Heart of Darkness (Joseph Conrad)

I picked up an old paperback copy of "The Portable Conrad" at a book sale for a quarter a while back. It contains several of Conrad's longer works, as well as several short stories. Heart of Darkness is a well written piece, but I found it too ponderous to be truly enjoyable. I feel like Conrad was at his best in his shorter stories (roughly 40 pages or less). When he remains concise, his stories are very good, but his longer pieces just feel like short stories that he let get out of control.

Fascinating,compelling book that inspired the movie "Apocalypse Now".Of course,it was written long before the Viet Nam war,so don't think that if you saw the movie,and liked or disliked it,you're going to feel the same about the book.Conrad's writing borders on poetic,and deals with mans innate fear of unbounded nature among other subtexts.

A complex, disturbing tale of greed, ambivalence, corruption and entropy. A very fine story that has been messed up on several occasions by Hollywood.

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i like it it sounds like something i could really set down and read it

This book is so racist its pathetic

It shows just how bad greed is. Greed destroys everyone.

very short read, but dense. really takes you in. also <3 martin sheen <3 from the movie.

Even in praising this work, Wiggum said below that reading the history of the Congo was a prerequisite to his enjoyment of this book. That's my problem with it. Presented with the real history of humans abusing other human beings, Conrad ignores the history and goes for a tedious symbolic system. Consequently, this book suffers from Conrad's extremely abstract language. While set in a particular place (the Congo) at a particular time (the age of British imperialism), Conrad really isn't interested in those things. He's more intrigued by the moral dimensions involved. But unfortunately Conrad has no deeper moral vocabulary than Light and Dark. And so this book goes down as another testament to that bane of all good literature, Symbolism.

One of the great novellas of all time. Conrad can be slow-moving to the point of being ponderous, but the atmosphere that he develops is well worth the wait. Very overlooked writer these days, and I can't figure out why. Maybe because he requires so much from the reader.

Most beautiful, dark book ever, next to Crime and Punishment and Divine Comedy.

Many people call this novella, published in 1902, the first real book of the 20th century, in that it deals with loss of innocence, moral ambiguity, exploration of the subconscious - all issues that factored prominently into the past hundred years. In college I tried to read "Heart of Darkness," but couldn't make it through, despite its small size. Conrad's thick prose just put me to sleep. But I recently read "King Leopold's Ghost," a gut-wrenching book about the exploitation of the Congo around the turn of the century. With that book as factual background, I took another shot at "Heart of Darkness," and this time I tore through it. The book works at a purely surface level, as an exotic adventure, but it's even more powerful when read as a symbolic journey - either to the core of an individual psyche or to the mysterious heart of the human condition. And what Marlow, the narrator, discovers there is enough to convince him that truly letting go - as Kurtz did - is to become immer... Read more

Even though this book had graphic scenes that allow the reader to realize the significance of the events in the Congo, I find really hard to understand. The language is too hard for me to read and did not keep me focused.

Not many stories can stir such emotion inside of me! I loved the entire journey!

I enjoyed it very much. The metaphors and the storyline gives this book an extra edge. It made me think about the cruelties in the world and what did and still goes on. It also gives us another way to look at our inner self.

Conrad, one of the first modern storytellers, describes Western European colonialism and its prosperity for evil. Kurtz, head of a trading outpost on the Congo, is insane, illustrating Imperialisms depravity.

Heart of Darkness is a great novel that explores the depths of humanity deep in the African Congo. It questions what happens to all of us when we leave civilization and enter into the wilderness, and explores the dark side that lies within us all. It poses very interesting and thought provoking questions about mankind.

Most say it's a good book with a big symbolic meaning about whites and their corruptive nature and people who are just terrible but become righteous right before they die. It's terrible reading and you have to read too deep into it to understand what Conrad means to convey.

I absolutly hated this book, it was impossible to follow and understand. I would read it for hours and realize I didn't retain any of it. Conrad's writing is so descriptive it is hard to follow.

This book is not good at all. It is very short, but none of it is intersting. It's supposed to be about evil in all people's souls, but the writing is so boring it is not worth reading.

The plot is so great and the imagery so involving that the book affects the personal life.

Interesting discussion of man vs. nature and culture vs. wildness. Although long winded at times, the prose is exact and detailed.

Inspired the movie Apocalypse Now, which inspired me to read the book. Great and endlessly intriguing characters in Marlowe and Kurtz. A visit into the mind of an extremely intelligent madman.

What evil lurks in the heart of all men? How big is the line between man and monster? What would you do if you were given all the power? Terrifying.

Joseph Conrad's book is a famously dark portrayal of greed, paranoia and introspection. He uses words like "inscrutable" and "unknowable" too often but the book bears reading numerous times. Usually read in conjunction with T.S. Eliot's "The Hollow Men," Heart of Darkness is also an interesting contrast to Moby Dick.

Compact, deep, can analyze everything. Complex. Metaphoric... so good.

A very dark tale indeed, condemning the exploitation of Africa by Western countries yet at the same time portraying Africa as possessing a great evil within it. The language makes rich use of metaphor, but sometimes so much that one is left with a melancholy impression without really understanding the substance of what is being said.

Conrad's classic was the inspiration for Apocalypse Now. Both are fascinating.

A delightfully terrifying book that immerses the reader in the Congo and all the culture clashes associated with being a stranger in a strange land. In spite of being long, this book is a very captivating read.

Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness is a compelling and incredbly well-written story. This work made a lasting impression on me, and I could probably read it a hundred more times.

Conrad's heart of darkness epitomizes a work that is devilishly complex yet seemingly simple. It makes for a fantastic and insightful read.