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3.03 AVERAGE
3.03 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
medium-paced
challenging
dark
slow-paced
Noise cancelling headphones, ambient soundscapes, and reading aloud to myself in a barely audible whisper. I have slowed down in my endeavour to really know this novel and still grasp fruitlessly for some morsel of understanding other than a vague sense of dread; but a nightmarish anxiety is all I am seemingly able to extract from Heart of Darkness.
Sometimes a novel does not exist to be understood but to be viscerally felt. It is raw. It is chaotic. It is unflinching. Heart of Darkness is a glimpse of the deepest abysses of the human soul and forces you to reckon with your own potential for evil.
Sometimes a novel does not exist to be understood but to be viscerally felt. It is raw. It is chaotic. It is unflinching. Heart of Darkness is a glimpse of the deepest abysses of the human soul and forces you to reckon with your own potential for evil.
adventurous
challenging
dark
slow-paced
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I don't understand why the community gives this masterpiece such a low rating. Did the bad adaptation of the movie Apocalypse Now lead us astray?
Even though the book was written more than a century ago, the theme is still poignant today, and the character Captain Kurtz is striking and unforgettable. I was particularly moved by the ending when the narrator Marlow traveled back to England and lied to Kurtz's delusional fiancée that Kurtz's last word was her name instead of "The Horror! The Horror!"
Even though the book was written more than a century ago, the theme is still poignant today, and the character Captain Kurtz is striking and unforgettable. I was particularly moved by the ending when the narrator Marlow traveled back to England and lied to Kurtz's delusional fiancée that Kurtz's last word was her name instead of "The Horror! The Horror!"
I'm familiar with the debates around this one and I do think it's a mistake to conflate Conrad's voice with Marlow's, though regardless the language and viewpoint of the novel is uncomfortably retrograde, even if superficially Conrad's eye is clearly critical of colonialism. Bracketing all that, for me a bigger problem was how much the novel insisted on telling, not showing, that Kurtz was a monster. It might be the point (Marlow's "staying true" to Kurtz), but you never get beyond Marlow's description of Kurtz - he's a kind of impenetrable barrier that precludes any actual connection to the character himself. Which would be a fine bit of modernist play, but it takes the sting out of the actual critique supposedly at the centre of the text. The writing is great and the sense of dread is so oppressive it's almost unbearable at times, but ultimately I struggled to connect with this one.