A gripping tale of capitalist exploitation and rebellion, set amid the mist-shrouded mountains of a fictional South American republic, employs flas...
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Feb 13, 2008
Matt
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Conrad is cynical, in the best sense of that word. Lord Jim was one of my favorite books, and Nostromo is probably even better. Although it is difficult to become acquainted with the characters at first, the reader cannot help but understand them in a profound way by the end. Conrad's worldview is disturbing but also compelling, as he uses character, symbolism, and allegory to tell a realistic story with an abundance of lessons.
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Jul 29, 2008
Dale
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Nostromo was a difficult read for me. I started this book many years ago and gave up after the first 50 pages. This time I plowed through, and I'm glad I did. There's a lot of depth to this novel, but you don't see it until about halfway in.
The story takes place in a fictional South American country called Costaguana at the turn of the 20th century. An Englishman named Charles Gould has inherited a ruined mining concession, and undertakes to restore it, mostly as a means of sticking More...
The story takes place in a fictional South American country called Costaguana at the turn of the 20th century. An Englishman named Charles Gould has inherited a ruined mining concession, and undertakes to restore it, mostly as a means of sticking More...
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Sep 23, 2011
Michaelbert
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I wanted to read this book solely because it was the name of the mining ship in the movie Alien.
Most of the book is about the still notoriously endemic corruption of South American colonial politics. This is not what I liked about it. The book has little to do with its title character, who is a vain, petty man overly concerned with what people think about him. Nostromo, feeling frustrated and underappreciated, sails off with a small fortune in the chaos of yet another South Americ More...
Most of the book is about the still notoriously endemic corruption of South American colonial politics. This is not what I liked about it. The book has little to do with its title character, who is a vain, petty man overly concerned with what people think about him. Nostromo, feeling frustrated and underappreciated, sails off with a small fortune in the chaos of yet another South Americ More...
Jun 02, 2011
As a political novel, Nostromo is strong work. After reading a novel, I typically do a quick internet search, looking for summaries, essays, and commentary. In doing so after reading Nostromo, I located a website www.nostromoonline.com. The website, created by Matthew Waller, a self-described 41 year old technical writer, is devoted entirely to the novel. Waller posted an essay, in which he describes the novel’s characters as representations – allegorical symbols of socio-political concepts. Fra
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Apr 03, 2011
CaterinaAnna
rated it:
I found Heart of Darkness more impenetrable than the jungle it describes, but I thought I ought to give Conrad another go.
This one was a struggle too. The story took a long time to get focussed, there were infelicities in the writing that went beyond it being merely old-fashioned and I found his habit of referring to many characters by at least three different names irritating. I could have coped with the latter had it just been different people using their own name/title for the pe More...
This one was a struggle too. The story took a long time to get focussed, there were infelicities in the writing that went beyond it being merely old-fashioned and I found his habit of referring to many characters by at least three different names irritating. I could have coped with the latter had it just been different people using their own name/title for the pe More...
Oct 04, 2010
Jeffery
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I came to this book only after having seen the BBC multi-episode TV production of "Nostromo" back in the late '90's. I regret that viewing the film resulted in spoilers which dulled the impact of reading the book because the novelty of experiencing the unfolding plot was missing. Nevertheless, I found the book fascinating. If it is true that a movie cannot approach the depth of a book, and now having experienced the story in both forms I think the BBC production only scratched the
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Apr 06, 2010
carl
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With a passage like this I had some hope for Nostromo:
A woman with a masculine mind is not a being of superior efficiency; she is simply a
phenomenon of imperfect differentiation - interestingly barren and without importance.
Conrad has always been a tough read for me. Sometimes he's thinking in Polish and it's coming
out kind of English, as did the first fourth of Nostromo, but then the story picked up.
Though published in 1904, it al More...
Nov 06, 2009
Justin
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This one's tough to review. I want to recommend it to everyone, but that's probably just a waste of a lot of time. I read this about ten years ago as a young college student, and just re-read it. Even while re-reading, the only things I remember are i) wondering to myself, if this book is called Nostromo, why is Nostromo absent for most of the book? ii) a short passage about bringing people into a paradise of snakes, and iii) Nostromo saying to himself "If I see smoke coming from over there
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Nov 21, 2010
Cyril
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This is quite an enjoyable work. Unfortunately it took a long time for me to get through it due to a recent move, and it was difficult to keep track of all the characters through long pauses in reading. It is quite a complex story with meaning in practically every word.
The story takes place in the imaginary South American country of Costuanga. The title character of Nostromo is only one of the many players caught in the throes of revolution that wrack the country. The novel does not More...
The story takes place in the imaginary South American country of Costuanga. The title character of Nostromo is only one of the many players caught in the throes of revolution that wrack the country. The novel does not More...
