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16213 ratings, 3.52 average rating, 1068 reviews
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published
October 1st 2003
(first published 1902)
by Green Integer
binding
Paperback, 200 pages
isbn
1892295490
(isbn13: 9781892295491)
description
In this reprinting of the great Conrad classic, Green Integer presents his tale of white colonialism and the effects of the African world on Europ...more
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avg 3.52
Read in January, 2008
recommended to Kell by:
1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die by Peter Boxallrecommends it for: Nobody - it was dire
From all accounts, Heart of Darkness was based on Conrad's own experiences in the Congo some eight years before writing the book, which would, one would think, make for an interesting read. Instead, I found this dull, plodding and pretty pointless. I know it's held to be a classic full of symbols and ambiguity, but I just did not gel with any aspect of this novella - not the characters, nor the setting, nor their apparent motives (which seemed very weak) for any of their actions.
The ending, ...more
The ending, ...more
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Read in April, 2004
recommends it for:
someone who enjoys a good tenth level of hell
Proving yet again that doing a concept first will get you immortalized, while doing it WELL will make you an unknown and forgotten writer at best, I also learned that in Conrad's time, people could drone on and on with metaphors and it wasn't considered cliched, but "art." I blame this book and others like it for some of the most painful literature created by students and professional writers alike.
It was like raking my fingernails across a chalkboard while breathing in a pail of ...more
It was like raking my fingernails across a chalkboard while breathing in a pail of ...more
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This is a book I read twice and will probably never read again. I try to see this as a "great" novel but I have always wished Conrad had achieved a greater separation between his own voice and Marlow's. For me his inability to do so made it difficult to stomach the inherent racism in the book. The passage that will always stick out in my mind is the one in which the narrator muses that an educated black man is as "unnatural" as a dog putting on clothes and walking on its hind...more
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Read in January, 2002
This book was grueling the first several times I read it. It somehow turned up on the syllabus for at least 3 classes that I took, starting in high school and extending throughout college. Like a sucker, I kept re-reading it every time.
It turns out it was worth it. Normally, I'm the type of person who will force myself to finish a book that I don't really like, but will never bother picking it up again. But more than circumstance caused me to keep going at this one. There's something there. ...more
It turns out it was worth it. Normally, I'm the type of person who will force myself to finish a book that I don't really like, but will never bother picking it up again. But more than circumstance caused me to keep going at this one. There's something there. ...more
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Read in September, 1995
recommended to Angela by:
it's in the canonrecommends it for: everyone
This book knocked me off my feet with its weird and evil feel. It is told in an observational style that is perfect. Prior to reading Heart of Darkness, I don't think I'd ever come to terms with the murky depths humanity can sink to. It's sort of about the way a situation can corrupt a person, or an entire group. And it's so true.
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Read in April, 2008
When I was a child, my father caught me frowning at a very small gift wrapped package I'd received. The dashed hopes for a larger package were broadcast across my face.
"Dynamite comes in small packages." My father counseled me. The literal and figurative truth of this statement has revealed itself throughout my life.
This story is specifically relevant to Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness. It is a small book. (Surprisingly small.) And it is pure dynamite. (Super po...more
"Dynamite comes in small packages." My father counseled me. The literal and figurative truth of this statement has revealed itself throughout my life.
This story is specifically relevant to Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness. It is a small book. (Surprisingly small.) And it is pure dynamite. (Super po...more
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Read in April, 2008
I listened to this book in my car during my daily commute to balance out the fact that I was reading "Outlander" at home. Just to keep my literary karma on an even keel and to prevent the inevitable cognitive dissonance which would occur if I was only reading romantic fluff.
I was surprised by how much I thought this book would be better if I had read it in print, considering that it is meant to be a story the main character is telling aloud to the other people with him. Maybe i...more
I was surprised by how much I thought this book would be better if I had read it in print, considering that it is meant to be a story the main character is telling aloud to the other people with him. Maybe i...more
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recommends it for:
Those who are ready for a heavy read from a dense writer.
