his works are seen as a precursor to modernist literature. His often tragic insight into the human condition in novels such as Heart of Darkness and The Secret Agent is unrivalled by his contemporaries.

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Reviews for Heart of Darkness

Rating: 3.5692048328257187 out of 5 stars
3.5/5

5,910 ratings154 reviews

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  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I found Heart of Darkness very easy to read. My copy was only one hundred and twelve pages long, so there's that, but it's also written in a way that tugs you into the story. Actually, I think it's probably best read in one sitting, due to the way it's written -- the actual story is being told by a man called Marlow, to his companions, who mostly just sit quiet and listen, in one sitting. So to experience the book as it was written, it's probably best to settle down with it and read the whole story at once. I found the prose pretty easy, though that might just be that I'm somewhat used to that kind of slow, elaborate writing style. A lot of the imagery in the book is very vivid, which I liked.

    Maybe I should have read it a little more slowly and carefully, but I felt sometimes that it lurched from one point to another and it took me a minute to catch up.

    I don't really "get" this book, I guess. I can see how to analyse it and pick it apart -- this bit of imagery refers also to that, and this reflects that, and the racism springs from the culture it was written in, and blahblahblah. I can see how you can pick all kinds of special meaning out of it. But... I'm not so impressed that I want to.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Conrad's writing is amazing. I loved his vivid descriptions of the river and the forest. Many a deep and profound message shows up within these pages. The book causes you to think about life and death, light and darkness and the absolute recesses of human darkness and depravity. I highly recommend this as a book everyone should read at least once in their life.
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    ABRIDGED. I did not see this fact indicated in the description.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Interesting novel. Great prose. But the book didn't really do much for me. It's very short but kind of difficult to maintain the concentration it takes to process what is being said. Or at least so I found it, in my case. When I was able to maintain that concentration, the story was interesting enough. I like exploring and tribal life and the jungle. But I suppose the book wasn't long enough for me to really invest in it all that much. Oh well. Another one off the list.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    One word to describe this book - woof. It isn't a story as much as an author's attempt to use metaphors and colorful language to make a point in 100 pages that could have been made in half of that. The basics of the book is that a man is telling his story of a trip to Africa for a company and he meets a white man who is kind of worshiped by the ignorant black people.

