michaelmay 's review for:

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

2.0

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A couple of things contributed to my disappointment with Heart of Darkness. One was that its psychological terror had been hyped beyond its ability to deliver. But the other is that Apocalypse Now had also raised my expectations about how disturbed I would be. The novel never got there for me. Nor did it answer any of the questions I had about Kurtz or what went wrong with him. Which is probably the point, but I was still looking for some insight that the book doesn't deliver. There's a lot of talking about how strange and wonderful Kurtz is, but I never experienced his profundity for myself or related to Marlow's intoxication with him. Some great themes in the book, though, and some unforgettable scenes.