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Average Customer Rating:

I can't believe people are claiming the style is dry!

Customer Rating:

I first read this a couple of years ago as part of an English Lit course, in which we studied in depth the language used. The first thing to bear in mind is that this book is a product of its time. Of course there's inherent racism (Conrad's dehumanising presentation of the Africans as 'black shadows') but despite this, Heart of Darkness was an absolutely groundbreaking piece of colonial literature. As to the style, which people have claimed is dry and unreadable (sorry that Conrad didn't have the courtesy to divide the novella into easy bitesize chapters!) it IS dense. But the language is so rich - pick out any one paragraph and you could talk about the literary techniques and the beautiful language used for hours! The novella focuses on Marlow's journey as he approaches the 'heart of darkness' and eventually encounters the famous Kurtz. It makes social comments that would have been almost inconceivable to the readers of the colonial magazine in which it was first published, before making you, the reader, examine your own morals as it draws to its chilling conclusion. Don't pick this up expecting a 100-page quick and easy read. But if you take the time to read this and appreciate Conrad's incredible use of the English language (not his own mother tongue!) I guarantee that you will find it worthwhile.

Intriguing but lacks in style

Customer Rating:

The concept for "Heart of Darkness" was very interesting. One man goes into the heart of the post-colonial congo to bring back a man who has lost his sanity, and critiques how these colonists treat the native Africans along the way. But that is where it ends unfortunately, the writing style I felt was very poor, it seemed to be an ordeal more than a book and I felt my mind wondering at certain points. There were quite a few characters, but due to the size of the book (around 110 pages) Conrad seems to have decided to leave out any kind of description throughout the entire story. The overall image I got in my mind was a boat floating in darkness with a few bodiless voices on board and a load of African tribesmen dancing around in the distance. The build-up to Kurtz was done well however, but when Marlow finally reaches him, the tension suddenly stops and thats it. We aren't revealed the apparently "unspeakable atrocities" that Kurtz has committed, and therefore I can neither relate to him or feel any kind of sympathy for him. The blurb says something along the lines that the story is a fascinating look into the darkness of human hearts when it comes to Kurtz. I did not feel this at all. All I saw was a man rolling around on a bed screaming "The horror! The horror!". Throwing this aside, the reason I gave the story 3 out of 5 is because of the actual journey of Marlow. I felt that Conrad's take on colonialism, the look into the way that the British ran their companies, and the way that they treated the Africans (although some really horrible and moving imagery here) were very well done. So I'm being a bit lenient. Other than that, the only thing I can say is that you should try it yourself, and see what you make of it.

No better after 20 years

Customer Rating:

I originally read this novel as a first year undergraduate in 1988. I found it dull and very hard work. I still remember having to force myself to read a page or two each night just to get through it. The horror indeed. I recently thought I would try reading it again as, after so long and with more mature tastes I might enjoy it. But no. I gave it my best shot - and then gave up. Maybe I'll have another go in 2028...

Brilliant fable of empire	Customer Rating:
An extraordinary book, which was so far ahead of its time that some contemporary reviewers (see above!) haven't caught up with it yet! It exposes the whole vile fallacy of empire - that arrogant pretension to rule over other peoples, all, of course, in the name of humanity and democracy! One of the truly great novels of our time.

Waste of time	Customer Rating:
We had to read this book in English and my god it is horrible. I have rarely read a more boing book and honestly I did not manage to read through it. I'm usually crazy about reading and I have read a lot of books, but this one was simply horrible. Both the way he writes and his sometimes hidden criticism of Africa. I think it is waste of time to read this book.