Rating: 
Summary: The Horror, The Horror!
Review: Conrad's Heart of Darkness shows each one of us what could happen if we were allowed to "play God." Marlow's journey down through the waters of the Belgian Congo is a determined mission, not only to find Kurtz, but to find out who he is inside. As we follow Marlow down into the Heart of Darkness, we are given information of Kurtz' accomplishments as an employee of the Company. We see that his operation has the highest ivory yield in the entire trade. We come to admire him and become intriqued by the stories we hear.
It is only at the end of the story that we see how Kurtz became an idol to the natives. We are faced with our own Heart of Darkness that lies within each of us. What would we do if we had the opportunity to "play God"?
Rating:
Summary: The Darkness Within Us All
Review: "Heart of Darkness" is a tale of Marlow, an English seaman who has always dreamt of
exploring the Congo and the heart of Africa. Told through the frame of an unnamed
narrator, Marlow tells his story to the narrator and two others aboard a ship anchored on
the Thames, near London. Marlow weaves a tale of his deep journey into the Congo, after
a job with an English trading company becomes available. As Marlow works his way
towards the Inner Station, he sees the mass destruction of the people and land, due to the
imperialism of Europe. He also becomes intrigued by the talk of the enigmatic and
profound manager of the inner ivory trading post, Kurtz. Marlow learns slowly that Kurtz
is a very successful, but unstable character that has resorted to savagery towards the
natives in his post. Marlow views Kurtz as an idealist like himself and begins to view him
as sort of savior. When Marlow finally reaches Kurtz and his outpost, he sees that Kurtz
has complete control over the natives, who attack Marlow, and that Kurtz brutally kills
any opposition, as Kurtz has their heads placed atop poles in his courtyard. Marlow meets
up with a sick Kurtz for only a small portion of the story, but after hearing Kurtz speak of
his great plans for Africa and hearing his dying words of "the horror, the horror", referring
most likely to the human condition, Marlow realizes that Kurtz was simply a "mad soul",
filled with darkness. There is a darkness within all of us that can present itself at any time;
in Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" the darkness and evil of Kurtz, Marlow, and
Imperialism shine through and as a result slowly taint and destroy everything around them.
The tone presented in the novel helps to point out a powerful theme that darkness
is contained within every man. The author's attitude towards the brutality of the Africans
by the Europeans is clearly sympathetic and a strong commentary against Imperialism and
the evils of those Europeans. The tone changes after Kurtz dies, going from Marlow
respecting Kurtz to Marlow realizing Kurtz is only a man that has succumbed to his own
darkness and evil. Conrad's tone obviously points out the darkness of Kurtz and
Imperialism, but the darkness can even be seen in Marlow, as he doesn't believe in
Imperialism, but does nothing to stop its occurrence. Marlow never really sees whole
beings in the Africans either; he only describes limbs, eyes, and other features; never the
Africans as a whole human. Marlow also lies to Kurtz's Intended in the end, even though
he believes lying to be one of the greatest evils in man. Darkness can also be seen in all
the characters, as in the Central Station Manager who holds supplies from Kurtz in order
to kill him and take over his position. Really the whole novel is a metaphor for evil, as it
describes the Imperialistic Inner Station as the heart of darkness and the Congo River as
the veins which spread this darkness throughout the body of Africa. Evil also becomes
progressively worse as Marlow moves closer to the heart of darkness, with some evil in
the Outer Station to more evil in the Central Station and finally to the most evil and
corruption at the heart of darkness, the Inner Station. Conrad clearly depicts that there is
a darkness in all of us that stems from our hearts and knows no bounds.
Rating:
Summary: Mischievious Power-Mongering Forces
Review: What is the morality of man and the justice he dispenses if his will is free to reign upon his environment untouched? This seems to be the central theme around which the novel presents itself. With nothing to fear, cherish, and little obligation in surroundings of sheer montruous, palpable silence, what thoughts, actions, and driving forces does wo(man) succept himself towards? In the case of Kurtz, an ivory trader with little accountability for the ruthless business practices that tortured those whose environment it was taken from and eventually the minds of the people who were overtaken by greedy, despotic forces, it leads to a rise to chief, god-like, sacred status. Meanwhile to investigate the lack of correspondence from Kurtz, a young adventurer Marlow is set out on a voyage not only to the heart of the depths of the jungle, but into the depths of the vaguaries of man's intention. Along the way he is transformed and enlightened and this leads him to an alienating feeling. What could leads to such transfigurations of one's outlook on life? Why only the subtle, sublime, morphing, incongruent, transcendental, enrapturing prose of the Great Joseph Conrad!
