Reviews

El Corazón de las Tinieblas by Joseph Conrad

pythonesque's review against another edition

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dark funny slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

rebbi55's review against another edition

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4.0

It looks mad to go from like 7% finished to 100% in one evening but Heart of Darkness, the story as is, is only 70 pages in this edition. I am not dedicated enough to read all the contextual essays in the rest of the book.
I studied this in sixth form and reading this again brings me right back as I have the same critiques. It is so difficult to read and follow which I understand is the point which is why I rate this 4 stars. It’s meant to be difficult and confusing. Colonialism and imperialism are very obvious themes which are written very well in this book. The terrible darkness comes from colonialism and the genuine heart of darkness is settled in Europe rather than the Congo.
It’s a very good book as it’s a very genuine telling of colonialism and its effects.

amberans's review against another edition

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1.0

It was like Conrad threw a dictionary into a blender: individually, the words were fine, but when he mixed them all together, it was like trying to read a secret code. What did I just read? This book made me feel stupid.

ogrebattle's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense slow-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

5.0

wes_hannen's review against another edition

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challenging dark slow-paced
  • Loveable characters? No

3.75

katiris's review against another edition

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1.0

Right. Apart from the fact that this book really did not age well in terms of the incredibly racist content within it, I also just don't think it was particularly well written. It was really difficult for me to figure out what was actually happening as the narrative appeared to be all over the place at points -- obviously this could have been Conrad's intention, but if it was it wasn't particularly well done. Also the use of the metaphor of the 'heart of darkness' was SO forced in to the text in places it made me cringe. Not a fan.

timrwilson's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

3.75

waywardwraith's review against another edition

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3.0

I read this for school. I liked it because it was very VERY dark but I think I was too dumb to understand some of the things in it

dmansi's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

annaorfin's review against another edition

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

3.0