A review by melmogle
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

adventurous challenging dark mysterious 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? It's complicated

2.0

I hated this book and I don’t understand why it’s such a highly revered work. Sure, the writing is good and whatnot, but it’s the most blatantly racist book I’ve ever read. I didn’t view it as particularly anti-imperialist; it perhaps critiques a subset of imperialism, but not imperialism as a whole. It dehumanizes African people throughout and that never changes, nor is challenged in any way. The only part I liked was Kurtz’s death scene and some of the descriptions of the silence of the jungle. The rest was laborious, uninteresting, racist, and a waste of my time.