What a thick little book. I have to say when I first started reading this book back in my freshman year of high school, I hated this book and was quickly bored with it after ten pages. I put it down and gave up on it. Part of the reasn is because I read the short story in front of it and that WAS indeed mind-numbingly boring so I didn't expect anything different from Heart of Darkness.
Now five years have passed and I really enjoy this book. It's just as dense as I remember it, but I defini...more
Now five years have passed and I really enjoy this book. It's just as dense as I remember it, but I defini...more
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Another book that I have read periodically over more than fifty years. Each time I find something new and and evaluate it differently. Since the print on the page stays the same while I have lived, thought about colonialism, reading the great recent book about Belgian King Leopold's horrific hold over the Congo. Thus this book remains a touchstone for my own maturity. A book that does this for me over time is one I place on my "treasure" book shelf.
In Heart of Darkness, Conrad...more
In Heart of Darkness, Conrad...more
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Read in January, 2004
In the Western Canon, the best book I have read on colonialism. Despite what Chinua Achebe says about its racism, this is a towering achievement -- perhaps the apex of the Western canon. (It is pretty much downhill from Conrad onwards, I would say. Although Orwell's Burmese Days gets there somewhat implicitly.) It shows that it is possible to be a Westerner and have a very deep and accurate understanding of colonialism. Conrad lays ba...more
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Read in March, 2008
The first time I read this book I was in 12th grade. I hated it at the time and since then I have read numerous reviews of its greatness. I decided to try again.
While the psychological components of the book are riveting, the overt racism that much of it is based on is hard to swallow.
Marlow speeks much of the darkness and in some ways I think he implies that Kurtz's insanity was caused by the knowledge that the natives were naturally subordinate or subservant to him because of the sta...more
While the psychological components of the book are riveting, the overt racism that much of it is based on is hard to swallow.
Marlow speeks much of the darkness and in some ways I think he implies that Kurtz's insanity was caused by the knowledge that the natives were naturally subordinate or subservant to him because of the sta...more
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Never in all my life has 100 little pages made me contemplate suicide...violent suicide. i had to finish it. i had no choice (yay college!). every page was literally painful.
am i supposed to feel sorry for him? because i don't. i feel sorry for all of Africa getting invaded with dumbasses like this guy. oh and in case you didn't get it...the "heart of darkness" is like this super deep megametaphor of all metaphors. and in case it wasn't clear enough, conrad will spend many m...more
am i supposed to feel sorry for him? because i don't. i feel sorry for all of Africa getting invaded with dumbasses like this guy. oh and in case you didn't get it...the "heart of darkness" is like this super deep megametaphor of all metaphors. and in case it wasn't clear enough, conrad will spend many m...more
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Read in August, 2007
recommends it for:
t'pau
(i know! what's with all the librivox? what? can't i actually read? i can too!)
the best part about re-reading these classics is that it makes you want to watch the movie adaptation, and oh, the HORROR, heart of darkness, novella that it is, lacks the details i desperately need in a tale about human depravity in colonial africa. especially after reading moby dick, i am in no mood to fill in the flora/fauna/dragons that should play a more prominent role in a book with such a fantastic title.
s...more
the best part about re-reading these classics is that it makes you want to watch the movie adaptation, and oh, the HORROR, heart of darkness, novella that it is, lacks the details i desperately need in a tale about human depravity in colonial africa. especially after reading moby dick, i am in no mood to fill in the flora/fauna/dragons that should play a more prominent role in a book with such a fantastic title.