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Mar 14, 2011
Jill
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I've tried. I really have. But after one short story (The Secret Sharer) and four novels (Heart of Darkness, The Secret Agent, Lord Jim and now, Nostromo), I've come to the considered conclusion that I really don't appreciate Conrad. I admire him for his prodigious output, especially since he's a non-native English speaker who only learned to speak the language fluently when he was in his 20s (and even then, reportedly with a strong Polish accent). But with perhaps the exception of The Secret
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Dec 22, 2011
Jim
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This is my third reading of this strange and remarkable book. As I began re-reading the first half of the story, I felt disappointed -- as if my taste as the young student who first read this book had somehow traduced me. There was no central figure in this story: It was certainly not Gian' Battista Fidanza, a.k.a. Nostromo, the handsome capataz de cargadores; nor was it Charles and Emily Gould, owners of the San Tomé silver mine; nor was it the host of other characters that Conrad parades befor
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Apr 07, 2010
Bruce
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“The wisdom of the heart having no concern with the erection or demolition of theories any more than with the defence of prejudices, has no random words at its command. The words it pronounces have the value of acts of integrity, tolerance, and compassion.”
During the first third of this novel, a number of subplots emerge, all centered in Sulaco, the main town in the isolated province of the imaginary South American country of Castaguana. One thread involves Charles Gould, his famil More...
During the first third of this novel, a number of subplots emerge, all centered in Sulaco, the main town in the isolated province of the imaginary South American country of Castaguana. One thread involves Charles Gould, his famil More...
Dec 24, 2011
Jim
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
Jul 05, 2011
Steve
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Nostromo is considered by many to be Conrad’s greatest novel. The ambiguous nature of good and evil, the importance of duty, common themes in all of Conrad’s novels, get an epic treatment in Nostromo (my Modern Library edition is 630 pages long). But for all of its length, the novel, after the first dense, foundation building 50 pages or so, reads quickly. Published in 1904, the book has the feel of a modern novel. It’s a book about revolutions money, and character, told through different vo
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May 16, 2011
Veronica
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Another pleasant surprise from Conrad. I was really not expecting to enjoy this seafaring epic, but I am very glad my expectations were misguided. My initial reaction was not so positive and I longed for the presence of an illustrative map of the fictional Costaguana. This then followed with the introduction of a multitude of characters. My gut told me there were too many places and too many characters, but my heart told me to keep on reading, and read I did as Conrad managed to bring it al
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Oct 27, 2009
John
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The last time I read something by Joseph Conrad it was required reading in school. It was a short story, I think, but it was a long short story, the kind of short story that has parts instead of chapters. It rained a lot in the story. I think the teacher said that was symbolic of something. I also think there was a boat or a ship in the story.
I promised myself I would never read anything by Joseph Conrad again, unless it was required.
Thirty-five years (approximately) is a long time t More...
I promised myself I would never read anything by Joseph Conrad again, unless it was required.
Thirty-five years (approximately) is a long time t More...
Jul 13, 2009
Jason
rated it:
It took me well over 100 pages to really get into this one, but it was well worth it in the end. Conrad is trying out various techniques that later authors would employ to greater effect, but he deserves credit for experimenting. The narrative jumps around a bit with little cues for the reader and without the psychological probing of the stream-of-consciousness masters.
But once I finally wrapped my head around Conrad's method, the story was captivating. It's a brilliant political t More...
But once I finally wrapped my head around Conrad's method, the story was captivating. It's a brilliant political t More...
Dec 02, 2010
Brian
rated it:
In the relatively narrow genre of "Polish authors writing in English about Italian sailors in war-torn South America," this novel is probably the finest. It is challenging at first, as Conrad seems to be experimenting with a few complex narrative devices, which he uses to provide an introductory history of the setting and dramatis personae. He shifts into that style again later in the book, using what we would call in modern cinematic terms a montage to speed up time as the story jum
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Jul 07, 2011
Bart
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Conrad carries this book along on the strength of his writing alone. For all the less-than-bearable floweriness of his sentences, there's also a precision to the images and abstractions Conrad creates. I don't know how Condrad can in one moment put you to sleep with his long winding sentences about dark gulfs and then slap you in the face with a few pages of intense emotion.
That said, this book did slodge along at times--the first half was a especially daunting in its slowness. He More...
That said, this book did slodge along at times--the first half was a especially daunting in its slowness. He More...
Aug 02, 2011
Meade
rated it:
I re-read this after having first read it while in college about 30 years ago. I had read it for a course in English called The Modern Novel and had considered it one of the best books I had ever read. It did not affect me with that much enthusiasm this time around and I wondered why. As I considered the possibilities, I decided that two things in particular stood out: When I read it back then, we had to read it in a week's time, and when we discussed it in class, we had not only our fellow s
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Jan 15, 2010
Dalleer
rated it:
The following statement is not going to make me look good over this subject, but in the name of honesty I'll admit it, anyway.