    This is not a page turner, but I am glad I read it because it is a classic due to the time period in which it was written. Will I read it again? Probably not. But as a person who studies and teaches history, it was important to get through at least once. As literature, I was not fan.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I finished Joseph Conrad’s novella, “Heart of Darkness” this morning. I’m really a bit Ho-hum about it, can’t really recommend it.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    The next unread book off my library shelf was Conrad's Heart of Darkness. It is a short novel, just under 100 pages in the penguin edition, but the text is dense and at times quite difficult to read. I know that the film Apocalypse Now is based on the book and is the story of an adventurers nightmare journey up a remote river in search of a white man who is rumoured to have gone native. In the book it is the Congo river and Marlowe is heading towards a remote trading post, sometime in the late nineteenth century in search of Mr Kurtz. The film takes place during the war in Vietnam and Willard is heading up the Mekong river searching for Kurtz who is an army commander in a remote and advanced position. Knowing the story and some of the themes of the film is helpful when staring out on the book. The book was published in 1902 and is now considered to be an influential work of modernist literature. I do not want to get into technical reasons but from a generalist point of view, I think this is because the narrative flow leaps forward unexpectedly, passages of close description of events are followed by gaps in the storytelling. Conrad seems more intent on describing the atmosphere, the surroundings and the environment rather than motives for the action. The reader has to work hard to follow the story which seems to move in and out of consciousness. It is told in the first person and Marlowe's thoughts often appear confused. He is trying to grasp the unknowable and often just falls back on snapshots of remembered events.The novel opens with Marlowe on a sailing boat on the upper reaches of the river Thames, he is with four companions and the atmosphere of a grey day on the water with little movement, provokes him into telling his story of his adventure in Africa. He sits buddha like with his back against the mast as his story unfolds. He was fascinated by unmapped areas of the world and manges to gain command of a steamship plying its way up to remote regions of the Congo river. He finds himself in a Belgian trading post and describes the treatment of the black Africans by their white masters and he is shocked when he encounters six Africans chained together being forced to carry baskets of earth up a hill after the blasting of a hillside.They passed me within six inches, without a glance, with that complete deathlike indifference of unhappy savages........I've seen the devil of violence, and the devil of greed and the devil of hot desire: but, by all the stars! these were strong, lusty, red eyed devils, that swayed and drove men - men I tell you. But as I stood on this hillside , I foresaw that in the blinding sunshine of that land I would become acquainted with a flabby, pretending, weak-eyed devil of a rapacious and pitiless folly. Just as well that Conrad was talking about the Belgians and not the British colonisers. Marlowe has to wait three months at the trading post while his boat is being repaired and he finally gets going with a Belgian manager several pilgrims of 'The international Society for the Surpression of Savage Customs' and a crew of African cannibals. They are travelling upriver to Mr Kurtz trading post which has outperformed all other such posts in the supply of ivory. Kurtz's unusual methods which entails recruiting and leading his followers in war parties against other tribes is the reason for his success. He has become a god-like figure, not afraid to commit any amount of horrific crimes to further his ambitions. When they finally reach Kurtz station he is a sick man being carried around on a stretcher. He is semi delirious and is not able to give much of a clue to his heart of darkness. He is worshipped by the motley collection of Africans who surround him, and his speaking voice and charismatic personality give some clue to his success. His hold however is weakening and Marlowe although fascinated by him is never able to explain or come to terms with why this should be so. In a way this is frustrating for the reader, who is never able to see Kurtz at the height of his powers.Reading other peoples thoughts on the book reveals this dichotomy. It is a book that some people find overhyped, the struggle with the text becomes a pointless exercise, while others acknowledge it as a great piece of literature and I can see both points of view. What struck me was the continual references to a dream like environment, this is underlined by the fact that Marlowe is retelling a story to his friends and also still trying to come to grips with his own thoughts and feelings. He is still confused and the dreamlike environment is more like a nightmare, one which he has survived, but has made a lasting impression. Perhaps he has come to some understanding of the heart of darkness even if it is only the more prosaic thoughts on the evils of exploitation. Yes 5 stars.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    "The horror! The horror!"

    That was my first reaction when I read the book in college. I hated Heart of Darkness. I hated Joseph Conrad. I thought it was too difficult and too racist. Why did I have to read such a miserable book? Don't read this book I thought if someone asked me about it. Looking back I really think it was more of the fact I didn't fully understand what I read and I didn't agree with the professor teaching of Conrad. I'm not sure if I even read the full thing or just one part either.

    Today, my tastes for this book are completely different. Deiced to give this book a second chance. Was this book as racist as I had remembered? Maybe I will understand the book better with better background information? No one is expecting me to write an essay about this book anymore. I can actually read it to give my own opinion.

    Conrad's writing I must say is beautiful most of the time and other times he uses harsh words that aren't conformable to digest. Overall, I think he is a great writer, not one of my favorites, but someone people should read. He is not an easy read. I know English wasn't his first langue and at parts you can tell. Some of his paragraphs run a little too long and he likes his dashes a little too much. With my second read I thought this book wasn't as hard as I originally thought (could be the fact I read this before or I'm improving).

    Was Conrad racist? Something that I kept seeing in reviews and one of the reasons I wanted to reread the book. Second time around I'm not so sure as I was before. Yes, this book includes some derogatory terms and phrases that might trigger people today. Does that make the author racist? Keep in mind this is a work of fiction and the characters are fictional. Someone could be based on Conrad, but I think Conrad does a fine job not putting himself in the story. I read this book like how I read Rabbit Run and Lolita.

    I would not recommend this book unless you know about it before hand. Definitely don't read this for fun, because it's not a fun read. Even though this is only 100 pages, I still took three days to finish each chapter. Why read this book? Because it a good book to discuss issues about racism and imperialism. Maybe you've seen the movie Apocalypse Now that is obviously based on this book. Also, I think Conrad's writing is worth the read. I think if you hated the book in school, you might want to give this book a second chance when your not a student.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Having just read a history of the belgian Congo I think I appreciated this book far more than I would have if I didn't know the full history of the subject dealt with in the book. As I could identify characters and situations within the book I was able to relate to it more.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Such beautiful writing. And then....

