Emily May's review of Heart of Darkness (original) (raw)

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Emily May's Reviews > Heart of Darkness

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

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Heart of Darkness
by

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I still don't know what I read here.

I finished this book with one sort-of word spinning around in my head... "eh?"

I read the whole book. Every page, every sentence, every word. And I couldn't tell you what it was about. I think I must have read more challenging books than this - Ulysses, Swann's Way, etc. - but none has left me so thoroughly clueless.

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Reading Progress

December 9, 2010 – Shelved

Comments Showing 1-42 of 42 (42 new)

Justine Em, is this book really that dense? My professor in writing class asked us to submit a 3,000 word final paper for this book to be submitted by the end of the term XD. What tips can you give me while I make my way through this? My professor did warn us though that reading it once wouldn't suffice and we have to read it over and over again to truly get it.

Alyson I hated this book so much, and I had to read it for like half my college classes. I understand what he was trying to do, but that doesn't make the book any better and I will never understand WHY so may profs think this is worth even 5 minutes of their students' time! Love your review. Sorry you had to read it, but glad to find another who doesn't necessarily see the worth here :)

Josephine Boyce Haha! I've just been adding books I read a while back and saw your review. Exactly how I felt!

Shelli Oh thank GAWD. After decades of dealing with fans of "Apocalypse Now" who swore left, right, and sideways that I would love love love Heart of Darkness, I have finally found some fellow literary people who also totally don't grok this book. And get this: I actually read it TWICE! Yet I am still here scratching my head, wishing for those hours of my life back.

Beatriz Perhaps it would help if you knew that in our class on this my professor said that this was the exact point of the book; to leave you completely clueless as to what is true and what is right or even what the book wants to say, so... You may not have liked it, but you did understand it.

Femi This is one of the worst books, I have ever read in my life. It was boring, dull. I did not understand what the hell was going on. I am so happy other people feel the same way! I thought I was thick.

Ons same! Imagine having to study this for an exam

joshua I've found some of the descriptions in this book to be both dense and at times tragically beautiful. And I read somewhere that Conrad wanted The Heart of Darkness to be difficult to read, as if the reader themselves were traveling through the jungle. But I found it too much. Half the time I'm wasn't even sure what was happening in the narrative and I lost focus in the author's words. Zzzz...

Michael Perkins There's a film by American producer and director, Francis Ford Coppola, that's based on this story. It's called "Apocalypse Now" and is set in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War, instead of the Congo. The Kurtz in the film version is hiding out in a jungle there. Give it a try and see if it sheds more light on the book.

Shelli Michael wrote: "There's a film by American producer and director, Francis Ford Coppola, that's based on this story. It's called "Apocalypse Now" and is set in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War, instead of the Congo."

I had the same reaction as Emily did upon reading Heart of Darkness, and while I found "Apocalypse Now" a somewhat watchable movie (I'm pretty sure that ALL readers who approach the book know of the movie tie-in), it gave me neither more insight into nor appreciation for the book (a second reading didn't help either). Between the movie, the second reading, and various discussions with others, I felt confident that I had a reasonable grasp of the characters, a good understanding of the plot, etc. – but I still do not have a clue what the book is actually about.

Sherri Thacker I hate when a book ends like this when you are saying "What did i just read?" It happens. Sorry it didn't work for ya! Onto the next!

Talib Khan Me too!

Sherri Thacker Sorry it didn’t work out for you!!

Samuel Edme Heart of Darkness is one of the three novellas I have to read along with Animal Farm and Ethan Frome (which were both vastly better than this seemingly inscrutable enigma) for my university English literature assignment where I must write an 800-1200 word essay analyzing either one of these works. I think I'll stick with Animal Farm.

Mary Grace I find reading the story epically boring but discussing it with peers much more interesting. The writing is somewhat lifeless but provides many talking points.

Teresa I am up to page 48 and I am the same. I am reading it but what I am reading who knows. I can’t even remember what I have read it’s so boring. My problem is even thought it’s boring and a nothing type book I am not one to give up reading it.
Seeing the reviews now I wish I had not started reading it. I did originally buy it for my mother in law as it’s large print (all she can read) I don’t even think I will give to her as she won’t comprehend it.

Eska I could not have said it any better. You 100% described my feelings about this book. 😆

santa;) omg i’m glad to know i’m not the only one

Laura Grossi Thanks God I'm not the only one then!

Ani Hmmm I don’t really understand why you were left feeling unsure what it was about... the meaning is quite spelled out and very obvious through the metaphor of darkness in relation to white greed, imperialism, colonialism, and corruption. Try it again!

Niraj My take - if you've only read it once, I feel sorry for you. Re-read it again and maybe more slowly. There is a LOT going on over here. And it is meant to be bewildering. Also worth reading alongside some of Conrad's other short stories about men working for the Empire overseas and African writers responses to HoD.

