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redmond 's review for:
Heart of Darkness
by Joseph Conrad
This book was not enjoyable at all, but despite how much I want to hate it, Conrad still managed to make me reflect on my own morality and beliefs in a way that not many books have. Nevertheless, the way that he does it is just blatantly racist and such a pain to read.
Throughout the story, I found myself hating every major character. First, there's Marlow, who's built up to be so much better than all of the other colonizers. But after taking the briefest look at Marlows actions/words/thoughts throughout the book, it's painfully apparent that the only thing Marlow does right is seeing the colonized Africans more humanly than his peers (and that's a really low bar to meet). Conrad writes Marlow like modern fanfic writers make self inserts, and somehow manages to do it so much worse than them.
Then, there's Kurtz. For 2/3 of the book, this man is made out to be such a powerful and respectable figure, and I did enjoy the twist of IRL Kurtz being so frail and pathetic when Marlow finally meets him. Even so, the man is still painfully one-dimensional and so boring to learn about.
Throughout the story, I found myself hating every major character. First, there's Marlow, who's built up to be so much better than all of the other colonizers. But after taking the briefest look at Marlows actions/words/thoughts throughout the book, it's painfully apparent that the only thing Marlow does right is seeing the colonized Africans more humanly than his peers (and that's a really low bar to meet). Conrad writes Marlow like modern fanfic writers make self inserts, and somehow manages to do it so much worse than them.
Then, there's Kurtz. For 2/3 of the book, this man is made out to be such a powerful and respectable figure, and I did enjoy the twist of IRL Kurtz being so frail and pathetic when Marlow finally meets him. Even so, the man is still painfully one-dimensional and so boring to learn about.