Reviews tagging 'Death'

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

49 reviews

hjb_128's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racial slurs, Racism, and Colonisation

Moderate: Genocide, Slavery, Violence, and Grief

Minor: Misogyny and Sexism

werewolfacct's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racial slurs, Racism, and Colonisation

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

saraaaa's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark reflective fast-paced

• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

A very mild read, whose status as a classic is surely upheld by its relevance as a historical document. Conrad harshly criticizes colonialism, but does so from within the racist framework of his times.
I liked that the reader is constantly reminded that the story is being told by a specific character with specific views on life, and therefore is only one of many different perspectives on the narrated events.
Conrad paints the colonial environment and the Congolese forest as engulfed in a haunting, menacing spell that gives an air of magic realism to the novella – when it did not have the tones of exoticism, it painted a beautiful picture.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Terminal illness, Grief, and Colonisation

Moderate: Gun violence and Blood

Minor: Animal cruelty, Genocide, Mental illness, Misogyny, Cannibalism, and Alcohol

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

oliviatheron's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Violence, and Colonisation

duarshe's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

2.0

So... I can safely say I didn't enjoy this. I felt like there was nothing happening and even the climactic moment of the story was extremely  bland and underwhelming. I appreciate the theme and topic of the novella, the playing with the light and dark... But this was not for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, and Colonisation

Moderate: Death

phantomgecko's review against another edition

challenging dark slow-paced

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

3.0

idk why so many older novels take the premise of a guy telling a story. I cannot take it seriously. Their narrator goes into more detail than anyone has ever actually said in a story they told aloud. It takes me out of it a bit.

As for the actual story... There's so much detail about things that don't matter and vagaries about things that do. Marlow seemed to like Kurtz at some times, and I'm not sure why? idk, I don't feel qualified to give this book and actual meaningful review.

"The horror, the horror" should have been such a banger line, but it fell flat for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs and Racism

Moderate: Death, Xenophobia, and Colonisation

Minor: Cannibalism

912jae's review against another edition

adventurous dark informative tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

2.0

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Death, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Colonisation, and Classism

diana_raquel's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective 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? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Blood, Murder, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Suicide and Grief