s...more
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Negative adjective, has dramatized audiences on ship, has meta linguist moments, fragmented with Night journey to the hell, profound psychological transforming, voyage comes to the term, to the unconscious, to the shadow, kurtz and Marlow doubling, capture reality through an imagination (impression- blurring the boundary of exterior and interior) , dream and nightmare extension, banality of evil, m9ost of the characters are shadows, hollow, hazy and heavy atmosphere, whited sepulcher( hypocrite ...more
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Read in November, 2008
recommended to Svitlana by:
Mr. Carsonrecommends it for: Everyone
Dear Joseph Conrad
Heart of Darkness in one of the most memorable novels. It never stops me from wondering whether the darkness can be created or destroyed. Marlow's determination was certain type of accomplishment, the one Kurtz found within himself during his last days. Kurtz described darkness as "The Horror!" Kurtz had his advantages and disadvantages, but his phenomenal mind inspired Marlow to progress forward. Marlow showed a lot of strength and courage once he told Kurtz...more
Heart of Darkness in one of the most memorable novels. It never stops me from wondering whether the darkness can be created or destroyed. Marlow's determination was certain type of accomplishment, the one Kurtz found within himself during his last days. Kurtz described darkness as "The Horror!" Kurtz had his advantages and disadvantages, but his phenomenal mind inspired Marlow to progress forward. Marlow showed a lot of strength and courage once he told Kurtz...more
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Read in April, 2006
recommended to Liv by:
Mrs. Lubowickirecommends it for: fans of the movie Apocalypse Now, fans of the TV show Lost, hungry readers, adults
This was probably the most rewarding book I read in high school. It was one of the first books that gave me a real challenge. The story itself is only about 70 pages long, but wow, what a dense 70 pages. I can't think of how to describe this novella. Words like heavy, complex, introspective, at times a bit terrifying really don't do it justice, but it is all of these things and more. If you like stories about the the foreign and often terrifying landscape of your own mind, pick this up.
As alw...more
As alw...more
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Read in November, 2008
I really disliked this book. It contains an excessive amount of vocabulary, so much that it made me loose my train of thought while reading. The vocabulary is what made it confusing and boring it was like you had to find the point of the story out in the sea. The point of view of insanity that the book is written in makes the reader confused, Conrad goes from the story of Kurtz back to the present time. Conrad's style of writing didn't capture my attention but to those of you that enjoy stories...more
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This book was way too confusing at first. I would'nt really reccomend this book to anyone. I would probably give this book to someone with a rich vocabulary. I do like the fact that this book has many ups and downs. Marlow see's himself eating an actual person an that was histerical to me. Thank God that he really didnt. Would you have eaten a person even if you were starving. I know that I would!
Just kidding!
Just kidding!
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Read in December, 2007
recommends it for:
Those who are not afraid of a little darkness.
Rare indeed is there a literary classic with not only theme, story, and imagery to hold your spirit in its firm grasp (not unlike the jungle itself) but also with moments of pure prose-based power. "I have wrestled with death," Marlow says. "It is the most unexciting contest you can imagine." Now that is a hell of thing.
The lie at the end of the novel is also unimaginably powerful--it says so much about human nature, more than perhaps anything else I have read lately.
...more
The lie at the end of the novel is also unimaginably powerful--it says so much about human nature, more than perhaps anything else I have read lately.
...more
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despite some qualms(to say the least) I have to say this is one of the most visceral experiences in the English language...like climbing a mountain of unease.
Here is my list of books and stories that are influenced by “Heart of Darkness”
Louis Ferdinand Celine’s Journey until the End of the Night
Paul Bowles Sheltering Sky
Angela Carter Infernal Desire Machines of Dr. Hoffmann
Alvaro Mutis “The Snow of the Admiral”
Howard Waldrop “Heart of Whiteness”
Robert Stone Dog Soldie...more
Here is my list of books and stories that are influenced by “Heart of Darkness”
Louis Ferdinand Celine’s Journey until the End of the Night
Paul Bowles Sheltering Sky
Angela Carter Infernal Desire Machines of Dr. Hoffmann
Alvaro Mutis “The Snow of the Admiral”
Howard Waldrop “Heart of Whiteness”
Robert Stone Dog Soldie...more
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