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Reviews tagging 'Racial slurs'
Heart of Darkness: And Selections from the Congo Diary by Joseph Conrad
107 reviews
startjpw23's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
This book was difficult to read at points because of the racist attitudes and actions of many of the characters. I recognize it was a product of its time. But I am not of that time. The language was very evocative. The book is wonderfully written.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation, Mental illness, Racial slurs, and Racism
Moderate: Classism, Death, Sexism, and Injury/Injury detail
anhedonia_n_anomie's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Physical abuse, and Slavery
Moderate: Violence, Body horror, and Torture
Minor: Racial slurs
ragna_'s review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
This is really fascinatingly written; a very evocative portrayal of a man journeying both into the barbarity of his own culture and the psychological darkness of his on mind. The elliptic narration that grows more and more unsure of its own truthfulness is genuinely frightening and unsettling and had me at the edge of my seat. What does of course not work anymore is the use of local Congolese (for lack of a better discriptor) cultures as a "prehistoric mirror" the "savagery" of which reveals the darkness also lurking within European culture, I don't need to tell anyone that this is racist. But it's also a story with a distinctly anti-colonialist position, depicting and denouncing the mindless hypocrotical violence inflicted onto Africans under Colonialism, published in a mostly pro-Colonialism magazine, no less. So I think this is an interesting study in how anti-colonialist writing in Europe developed and how racist rhetoric was still very much a part of that, which we can use to reflect on our current political rhetoric, especially progressive ones which are nonetheless undoubtedly still marked by racist bias. I would recommend this both for quality of writing and relevance to contemporary discourse.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Slavery, Colonisation, Racial slurs, and Racism
Moderate: Torture, Violence, Cannibalism, and Gun violence
jemappellecat's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Blood, Murder, Infidelity, Racial slurs, Racism, Misogyny, Gun violence, Death, and Colonisation
Moderate: Cannibalism
jasminawithab's review against another edition
challenging
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
2.0
read for a uni class and it was okay
i hated pretty much every character but i got a 100 on my essay for it so thats something i guess
i hated pretty much every character but i got a 100 on my essay for it so thats something i guess
Content Warnings
Graphic: Slavery, Racism, Colonisation, and Racial slurs
Moderate: Sexism, Slavery, Death, Classism, and Misogyny
Minor: Cannibalism and Violence
scorpi07's review against another edition
dark
slow-paced
2.0
I listened to this one to fulfill the prompt: A book I should have read in high school.
I’m not sure why they were teaching this in high school. I guess the storytelling style (a narrator retelling Marlow’s narration) is interesting and the prose itself is well written and artfully packed with metaphors. However, with all of the options out there, this is a poor book choice to critique colonialism, or to suggest imperialism is bad. Marlow is racist and doesn’t grow much, and the objectification of black people is pervasive throughout the book. Gross.
I’m not sure why they were teaching this in high school. I guess the storytelling style (a narrator retelling Marlow’s narration) is interesting and the prose itself is well written and artfully packed with metaphors. However, with all of the options out there, this is a poor book choice to critique colonialism, or to suggest imperialism is bad. Marlow is racist and doesn’t grow much, and the objectification of black people is pervasive throughout the book. Gross.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Violence, Colonisation, Xenophobia, Slavery, and Racism
Moderate: Terminal illness
savannah1975's review against another edition
Overly descriptive writing style, I found this very hard to read, I felt it just kept going with no point or plot
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation, Racism, and Racial slurs
sleepylit's review against another edition
challenging
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
It’s an interesting piece to analyze, but it’s a really slow story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Slavery, Colonisation, Racial slurs, Racism, and Classism
ruthypoo2's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I found this book intriguing while at the same time feeling like I was missing a lot of the nuances of the story. After looking at some other reviews written by people with experience studying and critiquing English literature, it turns out I'm right! Overall, I was lulled by the descriptive narrative into a different world where a seaman, Charlie Marlow, remains haunted by a job years earlier where he was part of a ship sailing into the African Congo on behalf of a trading company in search of an employee named Captain Kurtz who's gone missing from his assignment at a remote trading station.