While the language and ideology is definitely outdated and controversial in today's world - it's not all outdated - we still live in 'a world of shadows' full of oppressed peoples and other peoples wielding enormous, overbearing power. Heart of Darkness still echoes today.

Kyle B I read this book in university and felt the same way. Recently I finished King Leopold’s Ghost and decided to reread Conrad, as he is mentioned in that book. Context created so much more enjoyment the second time around for me.

Sensei Rosenthal I think it’s easy to agree that Conrad is not a very successful storyteller.

Quo Emily: With any book, even the often hated "classics", there is room for all sorts of interpretations. However, there is not a single word in your mini-commentary on Conrad's The Heart of Darkness that attempts to deal with the book itself, even though you've attracted a lot of "dittos". If still in doubt, why not take a glance at a few of the 4* & 5* reviews that actually attempt to interpret Conrad's novella to see what you may have missed??

Mihaela I totally agree with this review. I had to read it for college. I read it twice because after the first reading I didn’t understand what I've actually read. The second and the third part of the book are still very confusing to me.

Quo I have to wonder how many classic books are forever poisoned for their readers because some "mean professor" made them read the book ages ago. Very often, upon gaining greater maturity, when we read a book we denounced earlier in life, it becomes a different book.

Eyebrow Him I was trying to be smart reading a book like this.
But it didn't make me any smarter, having to go through SparkNotes just to understand what happened in each chapter

Niraj Pablito wrote: "I think it’s easy to agree that Conrad is not a very successful storyteller."

Eesh. Definitely have a read of it again. no one ever said it was an easy read. Or an easy going read.

Bren fall in love with the sea. Wow. You are awesome! This one skipped me by in childhood so I attemted to read it this week and stopped at 7 percent. I was feeling bad and thinking I am the only one who didn't get "it." Thanks for proving me wrong!

Nadia Agreed! I'm just glad my new year's resolution was to read 30-40 pages of a book and quit it if I don't like it. I couldn't even pinpoint the setting. Was he headed to India, China, Antarctica, Mars? - I couldn't tell. Took me a while to understand it's for Africa and its people and not zombies. The words were not making sense.

Helena Yeah it's hard not to notice all the top 1 star reviews are confused women and 5 star reviews moved men. We can do better than this, ladies...

Emily May Timothy wrote: "Women seem to have significantly more trouble with this book than do men. Not sure why."

Interesting. Do they? If you have a study you can point me towards that compares men and women's reactions to Heart of Darkness, I'd be interested to read it.

Emily May Suzie wrote: "Yeah it's hard not to notice all the top 1 star reviews are confused women and 5 star reviews moved men. We can do better than this, ladies..."

I'm not sure exactly how Goodreads algorithms work but they must be personalised as I am not seeing that at all.

Niraj Timothy wrote: "Women seem to have significantly more trouble with this book than do men. Not sure why."

Woah. WOAH Nelly! I don't know where you got that assumption from. I'm a man and I love this novel and I have a lot of trouble with it - all at the same time, in the same universe! Hope that doesn't stupify you...

Emily May Timothy wrote: "Emily May wrote: "Timothy wrote: "Women seem to have significantly more trouble with this book than do men. Not sure why."

Interesting. Do they? If you have a study you can point me towards that c..."

Wow. I wasn't even arguing, lol. It was YOU who brought up sexism. I am just skeptical of declaring something true because we can observe a small sample of it on social media, especially as I am not seeing that pattern on the book page myself. It is also difficult to declare Goodreads a reliable study on men and women's attitudes to books when women are significantly overrepresented on the site (indeed, women tend to read more in general). I do see a lot of negative reviews from women on the book page, but then almost all the reviews I see are by women.

I'm not sure you're correct about men liking war as a theme more, as every time I blink there seems to be a new WW2 book aimed at women, but guns, fighting and killing do seem to attract more male readers.

I think you know why many women have trouble with it, but are maybe a bit angry about that?

See, I have no idea what you're implying by this. I actually don't know, if that is even the case. I am the only woman whose mind I have access to and even I can't really say why I hated this book, but liked Heller's Catch-22, Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five and O'Brien's The Things They Carried more. All male authors; all war themes. Feel free to share your thoughts.

Oh, and just for the record, I hated Where the Crawdads Sing.

J P Stick to the commercial slop

Ketti amen sister!

Charles D'Antonio The horror, the horror!

Julie Thank Goodness! Identical thoughts myself!

Eva Truly, one of those books that could have been written on a napkin.

Moran I get it. I had a similar feeling. Yet I still really liked it. It was challenging to read and yet I felt like I'm on a journey, chasing a mythical being who is allegedly the king of the jungle, not really understanding why, just like the protagonist didn't really understand this compulsion himself. I did have to struggle with this novella for weeks though. By the end, I did feel like this book was worth reading; yet like many, I couldn't really articulate why...

Roselin Estephanía Yes, this! Jesus, I'm about to finish it and I'm like... what?

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