Rating: 
Summary: Wild Man River
Review: This is a tale of a boat trip up the Congo, although nowhere in the book is the actual name of that river or the Belgian colony that emerged on its banks ever used. The writer, Joseph Conrad, was probably more interesting than any of his characters. Although writing about stiff-upper-lip types and managing to be more English than the English, he was actually born in a country that was undergoing its own form of colonization in those days, that is Poland. Going to sea, Conrad experienced many adventures around the globe, providing him with the rich stock of stories that were to win him acceptance from the English reading public. Most people now come across this book as part of some college course condemning colonialism. At least that's how I came across it. Others might know it as the prototype for Francis Ford Coppola's amazing movie "Apocalypse Now." Although an enthralling read, it is also a strangely vacuous book and, as a consequence, extremely well-named, as Kurtz, the central character, remains a dark enigma at the heart of the story to the end. We never really get to know who he is. Sent by the Belgian colonial authorities upriver, Kurtz has 'gone native' and our narrator is sent after him to investigate. This format allows the narrator to drop-feed us information about Kurtz during the long river voyage, giving us pieces of a jigsaw that is never completed. As we read we are nevertheless tantalized by the prospect of meeting the man who has scrawled "Exterminate all the brutes" on his report for the "International Society for the Suppression of Savage Customs," participated in "unspeakable rites," and established his authority among the natives through the uncivilized practice of impaling heads on poles. Is this a true picture of colonialism? During his life as a sailor, the writer visited the Belgian Congo so the details ring true. Also the objective, descriptive, and rather emotionally detached style of the narrator proves convincing. Nevertheless there is something rather mechanical about this picture. Conrad presents economic exploitation or vicious greed as the dominant if not the only force in this view of colonialism. Perhaps in the case of the Belgian Congo, a particularly brutal colonial system, this is justified, but those college students being fed this novel as representative of colonialism in general should be more wary. To our modern materialistic sensibilities, it makes perfect sense that colonialism should be so greed-driven, but there were also more altruistic motives at work such as the desire to 'save,' 'educate,' and 'civilize' the natives. Conrad treats these with a healthy dose of cynicism. The philanthropic motives, sincerely believed by many in the home country, such as Marlow's Aunt, become in the face of the ruthless greed and brutality existing in the Congo no more than empty jargon, ironically spoked to justify the terrible cruelties inflicted on the natives for the benefit of the Company. But quite often these motives were actually sincere and brought great improvements to the natives, in many cases actually giving them the tools with which they later won their independence. Although condemning their exploiters, Conrad has little real understanding of the natives who always remain mysterious and unfathomable: "The prehistoric man was cursing us, praying to us, welcoming us - who could tell? We glided past like phantoms, wondering and secretly appalled, as sane men would be before an enthusiastic outbreak in a madhouse." In this there is a lack of true sympathy, which however reassures us that he is not exaggerating or sentimentalizing the plight of the Africans. Colonialism was certainly not a blessing; maybe it wasn't a mixed blessing, but it might have been a mixed curse. Anyway, however you choose to view it, it undoubtedly had a profound impact on the economy, environment, culture, and identity of native peoples. We get little of this from Conrad and his "unfathomable savages."
Rating:
Summary: This is not chewing gum for the mind
Review: Get the Unabridged audiotape. Then sit down in a room or on a docked boat, just around dusk and start the tape. This is not TV (chewing gum for the mind) This is a three course meal. At the end of the tape, you will be fulfilled. It is like when you were younge and someone told you a really good story.
Rating: 
Summary: Heart of DarkneZZZZzzzz
Review: This slender novel of 110 pages was a chore to finish. I was able to get through it by force of will. This is one of those over-rated classics that were declared a classic a long time ago and now are blindly accepted as such. More than that, I see that many try to affirm it's alleged greatness by saying "me too" in clever ways. The story of a seaman who goes to Africa to command a riverboat deep in the jungle and encounters some horrors along the way is not particularly horrific or insightful. Many have marveled at Conrad's late-learned command of the English language. In fact his writing is unnecesarily dense. It is overloaded with adjectives and non-sequiturs that cloud his meaning and stray from the topic at hand. The best writing is clever, clear and to the point; it is not a string of adjectives and adverbs added to poorly conceived or uninteresting thoughts. The horrors described: an attack by natives and the sight of staked heads arranged in front of Kurtz's hut against a backdrop of squalid living conditions left me unimpressed. Europeans resorted to greater savageries against other races and among themselves both before and after the events in this novel. Unlike the many who were forced to read this in school, I decided to read it after twenty years of hearing that it was the inspiration for the Coppolla movie. That movie is one of the many examples of a good movie made from a flawed book.
Rating:
Summary: The drums beat on
Review: Throughout Heart of Darkness Marlow is terribly confused. The virtues and morality-the restraint-that he thought to be characteristic of man and integral for his survival are actually only exigencies. Though he maintains a calm and commanding presence, inside he nearly shatters from this revelation. And constantly he hears the drums that beat in time to his heart-he feels the wildness of the jungle tugging at him, coercing so gently that one might not notice until after the darkness had already taken his soul.
Even in the beginning of the novel, Marlow's eyes were closed to the reality of the Company. When his aunt naively praises the company for its "charitable ambitions", he gently corrects her, informing her that it is in fact a company fun for profit. As the novel progresses, Marlow is given more than enough reason to despise the Company. The man-of-war shelling bullets into an empty beach reeked of insanity. Even nature seemed tinged with death and oppressive despair.
