Nostromo

Rating:
Summary: This book was declared one of the best...
Review: ...of the twentieth century, and it's easy to see why. I was introduced to the book by way of the BBC television production, which I recommend as a good companion piece, since it takes a different perspective than the book. The TV camera, after all, can't get into the minds of the characters and reveal to us just what they're thinking. On the other hand, Conrad chose not to focus on the more visual aspects of the story, the aspects the BBC was able to bring to us in the clearest manner. Combining the two creates a much more thorough-going picture than either could create alone.

Joseph Conrad obviously had a problem with endings -- he wanted to tie his stories up entirely too neatly, and in this one he does that by killing of the eponymous character (I'm not giving anything important away by saying that). Still, the focus of the novel is on what happens in the middle, not on the events that bring everything to an end, and for an insight into the minds of ordinary people thrust into the center of events bigger than themselves (though they don't know them to be bigger than themselves) this is an exemplary work.

Rating:
Summary: A great story by a master storyteller
Review:

Joseph Conrad, the author of this story, was born in Poland butleft there at the age of 17 for France, where he began his maritimecareer. He took up British nationality in 1886 at the age of 29, andsettled there permanently. All of his writing was in English. He wasa masterful writer of sea stories and other tales, including "TheNigger of the Narcissus" (1897), "Heart of Darkness"(1899), "Lord Jim" (1900), and "Nostromo" (1904).He died in 1924, at the age of 67.

Of "Nostromo" hesays that he wrote it following publication of his book,"Typhoon," a volume of short stories, after which he thoughtthat he had nothing else to write about. Then, he heard the story ofa man who stole an entire boatload of silver ingots during arevolution in a South American country, and some time later, from anAmerican seaman who had sailed aboard a schooner operated by that veryman, he heard more details, which resulted in his writing"Nostromo."

The story is a convoluted tale of love,revolutionary intrigue, and human passions in the small (fictional)South American country of Costaguana, the town of Sulaco and of asilver mine there owned by a man of English extraction--a thirdgeneration Costaguanarean named Charles Gould--and a large cast ofother interesting characters, both European and native.

The manknown as Nostromo (which means "Bos'n", or Boatswain) was anItalian seaman who jumped ship in Sulaco, and was taken under the wingof an Englishman, the local representative of a European steamshipcompany (the O.S.N.), Captain Mitchell, who made him "Capataz deCargadores" (captain of the stevedores) where he achieved thereputation of being both incorruptible and invincible--a man oflegendary competence and prowess. Nostromo's real name was Giovanni"Gian'" Battista Fidanza.

Conrad writes the story froma variety of viewpoints--the diary of a journalist, the recollectionsof various of the characters in which each divulges some of their ownsecrets, resulting in a sort of "God's eye view", in whichthe reader is privy to facts the total of which are unknown to anysingle character, and other devices such as the author's relatingcommon "historical" knowledge from an unspecifiedsource.

One of Conrad's devices, which I found appealing, was theuse of marginal signals leading to an appendix in the back of the bookwhen foreign phrases are used, explaining their meaning. It is alwaysfrustrating to read a story, which uses foreign language phrases orwords without explaining their meaning, when one is unfamiliar withthat language.

This is a good story by a masterful story teller.I enjoyed every word of it.

Joseph Pierre

Rating:
Summary: A classic that doesn't deserve its obscurity.
Review: A Conrad fan since reading The Secret Sharer in 8th grade, I consider this to be Conrad's best work. Conrad manages to capture the tumultuous nature of colonial South American politics despite the fact that he had only visited the area once in his life. The title character and tragic hero, whose name means "Our Man", is indeed the pride of the people, brought down through no fault of his own by a cruel twist of fate. Conrad's commentary on the circular and fatalistic nature of power and stature is similar to works like Lord Jim, but his attention to details of setting and characterization is superior to that of his other works, as well as that of most other authors. The ending is one of the most powerful I have encountered in literature

Rating:
Summary: Capitalism a Century Ago
Review: Another famous classic by Joseph Conrad, "Nostromo" was written a century ago and is still interesting today as a comment about Latin America and foreign involvement.

Conrad's tale is set in the harbor town of Sulaco in Costaguana, an imagined place in an imagined country somewhere in South America, plagued by revolutions and greed. Alongside the larger group of natives and other people of color or lower class there is a small core group of Europeans, among those the Goulds. In spite of being third generation South American Charles Gould still goes to England to find a wife. Later when he decides to develop the silver mine he inherits from his father he goes to the United States to find a rich investor. The silver mine becomes a huge success, only to become the target of political revolutionaries, and the story really begins when there is an attempted coup and takeover of the silver mine. Much attention is given to inner conflicts and tough moral choices that individuals are forced to.

Detailed descriptions of both characters and settings makes this novel quite a dense reading experience, particularly the first section which contains very little dialogue and reads like a documentary. Only the final section of the novel seemed deserving of the title Nostromo, part one is about Costaguana, part two the Revolution and only in part three does the reader finally become fully acquainted with Gian' Battista, or Nostromo as he is named by the upper class of Sulaco.

