Reviews with content warning for Racism - El Corazón de las Tinieblas

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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cinderellalovesbooks's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

3.75

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karhunkallo's review against another edition

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adventurous reflective 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? Yes

2.0

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saraaaa's review against another edition

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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A very mild read, whose status as a classic is surely upheld by its relevance as a historical document.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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segcab263's review against another edition

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dark reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
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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ed_moore's review against another edition

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dark slow-paced

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

1.5

“We called at some more places with farcical names, where the merry dance of death and trade goes on in a still and earthly atmosphere as of an overheated catacomb; all along the formless coast bordered by dangerous surf, as if nature herself had tried to ward off intruders; in and out of rivers, streams of death in life, whose banks were rotting into mud, whose waters, thickened into slime, invaded the contorted mangroves, that seemed to writhe at us uh the extremity of impotent desire”

Conrad’s ‘Heart of Darkness’ describes a steamboat journey down the Congo river where the sailor Marlow is in search of the missing esteemed ivory trader Kurtz. Conrad’s work has been praised as a critique of the European blindness towards imperialism and the actions of empire, set in the brutal Leopoldian control of the Congo, however I struggled to identify many places where such was the case. It didn’t have much substance in regards to plot and was just extremely racist in language, (the use of objectifying terminology of the Congolese natives and tribespeople in addition to frequent use of drastic racial slurs), depiction of native characters as below human and also no such narratorial or descriptive condemnation of the actions of colonialism or treatment of native people by the protagonist Marlow or Conrad’s narrative voice. Whilst some claim in highlighting the atrocities of imperialism Conrad was critiquing it, with the awful way such was handled, the tragedies dismissed as normal and even praised in places, I cannot see how ‘Heart of Darkness’ was doing anything but serving as a product of and contributing to the racist societal systems of its time, and struggle to understand even further why it is so frequently referenced and canonised.

Stepping away from the major problems with ‘Heart of Darkness’ and its handling of race, beyond that the plot nor the characters were even particularly well developed or engaging, Kurtz is just an awful ivory trader that is shaped out to be a hero and Marlow some opinion-less lackey who falls into the colonialist system he has built around him, and the plot of the novel constitutes of primarily racist remarks towards Congolese natives.

I really struggle to look back and pick up much of value I took from reading ‘Heart of Darkness’ other than not to think or write alike to Jospeh Conrad.

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saturn_rage's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious reflective 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? Yes

2.0

Ya know, I get why this has become such a cultural mainstay, with its themes of obsession, domination, and the mystery of your self and others carrying through to numerous other pieces of media, a lot of which I love. On the other hand though, the hand that looms much much larger, this book is racist as shit, and it really makes it a pain to get through. I’m glad it’s as concise as it is, and I have no desire to ever return to it.

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hotkoolaidpotato's review against another edition

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slow-paced

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