Marlow encounters the chief accountant wearing his spotless white clothing and is sickened. This sycophant and hypocrite appears to Marlow twice as corrupt and uncivilized as the natives do. Marlow despises the manager whom he meets later on as well for being hollow and false.
On his journey to Kurtz's Inner Station Marlow is bombarded with news of Kurtz. All view Kurtz with a sort of fearful respect-it is as if they are speaking of some omniscient boogieman that will appear if you say its name aloud. Even when criticizing him they speak in low voices tinged with dread.
Marlow has begun to abhor the Company. As he hears its agents speak bitingly of this man, he comes to a resolution. He is going to be on whatever side is against the Company. Proving that he has already allowed the darkness to seep into his blood somewhat, he tells his first lie to the Manager. Even though Kurtz is only a void to Marlow Kurtz is already influencing him.
Marlow's abandonment of society's values is further evidenced in his relation to the cannibals. "Fine fellows-cannibals-in their place. There were men one could work with, and I am grateful to them". Seen from the view of society this is a bizarre comment, one Marlow would not have thought if he were still in his native city. Marlow realizes that the natives of the jungle have not let the darkness overtake them as the Company agents have-that just because one lives in the jungle is not a justification to lack restraint. Moreover, Marlow is even more confused as "civilized society" and "chaotic but not entirely dark jungle" war with one another. He is trying to choose his nightmare.
This internal conflict is consummated when Marlow encounters Kurtz alone in the forest. Here Marlow feels the darkness stronger than ever before-the drums beat on insanely. "I thought I would never get back to the steamer, and imagined myself alone and unarmed in the woods to an advanced age..."
Here is Marlow's choice of nightmares-here is the point where he is forced to choose. To Kurtz crouched on all fours, he says, "You will be lost, utterly lost", perhaps speaking to himself as well. Therefore, Marlow's sanity (as sanity is generally perceived) is speaking to him, and Marlow has chosen to return to civilization after all, though from hereafter he will have a sharper clarity of the ambiguity of goodness.
Marlow's internal struggle is what the entire book illumines. Through Marlow's "choice of nightmares", we are made aware of our own choices.
Rating:
Summary: A conduit to man-made hell
Review: You can sit in your office on your lunch break and read Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness while, perhaps, eating a chicken salad sandwich. And while sitting there with an air-conditioned breeze blowing from a vent, you can imagine you are vicariously experiencing a trip up the Congo River in nineteenth century Africa. You can suppose your imagination is powerful enough to project you mentally into the circumstances Conrad relates. It is true Conrad's power of description is such that the reader can almost feel the thick, hot gush of blood fill Marlow's shoes as his assistant dies at his feet -- on his feet. Reading this story in the dead of winter will bring sweat to your brow. The torrid heat of the African night drips from every sentence. But more than anything, this story fills one with a sense of mortality -- it beats bluntly like an indefatigable drummer between every line. Lives like waves crashing against the merciless rocks of time. No man able to escape the malignant truth of his inevitable demise. Not even Kurtz, who wielded the reaper with such dexterity that it seems impossible he would ever have it turned in his own direction. Heart of Darkness -- heart of virulence. Conrad takes us to a land of death -- a hundred-page trip through a tropical tumor. "The horror -- the horror." Yes! The horror fills every page, every twitch of every character. All is corrupt and dirty, like slime on the edge of a desecrated grave. It is the genius of Conrad that he can so deftly deliver his reader from the most opulent ivory tower of modern comfort, to where the darkest places in nature meets the darkest places in the human soul.
Rating: 
Summary: We live as we dream...as we die.
Review: What a piece of work is this book!
A friend of mine told me he doesn't like Conrad's prose because he finds it too wordy, as if it were not his own. Yes, English was a lent language to him, but who cares. The whole book is nothing but a yarn, an outburst of words that comes from the entrails of a man who has seen too much. It is the tale told by the idiot.... that one "full of sound and fury, signifying nothing". Yet Marlow is not an idiot and what he tells garners its meaning as the story develops before his own eyes and those of his occasional listeners. His voice is also a lent one, the voice that comes from primeval experiences, from primeval horror. He realizes that the long trip in which he had engaged (that search of ivory in the depths of the unknown and desired Africa), is a trip to the horror of human behavior.
Rating:
Summary: EMC
Review: Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness is, as the title implies, a journey into the darkest, most horrific regions of the human heart and soul. In the book, we see an example of exactly what a world of pain and chaos can do to not just one man's mind, but the minds of everyone that he comes in contact with. While we follow our hero, Marlowe, towards the climactic encounter with the enigmatic Mr. Kurtz, we get a powerful and intimate look into Africa during it's colonization and the horrors that were committed in the hunt for ivory. This book is a classic, and should be regarded as such by anyone that reads it.
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