Helpful Score: 2
This novella tells the story of Marlow, a man commissioned to bring back Kurtz from the "heart of darkness" that was the African jungle. Marlow becomes fascinated with the stories of Kurtz and longs to discover why Kurtz retains a hold on the hearts and minds of those who know him. I'd like to refer to this as a "vitamin" or "medicine" book. It's good for me, but it doesn't mean that I enjoyed the process. This was the type of book that I can appreciate for what it represents... a struggle between light and dark, the natural world versus civilization, colonized people versus the imperialists, etc. you get the picture. However, it was a struggle for me to get into and read. I'm not really too certain why. It reminds me of how I felt after reading "The Old Man and the Sea"- I understand why it was written and can appreciate the message, but I didn't like reading it.
Helpful Score: 2
Heart of Darkness is my favorite classic book. I loved the unveiling of the terror of the ivory coast to the naive Englishman who went to see what the shipping company was really about. Kurtz's last line "the horror, the horror" will stay with me forever.
Helpful Score: 2
Stay away from this book! Perhaps because of the time in which it was written, you'll need a dictionary to decipher practically every sentence. I had to look up literally at least one word per page, often many more. The story (because of this?) did not flow and seemed to digress more often than not. (What is it with men writing nautical journey stories and digression? Melville's _Moby Dick_, Simmons' _The Terror_?)
I know it's a classic, but honestly, save yourself the four weeks of your life and watch "Apocalypse Now" instead; it's the same thing.
I know it's a classic, but honestly, save yourself the four weeks of your life and watch "Apocalypse Now" instead; it's the same thing.
Re-read this classic on a short plane trip--still as good as I remembered it to be.
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.
