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3.03 AVERAGE
3.03 AVERAGE
My 76th book of 2019! Which was my total number of reads in 2018. Anyway.
I don't understand the comments on this being a boring read. It's dense, considering it's only about 90 pages long, but not boring. Conrad's writing is unbelievable. I would happily read his descriptions of the river or the weather all day long. I'll include some of my favourite quotes in a moment, as always. This has excited me greatly to read Lord Jim, if the writing is up to the same standards. This book is harrowing; there are small moments of terror, of evil, dropped in so subtly that we almost react passively like Marlow does. The focus on darkness, especially in the end of the novella, is crafted like that of a modern writer, who has all the greats behind him and has studied them. Conrad writes wonderfully and his theme pulses through the whole book to a fantastic last line, in a way, reminiscent slightly of The Great Gatsby's final line.
The moments of intensity and violence I will leave out of my review, but know that they belong in these highlighted quotes. I don't want to spoil them.
The first quote which made we fall for Conrad's writing:
'But there, was in it one river especially, a mighty big river, that you could see on the map, resembling an immense snake uncoiled, with its head in the sea, its body at rest curving afar over a vast country, and its tail lost in the depths of the land.'
And my favourite description of all:
'The edge of a colossal jungle, so dark-green as to be almost black, fringed with white surf, ran straight, like a ruled line, far, far away along a blue sea whose glitter was blurred by a creeping mist. The sun was fierce, the land seemed to glisten and drip with steam. Here and there greyish-whitish specks showed up clustered inside the white surf, with a flag flying above them perhaps. Settlements some centuries old, and still no bigger than pin-heads on the untouched expanse of their background.'
Throughout there is this mystical power of nature conjured up by Conrad which I adore. This quote felt poignant to me. The line before this quote contains a word I do not wish to write in my review, even as a quote. Essentially, a native is being beaten.
'They said he had caused the fire in some way; be that as it may, he was screeching most horribly. I saw him, later, for several days, sitting in a bit of shade looking very sick and trying to recover himself: afterwards he arose and went out - and the wilderness without a sound took him into its bosom again.'
It's harrowing. A horrible image of the man being beaten but that final line, there's such relief and power - catharsis; the wilderness taking him in again.
To finish.
'We live, as we dream - alone...'
I don't understand the comments on this being a boring read. It's dense, considering it's only about 90 pages long, but not boring. Conrad's writing is unbelievable. I would happily read his descriptions of the river or the weather all day long. I'll include some of my favourite quotes in a moment, as always. This has excited me greatly to read Lord Jim, if the writing is up to the same standards. This book is harrowing; there are small moments of terror, of evil, dropped in so subtly that we almost react passively like Marlow does. The focus on darkness, especially in the end of the novella, is crafted like that of a modern writer, who has all the greats behind him and has studied them. Conrad writes wonderfully and his theme pulses through the whole book to a fantastic last line, in a way, reminiscent slightly of The Great Gatsby's final line.
The moments of intensity and violence I will leave out of my review, but know that they belong in these highlighted quotes. I don't want to spoil them.
The first quote which made we fall for Conrad's writing:
'But there, was in it one river especially, a mighty big river, that you could see on the map, resembling an immense snake uncoiled, with its head in the sea, its body at rest curving afar over a vast country, and its tail lost in the depths of the land.'
And my favourite description of all:
'The edge of a colossal jungle, so dark-green as to be almost black, fringed with white surf, ran straight, like a ruled line, far, far away along a blue sea whose glitter was blurred by a creeping mist. The sun was fierce, the land seemed to glisten and drip with steam. Here and there greyish-whitish specks showed up clustered inside the white surf, with a flag flying above them perhaps. Settlements some centuries old, and still no bigger than pin-heads on the untouched expanse of their background.'
Throughout there is this mystical power of nature conjured up by Conrad which I adore. This quote felt poignant to me. The line before this quote contains a word I do not wish to write in my review, even as a quote. Essentially, a native is being beaten.
'They said he had caused the fire in some way; be that as it may, he was screeching most horribly. I saw him, later, for several days, sitting in a bit of shade looking very sick and trying to recover himself: afterwards he arose and went out - and the wilderness without a sound took him into its bosom again.'
It's harrowing. A horrible image of the man being beaten but that final line, there's such relief and power - catharsis; the wilderness taking him in again.
To finish.
'We live, as we dream - alone...'
On my second read of this book, I like it less than my first read. I don't like the writing style (it made my eyes glaze over at times) and the characters are either caricatures or cutouts, with the possible exception of Marlow. I appreciate the themes, the damnation of colonialism, etc., but I think there are likely other books out there that do it better.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
challenging
dark
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I will never understand how there is so much debate as to whether this book is racist or "anti-colonial" because at the end of the day, this is just not how you write an "anti-colonial" or compassionate book, is it? Christopher Columbus would have probably used this as porn if he had been alive to read it.
En vattendelare som man nog antingen hänförs av eller ogillar. Mörkrets hjärta har ytterst sparsam handling och desto mer gestaltning. Språket är ett av de vackraste jag läst i någon roman. Hög densitet, mättat av mystik och berättarens stillsamma förundran.
Kort roman och enkel story: Marlow ska kolla upp/hämta hem/oskadliggöra Kurtz, som gått bananas på den sista av belgarnas stationer längs Kongofloden. Det är naturligtvis en svidande vidräkning med kolonialismen, men också en Flugornas herre-liknande kommentar om smittande moraliskt förfall på en avlägsen förvildad bortaplan, där det är den för tillfället starkares perversa lagar som gäller. Lagren av berättarperspektiv och symbolik är tung som urskogen kring floden. Ibland övertydliga metaforer, men de var knappast klichéer när de skrevs. En upplevelse!
Kort roman och enkel story: Marlow ska kolla upp/hämta hem/oskadliggöra Kurtz, som gått bananas på den sista av belgarnas stationer längs Kongofloden. Det är naturligtvis en svidande vidräkning med kolonialismen, men också en Flugornas herre-liknande kommentar om smittande moraliskt förfall på en avlägsen förvildad bortaplan, där det är den för tillfället starkares perversa lagar som gäller. Lagren av berättarperspektiv och symbolik är tung som urskogen kring floden. Ibland övertydliga metaforer, men de var knappast klichéer när de skrevs. En upplevelse!
Racist af but interesting and creepy. Serving up jungle Gothic realness.
An excellent read. However, the madness of Kurtz at the end is, by some commentators, attributed to malaria. Why not sleeping sickness (Human African Trypanosomiasis)? Such symptoms are not inconsistent with advanced stages of the disease.
dark
mysterious
sad
medium-paced