Rating:
Summary: Capitalism a Century Ago
Review: Another famous classic by Joseph Conrad, "Nostromo" was written a century ago and is still interesting today as a comment about Latin America and foreign involvement.

Conrad's tale is set in the harbor town of Sulaco in Costaguana, an imagined place in an imagined country somewhere in South America, plagued by revolutions and greed. Alongside the larger group of natives and other people of color or lower class there is a small core group of Europeans, among those the Goulds. In spite of being third generation South American Charles Gould still goes to England to find a wife. Later when he decides to develop the silver mine he inherits from his father he goes to the United States to find a rich investor. The silver mine becomes a huge success, only to become the target of political revolutionaries, and the story really begins when there is an attempted coup and takeover of the silver mine. Much attention is given to inner conflicts and tough moral choices that individuals are forced to.

Detailed descriptions of both characters and settings makes this novel quite a dense reading experience, particularly the first section which contains very little dialogue and reads like a documentary. Only the final section of the novel seemed deserving of the title Nostromo, part one is about Costaguana, part two the Revolution and only in part three does the reader finally become fully acquainted with Gian' Battista, or Nostromo as he is named by the upper class of Sulaco.

Rating:
Summary: haunting allegory
Review: Another thick complex Conrad adventure has a great vivid setting and his usual playful narrative style that exposes the same story at different times through several different points of view, all which clash over the big silver mine in the center of everything, which seems to control every action in the plot. The most riveting aspects of the tale (outside the revolution and the tortured bonds between the characters) happen but briefly on the water. Comparisons to Lord Jim and Heart of Darkness are inevitable though this one stands out on its own, provided the over detailed writing doesn't off put the casual reader. Once again, as with every Conrad piece, you have to read carefully, and be on the look out for abrupt changes in time, place and thought, which he purposely intertwines to expose a larger picture: a rather effective way to unleash the English language, considering that it wasn't Conrad's original native tongue. Title character Nostromo stands out as the key tormented romantic "hero" but the rest of the abundant cast each have their dramatic moments near and around, and before and after him as well. JC weaves all their lives into the same colorful pattern. The silver mine by the time all is finished has power over each of them, a very hypnotic and manipulative symbol of greed and loss. Don Martin Decoud, next to Nostromo himself, makes an impression as the story's most heartbreaking character. He becomes the most tragic person in the book.

Rating:
Summary: Long-Winded
Review: Back when "Nostromo" first came out, the Times Literary Supplement said that the book could stand some serious editing in its first two hundred pages. Others said Conrad managed to turn a short story into a novel. I agree on both counts. In the unabridged audio version, even with as fine a reader as Frank Muller, I had to wait till tape 8 or 9 (of 11) to begin to get into some really interesting plot, dialogue, and character development. The conversation between Nostromo and the doctor -- for me the high point of the book, pereceptive and pointed -- was about tape 10. Then the book returned to its rather unimaginative self till it limped to its end. Perhaps a cautionary tale for our century, written at its beginning, about the dangers of obscene wealth and thoughtless loyalty, the book has been superseded by many superior and more engaging tales of its kind (like Steinbeck's "Winter of our Discontent"). If you're a patient reader who likes very quiet books, "Nostromo" may suit your fancy. Otherwise, beware.

Rating:
Summary: I was loving this book...
Review: Below this review there is a short review by someone named 'cmerrel', who very generously gives the ending away and answers the critical question of what happens to Nostromo. After reading 100 pages of this book, to read this was a great annoyance. Please stay away from that particular review.

Rating:
Summary: Wondeful
Review: Conrad creates a whole world here, and makes you believe it. It's a wonderful book, and that David Lean died before he could make a movie version of it with Marlon Brando is a shame. Conrad was a brillant writer, and this is a brilliant book.

Rating:
Summary: masterwork from a master writer
Review: Conrad is my favorite 20th century author, so I am biased. The reviewer who compared him to Tolstoy was on the money. Both lived lives that gave them fodder for their fiction; Tolstoy as a soldier in the Crimean war, an aristocrat facing the turbulence of the political and social upheavals of fin-de-siecle Russia, and Conrad as a mariner and a Polish transplant who carved out a language and a career for himself in England. Nostromo contains some of the most vividly realized characterization, plot, and sensory detail of any novel ever written in the English language, period. Do not pay any attention to a customer whose review is based on listening to the audio tape version. It doesn't do the book justice and is indeed labored to the extreme. I would also hope that readers do not form their opinions from the BBC film. It is infinitely shallow by comparison to this rich work. While the "eponymous" character remains purposefully enigmatic, the other inhabitants of Costaguena are stereoscopically fleshed out. We are on intimate terms with the Goulds. We know Decoud's innermost thoughts. It's true that Decoud is the central character of this novel. His isolation and mental defragmentation is Conrad's arguement for and refuation of existentialism. We are all islands, yet no man is in island. Take your pick. This is a very large piece of fiction. Do not approch it as you would some best seller. It's not going to entertain you on every page. What it will do is reward you in riches that can never come cheaply. Yet it is not like Finnegan's Wake, where you have to have your Boedekker's guide to see you along your journey. It's also a great adventure story, with a larger than life hero. If I could suggest one book to represent the most finely crafted novel of its era, this would be it.