The story is told from the perspective of someone listening to Marlow recount his unusual adventure into the African jungle, encountering for the first time people native to the continent and entirely different in looks and behavior from people he's encountered in the past. While it's a mission of discovery, Marlow is very clear-eyed that the trading company is in the business of exploiting the land and its people via the harsh reality of brutal colonization back in the 19th Century. The language used to reference and describe the African people is rough, but since this book was written in the 1800's, it's likely accurate for the time.
There are periodic bouts of action, and while the majority of the story is a recounting of one person's past experience, it was engaging to hear the descriptions of Marlow's experiences and reactions. The pace didn't feel slow and Marlow was not a bad guy, evident by the way in which he acknowledged working for the trading company, but his words seemed to infer that he felt it was not good for Africa to be exploited for profit. Many times in Marlow's story when he talked about the African landscape and people, it sounded like he was in awe of what he was seeing, with very little disdain, if any.
When the story finally reaches the point where Captain Kurtz is found, the tone becomes much more lively due to Marlow's interactions with the Russian trader, easily one of the most animated and endearing characters in the story. This man has been living on his own and surviving in the jungle, and may be a little off kilter, but has a good heart and is able to provide Marlow with valuable insight into what's happened with Captain Kurtz.
The myth of Captain Kurtz has engrossed Marlow and finding the man consumes him entirely. Not a lot of detail is given about their time together, but it makes a decided impression on Marlow. By the conclusion of the story, the reader will have taken a journey with Marlow and understand why the adventure has haunted him for many years after.
I listened to the audiobook and although it sounds like an older CD recording that's been spliced together, the audio is clear and the narrator, Scott Brick, does sound like he could be Marlow. This lends to the audiobook being a good choice since Heart of Darkness is actually someone recounting a story they were told by someone else sitting out one night on the deck of a ship.
The story is told from the perspective of someone listening to Marlow recount his unusual adventure into the African jungle, encountering for the first time people native to the continent and entirely different in looks and behavior from people he's encountered in the past. While it's a mission of discovery, Marlow is very clear-eyed that the trading company is in the business of exploiting the land and its people via the harsh reality of brutal colonization back in the 19th Century. The language used to reference and describe the African people is rough, but since this book was written in the 1800's, it's likely accurate for the time.
There are periodic bouts of action, and while the majority of the story is a recounting of one person's past experience, it was engaging to hear the descriptions of Marlow's experiences and reactions. The pace didn't feel slow and Marlow was not a bad guy, evident by the way in which he acknowledged working for the trading company, but his words seemed to infer that he felt it was not good for Africa to be exploited for profit. Many times in Marlow's story when he talked about the African landscape and people, it sounded like he was in awe of what he was seeing, with very little disdain, if any.
When the story finally reaches the point where Captain Kurtz is found, the tone becomes much more lively due to Marlow's interactions with the Russian trader, easily one of the most animated and endearing characters in the story. This man has been living on his own and surviving in the jungle, and may be a little off kilter, but has a good heart and is able to provide Marlow with valuable insight into what's happened with Captain Kurtz.
The myth of Captain Kurtz has engrossed Marlow and finding the man consumes him entirely. Not a lot of detail is given about their time together, but it makes a decided impression on Marlow. By the conclusion of the story, the reader will have taken a journey with Marlow and understand why the adventure has haunted him for many years after.
I listened to the audiobook and although it sounds like an older CD recording that's been spliced together, the audio is clear and the narrator, Scott Brick, does sound like he could be Marlow. This lends to the audiobook being a good choice since Heart of Darkness is actually someone recounting a story they were told by someone else sitting out one night on the deck of a ship.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs and Colonisation
Moderate: Mental illness
beautifulminutiae's review against another edition
dark
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Brilliant writing. So lush and beautiful. It’s a tough and nuanced topic, one that I’m sure was a controversial opinion in Conrad’s day, but the racism was still so difficult to read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Colonisation, Death, Racism, and Blood