Heart of Darkness

This story is narrated by a man, representing a trading company, who journeys up the Congo River. There he hears of, and eventually meets, a mysterious ivory trader who has some kind of hold on the people of that area. He is not only mysterious but powerful, and the narrator soon discovers greed and frailty in him.

Not my first Conrad but my favorite....a small, juicy, wonderfully intense reading pleasure bomb!

A bit difficult to understand but symbolical.

The prose is descriptive about what happened. But the build-up and narration is so boring you will struggle. I could not complete it.

I'm sure this book deserves more stars but I just couldn't get into it. I found it so very dull, so very boring, oh so very boring!!! Shame.

This novel is a sad reflection on the greed and inhumanity of imperial ambitions. To the modern day reader there are some challenges as we apply our own world views to a novel written in the late 19th century. However, if you can manage to look past this (which the first time I read it I couldn't) this is a rich story about how people can be corrupted and destroyed by the world which they sought to rule.

Truly challenging reading but worth the focus, fabulous use of language.

I could never get into this book. I did not like the way anything was worded and the whole thing seemed like a drag. I was relieved every time I turned a page, because it meant I was THAT much closer to finishing. It seemed like there was no action, and the book portrayed the natives as practically inhuman. I thought at some point I may be emotionally moved, but that did not happen by any stretch of the imagination. What a disappointment...

This book is eloquently written and perhaps a more sophisticated insight into human nature than some other novels. It is however, at least to me, less powerful and emotionally raw than Lord of the Flies or other similarly themed novels, and leaves something to be desired.