    I realize this was written in a different era (19th Century), and that it represented thoughts and actions of the time. So in that sense its a valuable book.

    A bunch of European men on a steamboat poaching ivory in Africa - and searching for their hero, a really prolific ivory poacher. And (who could have guessed!) the Africans don't really appreciate it.

    I listened to the audio. I seriously doubt I could have gotten through this book otherwise.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    In this story-within-a-story, a group of travelers sits on a boat on the Thames waiting for the tide to turn for their departure. While they wait, Charles Marlow tells his companions about his time as a steamboat captain on an African river in the employ of a trading company. Things go wrong from the outset, and the charismatic Kurtz dominates the tale long before his “on stage” appearance.The framing of the story as a tale told at night to a captive audience gives it the feel of a ghost story. I usually do well with audiobooks, but it was the wrong choice for this book. This could be due partly to the distractions I faced during the time I listened to the audio (wildfires within 6 miles of my home), but Conrad’s dense prose could be a factor. I thought I was paying attention, but I missed a lot of important points. I’ll need to go back and read this in print at some point.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Perhaps we always have a "choice of nightmares". Conrad writes "It is strange how I accepted this unforeseen partnership, this choice of nightmares forced upon me in the tenebrous land invaded by these mean and greedy phantoms." I avoided reading this reality fiction for years, out of fear. A Review of Conrad's work by Maya Jasanoff forced me to get "over"my trepidation. She had the same fears but overcame them, and gave us an understanding of what Conrad was showing us--her work is entitled "The Dawn Watch: Joseph Conrad in a Global World," Maya Jasanoff, New York, NY: HarperCollins, (2017). The prescience of Conrad is breath-taking. He saw in 1899 the pernicious shadow cast by Leopold of Belgium over the last 100 years. Adam Hochschild describes this evil come to us in his 1998 account of Colonial Africa, "Leopold's Ghost" which we now see leaping out of his Grosse Luege, through the Nazis and Bolsheviks, to Putin and Donald Trump. For those of us who struggle to understand what possible "appeal" evil holds for any human being, we have Conrad holding up a mirror to the Colonialism he observed. The fact that Joseph Conrad was himself from a Polish family born in what is now Ukrainia in a Jewish village which was erased while Conrad lived. The fact that facts were erased, by method, anonymously, by "these mean and greedy phantoms" who really did cut off the hands of people who failed to bring a quota of gold, ivory, rubber, and children to these tenebrous masters. The book is a discourse, a choking narrative, a long gasp of horror by an eyewitness. He says "Kurtz discoursed! A voice! a voice! It rang deep to the very last. It survived his strength to hide in magnificent folds of eloquence the barren darkness of his heart." Conrad even includes a nod toward the extreme difficulty, the kampf, of being evil. "Oh he struggled! he struggled! The wastes of his his weary brain were haunted by shadowy images now—images of wealth and fame revolving obsequiously round his unextinguishable gift of noble and lofty expression. My Intended, my station, my career, my ideas—these were the subjects for the occasional utterances of elevated sentiments. The shade of the original Kurtz frequented the bedside of the hollow sham, whose fate it was to be buried presently in the mould of primeval earth. But both the diabolic love and the unearthly hate of the mysteries it had penetrated fought for the possession of that soul satiated with primitive emotions, avid of lying fame, of sham distinction, of all the appearances of success and power."The narrator carefully adds that "sometimes he was contemptibly childish." As an example, "He desired to have kings meet him at railway-stations on his return from some ghastly Nowhere, where he intended to accomplish great things. ‘You show them you have in you something that is really profitable, and then there will be no limits to the recognition of your ability,’ he would say." This bizarre association with "profits"--never accounted for, never profiting anyone--and the business of accomplishment of "great things" which never happen. Does this not evoke the scarification of our memories of Hitler, of Trump, and of Putin? And the narrator of this story remains bent to the telling by some duty to "dream the nightmare out to the end". We share in his struggle with his own Destiny. "My destiny! Droll thing life is—that mysterious arrangement of merciless logic for a futile purpose. The most you can hope from it is some knowledge of yourself—that comes too late—a crop of unextinguishable regrets."Yet we are left to join the narrator holding the factum of Kurtz with awe. "This is the reason why I affirm that Kurtz was a remarkable man. He had something to say. He said it. Since I had peeped over the edge myself, I understand better the meaning of his stare, that could not see the flame of the candle, but was wide enough to embrace the whole universe, piercing enough to penetrate all the hearts that beat in the darkness. He had summed up—he had judged. ‘The horror!’ He was a remarkable man. After all, this was the expression of some sort of belief; it had candour, it had conviction, it had a vibrating note of revolt in its whisper, it had the appalling face of a glimpsed truth—the strange commingling of desire and hate." Even staring at his own death--"I found with humiliation that probably I would have nothing to say." He finds he must defer to the evil, the thing with vision, even when the vision is a horror. Because, as we find in a subsequent effort launched by one of Kurtz' relatives, "Kurtz really couldn’t write a bit—‘but heavens! how that man could talk. He electrified large meetings. He had faith—don’t you see?—he had the faith. He could get himself to believe anything—anything. He would have been a splendid leader of an extreme party.’ " This is a description of Adolph, of Trump, of Putin. Now let them forever be first to "surrender to that oblivion which is the last word of our common fate." The conquering darkness has a beating heart.In the final scene, the narrating person is returned to the homeland and is meeting with a heart-broken woman only named as The Intended. Their conversation is about Kurtz -- his "greatness", his great vision of his role in the world, his universal (but undocumented) talents and sacrifices. She was deeply mourning. "Ah, but I believed in him more than any one on earth—more than his own mother, more than—himself. He needed me! Me! I would have treasured every sigh, every word, every sign, every glance.’“I felt like a chill grip on my chest. ‘Don’t,’ I said, in a muffled voice.“‘Forgive me. I—I have mourned so long in silence—in silence.... You were with him—to the last? I think of his loneliness. Nobody near to understand him as I would have understood. Perhaps no one to hear....’“‘To the very end,’ I said, shakily. ‘I heard his very last words....’ I stopped in a fright.“‘Repeat them,’ she murmured in a heart-broken tone. ‘I want—I want—something—something—to—to live with.’ "Of course this is the last remaining function we who survive must perform. And we end conversation with circumcision, and the ship must depart before the end of the ebb. I know of few conclusions more moving than this one, in its expansive and granular context: "I raised my head. The offing was barred by a black bank of clouds, and the tranquil waterway leading to the uttermost ends of the earth flowed sombre under an overcast sky—seemed to lead into the heart of an immense darkness."
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    I HATED this book. I had to read it 3 times for a short story class. I would much prefer slaving over Shakespeare.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
     At times we read something and then ask ourselves a few questions. Why did the writer pen this. What were his motivations and what do they hope to garner out of said story. Maybe I am analyzing this a tad too much, but I had to continually ask myself those questions while reading this……then it hit me and it occurred to me when this story was written and the type of man it was written by. All I can say in the end is that it seems to me that Conrad is a product of his environment. Much like the Colonel in Edgar Rice Burroughs first Tarzan story. Conrad is as wild and untamed as the animals and the environs in which he travelled. The world was harsh and pushed him. He pushes back. The writing in this story can be difficult to swallow. But one again consider the perspective.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Read this for an English class some years ago. I know it's a classic story but it's very dense and a bit antiquated (at least as I'm remembering it now). Worth reading but be prepared (some literary analysis before/during is worth it). Just not my particular cup of tea.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Okay, I can see why this is considered among the required reading for lit classes. The symbolism, the message, all those things they get you to notice are in this story. If you are looking for entertainment, this is not that sort of book. The narrative will keep you in the story, but just to be entertained--no; at least not for me.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I just couldn't stay with this story. The writing style was like one long rambling paragraph. There were a few interesting images, but I got tired of it and let it go.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Re-read this book after last reading it in high school. Read it in one sitting, while listening to the audiobook at the same time. This would seem to be the ideal way to read it, as that is the way Marlow tells the story, in one sitting to his companions while waiting for high tide in London. I enjoyed it much more than I remembered.

