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dyno8426's review against another edition
4.0
While the story justifies the title with its journey of the central character, Mr. Marlow, a member of the English Company, through the forests of untamed central Africa and up the Congo river (during the colonial era of the British), literally into the darkness of civilisation and human contact, it has much more symbolism in it as one reads on. Because at the "heart of darkness", in the inner hostile reaches of unconquered land and far from the grasp of human civilisation, lies the treasure of unharnessed ivory and a certain Mr. Kurtz, another Company official whose control and profitability over these treasures is unparalleled. Mr. Marlow's business becomes a pursuit for this enigmatic and revered persona, until he starts realising another darkness which is at the heart of humans. Living in a country whose history and people have been tormented by colonial powers, the horrors of the brutality and the costs of fulfilment of an accumulated and organised human desire is very much known to us. The author presents some really terrifying images of the darkness outside in those forests (in the form of absence of the enlightening judgement and conscience of civilisation) penetrating the hearts of people like Mr. Kurtz, who go to extremities of power and purpose. It then goes on to becoming a comment on the ruthlessness of colonisation and the facade of civilisation and humanitarian duty that such colonies justified to the "underdeveloped". As Mr. Marlow sees into the recesses of the foreign and the native people around him, he acquires a realisation of the dormant, darker side of human nature which makes us afraid of each other; and in that way connects us with each other universally, even in absence of something as fundamental as language. This story is told with that biblical framework of the temptation of knowledge poisoning the purity of human mind, and carries the same haunting and allegorical narration of a regretful sailor (Mr. Marlow) looking back through the horrors that he has been through as in Coleridge's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, which has an underlying observation of the corruption of human spirit.
tomasthanes's review against another edition
3.0
Conrad certainly had a way with words, however, in the end, it is still a sad, dark, lonely, and purposeless: the universe of a man who denies the only source of meaning and morals.
iuppiter_bats's review against another edition
3.0
I expected more than what I read, but nonetheless I liked this book.
tm_burriss's review against another edition
2.0
This is not one of my favorite books. I read it in High School though so I may need to go back and read it from an adult's perspective.
logan08's review against another edition
1.0
This book was more of a 1 1/2 stars for me. I had to read this for my English class. The plot was sometimes confusing and there were many things that I wish were different about it. For one thing, I did not like how jumpy it seemed to be between the places where Marlow was. I also didn’t like the fact that you didn’t get to see much of Kurtz, even though he was what the story seemed to be building towards. The plot itself was pretty much all travel, that was just made kinda boring because there was no flavor added to the writing. I did like the fact that it was a retelling of what had happened to Marlow. To me, this just wasn’t an interesting story that seemed to have no climax with some unnecessary characters that had very little to to with the story, and very little character development. I didn’t feel like I was part of the story, and so it was a slog to try and read it.
books_blackcats's review against another edition
The narrative was like listening to an old man tell a story from long ago, meandering and with no point. I was bored every time I opened it and it’s caused several reading slumps. It did not benefit me at all
To read.
To read.
linaandthebooks's review against another edition
dark
reflective
slow-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
Utterly boring but very interesting to interpret. Very layered plot.
twotoes's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
- Strong character development? No