Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

11 reviews

pbella3's review against another edition

dark informative mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Violence, Cannibalism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Cultural appropriation, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

librarymouse's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I'm rating this higher than I did last time around, but not by much. It's not my favorite book by a long shot, but after learning more about Joseph Conrad and writing about textile manufacturing practices  contemporary to Conrad's writing of the book in how they relate to its content, I got a lot more out of it this time around.
It's a slow paced book, but time moves quickly for the characters.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Religious bigotry

Minor: Cannibalism

jade_smith's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

4.0

This was me revisiting this book for the first time since studying it in high school. I still find it to be such an incredibly interesting novel. To say I "enjoy" this book doesn't feel right -- but to say it enthralls me as a historical object is definitely true. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Xenophobia, and Colonisation

Moderate: Death, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Genocide, Misogyny, and Cannibalism

cm93's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Violence, Xenophobia, Cannibalism, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

startjpw23's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This book was difficult to read at points because of the racist attitudes and actions of many of the characters. I recognize it was a product of its time. But I am not of that time. The language was very evocative. The book is wonderfully written.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, and Colonisation

Moderate: Death, Sexism, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

maricasement's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.25

I picked this audiobook up because it was one of the shortest one in my Mother's library. Kenneth Branagh is amazing, as is to be expected, but the contents weren't as enjoyable as his performance. Conrad's descriptions are captivating and definitely set the scene for the story, which was something I really enjoyed. But this book is still a product of it's time and uses a lot of racist language and is very colonialist in its messages. It might be an interesting study, but I wouldn't read it again or particularly recommend it to people.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Medical content, and Grief

Minor: Animal cruelty and Cannibalism

morrisimo's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

An interesting read. This was assigned reading for a history class but I was quite impressed. Conrad is a great writer in two ways. First, the way he writes is very well crafted, the words apt and intentional, and, despite the time jumps, the flow is masterfully handled. Second, he manages to cultivate a brilliant atmosphere, differing based on his intention but they connected all the way through.
Marlow is a sexist, and while he improves, He's also a racist and a white supremacist.  Marlow's arc is eventually an anti-colonialist one, expressing a deep and genuine disgust over what has transpired on the continent of Africa, however one cannot deny the racist overtures. On my part, I feel that Marlow is simply a great unreliable narrator. His perspective is our only insight into the events of the story, and that insight is flawed and certainly inaccurate at points and laden with narcissistic interest. And I love that. Unreliable narrators as so interesting to me, I just enjoy trying to unpack and examine a character's flawed portrayal of events.
The events themselves are somewhat inconsequential. The whole plot is boating up a river, stopping at a place and possibly talking to an interesting character, and continuing boating. It is much more about trying to put you in Marlow's shoes, how he felt, what his headspace was. In that regard I think it succeeds. 
Overall a great little novella. Very atmospheric and dark, an intriguing and enjoyable read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racism, Violence, and Colonisation

Moderate: Genocide, Slavery, War, and Injury/Injury detail

gxsobes's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing and Cannibalism

luis0n7i's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Terminal illness, Violence, Xenophobia, Grief, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Cannibalism

rory_john14's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Murder, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Gore, Fire/Fire injury, and War

Minor: Animal death, Genocide, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Toxic friendship, and Classism