It is hard to explain what I thought of this novel. I will do my best to decipher how I feel in a much more concise manner than Conrad himself would have.
This short book, a novella at best, is divided into 3 parts. Part one finds Marlow, our principal narrator, on a boat on the River Thames talking about his experiances in the Congo and how he was previously employed by a trading company to recover some ivory, and more importantly, an exceptional trader by the name of Kurtz. This first part was difficult to follow, to say the least, as Conrad uses a bevy of barely comprehensible words in long drawn-out paragraphs where the subject of what is being said changes as often as who is speaking them. I must admit to barely getting through chapter one at all as I found myself stopping and backtracking at least once per page to figure out what was going on.
Chapter 2 has us following Marlow up the river on his mission, and the writing becomes more purposeful and clear, but as things become "darker" for Marlow and his crew, I found myself indifferent to their plight as I waited for the appearance of the infamous Kurtz who isn't revealed until chapter three.
Ah, chapter three. I don't know of a more thought about and scrutinized character in English literature who appears in a mere 13 pages of text before dying than Mr. Kurtz. And yet, he is fascinating. Described by his followers as a god, Marlow finds him emaciated and near death. He has clearly gone mad with power and regrets what he has done to achieve it. He reveals his savagery best with his final four words: "The horror! The horror!" Kurtz is the only reason I can give this book any stars whatsoever, as I truly struggled through the journey to get to him and his "horror". Great character in an otherwise mediocre book.