    There is so much complexity in this book that I am sure I will need to read it again to catch everything. An exploration of Europe's colonization of Africa, of the "white man's burden," of how an individual copes with the inhumane and still remains human. This book has earned a place on my permanent shelf.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    The Heart of Darkness was the inspiration for the movie Apocalypse Now. Although there is no Robert Duvall character proclaiming, "I love the smell of Napalm in the morning," there is a boat trip up a dark-enshrouded river in search of a mythical, God-like man.When Joseph Conrad wrote this short novel at the turn of the 20th century, Africa had been divided among the European nations, each exploiting its resources for financial gain. Many parts of equatorial Africa were covered in dense, difficult to navigate, dark jungle. The novel is narrated by Marlow who recounts his adventures as a steamboat captain in Africa as an employee of a Dutch trading company. The Congo River is peppered with riverside trading stations, like a series of islands against the opacity of the encroaching jungle. The novel begins with Marlow spending a couple of weeks at the mouth of the Congo River at the Outer Station where he learns of the mysterious Kurtz, who exports more ivory than the rest of those tasked with this assignment. Since some see another Kurtz in Marlow, he journeys up the Congo, first on foot, later by steamboat, to meet this man who has been described as a prodigy of "higher intelligence, wide sympathies, a singleness of purpose." What he discovers is a man who, isolated from his usual social environs, reverts to his more primitive nature.This novel is short at 72-78 pages depending on the edition. I found it difficult to read because of the number of lines compressed on a page. I don't read enlarged print text; however, in this book I should have made an exception. I found the reading tedious with only moments which drew my attention. I'm surprised that the Cancel Culture hasn't banned this book based on the terms used for the African natives.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    A fascinating and very articulate take on colonialism, racism and empire.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    In an effort to class up the joint, I listened to this audio book performed by Kenneth Branagh.

    I say performed, because it wasn't just a plain reading of the story. He added depth to the observations and took what I might have found to be a boring story and breathed life into it.

    I enjoyed this quite a bit and would recommend this audio version to anyone interested in this classic tale.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The conquest of the earth, which mostly means the taking it away from those who have a different complexion or slightly flatter noses than ourselves, is not a pretty thing when you look into it too much - Heart of Darkness

    This is a book that is difficult to rate. On the one hand, it is very hard to read. The perspective of the book is a person listening to another person telling the story, which means that almost all paragraphs are in quotes, which can and will get confusing if the narrator starts quoting people, and gets worse once he starts quoting people who are quoting people themselves. Add to that the slightly chaotic narration, the long sentences and paragraphs, and an almost complete lack of chapters (the book is structured into only 3 chapters), and then add some jumps in causality in the narration for good measure, and you have a recipe for headaches.

    On the other hand, the book has a good story. It has no clear antagonist, all characters except for the narrator are in one way or another unlikeable idiots, brutal savages (and I am talking about the white people, not the natives). It is hard to like any of them, and, strangely, the character who is probably the worst of the lot was the one I liked best, just because he was honest about his actions and did not try to hide behind concepts like "bringing the civilization to these people". He was brutal, yes. He was (probably) racist, yes. But they all are. He seems to show an awareness of his actions, of the wrongness of it, in the end, while all the others remain focussed on their personal political and material gain.

    I am not a big fan of books that are considered "classics". They usually do not interest me, and being forced to read them by your teachers will probably not improve your view of the books. I am not sure if I liked this book, and that in itself is an achievement on the part of this book: I am unable to give it a personal rating compared to my other books, because it is so different.

    There are many people who have liked the book. There are many who have hated it. I cannot recommend it, because I know that many people will not like it. Some would say that these people "don't get it", but that would be wrong as well. You need a special interest in the topics of the book, or a special connection to the book itself, to properly enjoy it. But I also would not discourage anyone to read it either.