I read about fifty pages, until I got literally bored with the extremely long and descriptive language in the book. I originally started to read this one after experiencing Heart of Darkness, but quickly found out that the subject nor the style were nowhere even close to my interests and tastes.
It's too bad that things came out this way for Nostro More...
I read about fifty pages, until I got literally bored with the extremely long and descriptive language in the book. I originally started to read this one after experiencing Heart of Darkness, but quickly found out that the subject nor the style were nowhere even close to my interests and tastes.
It's too bad that things came out this way for Nostro More...
May 11, 2011
Sue
rated it:
Conrad is not an easy 'holiday read', but persist and you'll be rewarded with a vivid portrait of a place and time and a brilliantly complex tale of colonial life in Latin America. Conrad is credited with doing away with linear story telling structure for perhaps the first time. Flashbacks, people telling stories within stories, adds to the complexity but also adds depth and a sense of history. The sense of place is so well created that you can almost feel the heat coming off the page. Once you
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Dec 21, 2010
Janet
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There’s a lot to ponder in Nostromo, because its basic political theme purports cycles: “all for one” mentality, supported by a set of shared ideals among people, that in time - and inevitably - explodes into Separateness, with the ebb and flow of personalities. The book is not an easy read, although its sentences are amazing. Also, I am glad that I’m reading it now, when I’m older, because in my unforgiving youth I’d have been insulted and turned off by perceived gender chauvinism in some of t
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Oct 04, 2009
Kate
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This book made me want to throw it across the room, tear my hair out, and possibly burn it all at once. The first little bit of the book is okay but then it just goes down hill until the end when it starts to make some sense. Conrad plays with time in the book jumping from past to present to future without telling the reader at all. None of the characters have personalities really, and by the end you feel they are all shallow and only care about the silver. For the most part this book just m
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Jul 24, 2009
Thirteenth Peer
rated it:
First impressions after just having finished the book. I think it's a very good book. What stood out most for me was the quality of the writing. I was impressed by this in a way I haven't been impressed in a while. It is extremely dense. There is always the conciousness of the multi-layered whole and a constant tension held between expectations and the actual narrative flow. I can see myself coming back to this book as a model of prose style.
On the other hand the story did dra More...
On the other hand the story did dra More...
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May 03, 2011
Brittany
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I read part of this book in AP English class in high school, and plan to read it all the way through someday. We couldn't afford books, so we had printed pages off the internet (it's available through the Gutenberg Project). Conrad's writing style is always a challenge, but that is part of the fun of reading his work. Once you work through his complex and flourishing sentences, you generally get something truly beautiful. It's also nice to read something by him other than Heart of Darkness, whic
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Oct 31, 2011
Dorothy
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Earlier this year, I read and enjoyed The Secret History of Costaguana by Juan Gabriel Vasquez. That book was based on the germ of an idea from Conrad's Nostromo. It was set in the fictional country invented by Conrad for his book. Reading that book made me curious about Nostromo and I added it to my reading list. I hardly knew what I was letting myself in for.
This was a very difficult read for me and it took me a seemingly interminable amount of time to finish it, but I persevered More...
This was a very difficult read for me and it took me a seemingly interminable amount of time to finish it, but I persevered More...
Jan 17, 2012
Miriam
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This book is really several books that don't always go together--political intrigue story, social commentary on the "primitives" of South America, personal demons tragedy, a love story at the end. I found myself often thinking, "Is Nostromo really as simple as the narrator would have me believe--a figure dominated by vanity and the desire for renown?" And I guess I'm not sure, because his actions seem more wide-ranging than that. Spoiler alert. I don't understand why Deco
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Apr 17, 2009
Chris
rated it:
It usually takes until the second reading for me to really get a Conrad novel, but I didn't feel that way with Nostromo. Maybe because I saw a lot of similarities to Lord Jim, I only felt really at sea during Part I. Once the action of the plot got going in Parts II and III, I kept up fine. In retrospect, Part I seems a little longer than it really needed to be. In it Conrad gives vivid portraits of most of the key characters, but since their essential nature is revealed and repeated in Part
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Oct 29, 2008
Nostromo (1904) - Joseph Conrad
My book club shared a read of The Red Tent by Anita Diamant and as it turned out i liked it more than probably most of those in club, or perhaps that's just more than what they wanted me to. At the end of our discussion and in reaction i was asked to pick a guy's book for our next read. Without hesitation i said, "Nostromo" and it was agreed.
This book has reputation! Conrad for starters is just known for his tales; stories concerning th More...
My book club shared a read of The Red Tent by Anita Diamant and as it turned out i liked it more than probably most of those in club, or perhaps that's just more than what they wanted me to. At the end of our discussion and in reaction i was asked to pick a guy's book for our next read. Without hesitation i said, "Nostromo" and it was agreed.
This book has reputation! Conrad for starters is just known for his tales; stories concerning th More...
