Reviews with content warning for Slavery - Heart of Darkness: And Selections from the Congo Diary

Reviews tagging 'Slavery'

Heart of Darkness: And Selections from the Congo Diary by Joseph Conrad

56 reviews

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.

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jasminawithab's review against another edition

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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

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scorpi07's review against another edition

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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.

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sleepylit's review against another edition

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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.

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roya's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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ruee's review against another edition

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It just didn’t really click for me. This may be because I’m not a huge fan of older literature or because it was both rushed and too slow paced at the same time. Just not for me.

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faithx5's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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gfisher1's review against another edition

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dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

Overall the anticipation of meeting Kurtz builds up an unsettling amount of mystery and suspense. I actually don't think the character in the book quite lives up to his reputation unlike in the film adaptation, Apocalypse Now. Nevertheless a good read and a fascinating anti-Colonial piece of literature.

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mjscooke's review against another edition

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challenging dark tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.75

I struggled with this book having had such high hopes for my first reading of Campbell’s fiction given his infamy as a storyteller and notoriety regarding the hero’s journey. The first thing I did was Google “Joseph Campbell Racist” & will definitely fall down the rabbit hole of various essays and articles on the topic of just how problematic this novel is. I understand the modern backlash and wrestled with my resistance throughout. All that being said… there is some beautiful writing in this novela and I think it’s important to read things that challenge you on occasion. In addition this was written in a very different time and I am grateful to live now instead.

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mrx99's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

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