    It is part of the public domain, so it is free. If you are interested, start reading it. You can still shout "this is bullsh*t" and drop it at any point.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Strange and excellent. Conrad's use of the language is masterful. Full of incredible symbolism, and a very powerful anti-colonial screed.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    One of the finest novels of the twentieth century, "Heart of Darkness" is a moody masterpiece following a man's journey down the Congo in search of a Captain Kurtz. I saw the loose film adaptation "Apocalypse Now" before reading "Heart of Darkness" and feared seeing "Apocalypse Now" would detrimentally affect my reading experience. I need not have worried as the two are different enough to ensure the Congo's Kurtz was still full of surprises.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    There are gems here but ones that require close attention. The writing and language are of another age so one has to work at it. The writing goes to the heart of issues of colonialism.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I was expecting a little more out of this. Overall, I felt it was a little lackluster. I needed more meat to the story, it lacked...... something that I can't quite verbalize. Heart of Darkness describes one captain's journey up the Congo River into the "heart of Africa." It's dark, brooding, and ominous; nothing goes according to plan. The narrator upon arriving at his African destination; has a strange fascination with a man named Kurtz, an English brute with odd ways who is no longer in control of all his faculties. Marlow, the captain, is in awe at the darkness that lurks in the jungle and in men's hearts. Sigh. I'm not doing a very good job describing it because I couldn't really get into it.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This book has been recommended to me by a friend and was sitting on my to read list for years. When I saw that most of its reviews are either 5 star or 1 star I was intrigued. The book did not disappoint. Beautiful, evocative, mesmerizing, horrifying, revolting, it describes an abyss of a human soul. A story within a story, narrator's description sets the stage and his story takes you away into then disappearing and now non-existent primal world thus forcing you to see the events through his lenses.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I read this thirty-five years and didn’t get much out of it. After hearing Branagh’s reading, I think what I missed was not the obvious message, but the art. There is nothing like a great actor giving a great reading to bring a great work of literature to life.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    There's nothing wrong with a bit of baggy. And certainly there's little or nothing 19th century without that touch of cellulite. And that's mostly where all the masterpieces live. No waste. But no bounty either. Conrad's prose is too parsimonious for anything to get very close to masterpiece status. I like him fine but he was a writer who tied his boots too tight almost on purpose. He wrote better about the sea than anything else and yet did relatively little of it. You're right (in a tiny, limited sense) in that the strangely neglected “The Secret Agent” is probably his best - full of surprises and real pleasures - does “Greenwich” like no one ever did. But to call it a masterpiece is to seriously abuse the term. Hush my moderation, it is to take the term out the back with a baseball bat and go all Joe Pesci on its ass. His prose is the diametric opposite of gorgeous (saying so makes me sound like a Banville-admirer). His prose was bullied at school and has been keen to avoid trouble ever since. I can understand that but it don't bring me no grandeur nor frisson.I'm a big fan of “Notre Dame de Paris” (I've read it English, Portuguese and German). But obviously I’m singing its praises to avoid the lurking presence of “Les Mis”. Because it gloriously proves my point about baggy masterpieces. “Les Mis” was pissed on at the time for its vulgarity and indiscipline. This is the stuff that makes a masterpiece. “Notre Dame de Paris” is a pretty little thing, but it's a run-up, a stretching exercise before the real thing. Hugo was a looper (try “Les Travailleurs de la Mer”). He spent the spectacular, once-in-a-lifetime Commune moment eating zoo animals and banging fans. This makes him lots and lots of things. Unbaggy is not amongst them. “Les Mis” changed everything. “Notre Dame de Paris” was a cartoon waiting to happen.I'm not a fan of everything books-wise. And I also don't want to scatter the masterpiece medals too liberally. Though I admire some people’s generosity and enthusiasm. I'm just worried it's going to end up with J.K. Rowling as Nobel Laureate (she wouldn't be the worst). The sentiment is almost the opposite of masterpiece though. But then I'm a big fan of cowardice, so I'm bound to say that. The thing about Conrad? No funnies. Not once. Not ever. Even by accident. That's the Beckett kiss of death. I rest my case. Cry at your leisure. Don't forget, I'm a Conrad fan.And I wouldn't dream of hurting someone, but look me right in the eye and tell me “Les Mis” is not baggy. Remember the chapter about the joys of human shit? Not even the tiniest bit discursive, that one? Really?
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Inspired by the Great American Read list, I thought I would give this novella a try. I'd not read it in any of my English classes. I found the book interesting but disturbing in places. I had to consider the time in which it was written. There isn't a lot of political correctness in here. Marlow, the narrator, is given the job of piloting a boat up the Congo. He reflects on what he sees, his frustrations with the journey, and the man he finally meets in the end.