Rating: 
Summary: The Inscrutable Enigma
Review: This book must really be heard as well as read. (The best is the unabridged book on tape, read by Michael Thompson or Thomson?. It is as though Marlowe himself is speaking.) Perhaps the most difficult subject to deal with is the uneasy aspect of our history of corrupting, abusing or rather "educating" as we say those less well off or unknown to us, educating them to our ways, to our rational lives. Conrad addresses our history of abuse in the Congo and so the questionable ambiguity of doing good, as a disguise for our own rapaciousness in our self-serving actions. Who is more civilized? Who is more evil? The light Conrad shines is the illumination of the very soul of the complicated thicket of the primoridial jungle and the uneasy feeling of how deep our evil runs in the name of doing good and saving souls, perhaps ruining and laying waste to the beginnings, the basic desires of life. What good does civilization do in this case? Is restraint and greed part of civilization? Is it learned, is it part of this jungle or instead a part of "all of Europe", as he says? This is an imprenetrable book, but only if you fail to recognize or peer into the darkness of your own heart.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting
Review: Marlowe, hired by an ivory company, is sent into the heart of the Congo to find an man named Kurtz. Along the way he hears off the many myths surrounding Kurtz. Kurtz is supposedly the greatest agent of the company. When Marlowe finds this man, he finds a sickly insane man. Kurtz has some how made himself into a god in the eyes of the natives. Marlowe retrieves this man and begins his journey back listening to the strange talk of Kurtz. This book takes some effort to read and is not all that interesting. Conrad does point out some interesting things the insides of the human mind. It may be a good book to read if you enjoy such things. Ken R.
Rating:
Summary: A timeless comment on man's corruptability
Review: Joseph Conrad tells a story that is not forgotten easily. He spins a tale of the adventure into the untamed african jungle to recover an ivory trader that has gone insane and become a god to the natives. This story is a direct view of how easily man can be turned from good to evil in the steamy, dark jungle. Kurtz (the trader) was once a respected man, and he has dipped into his primitive Id. Completely insane, he begins to convince his pursuer, Marlow, to become as he is, but he is gripped by disease before Marlow fades into the same delerium. If you have not read Heart of Darkness, or you were assigned to read it and go the booknotes or such, I reccomend you pick a copy up and truly experiance insanity and the grip of the devil upon those who travel in untamed lands.
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Summary: All Too Often An "Assignment"
Review: One often gets the impression when examining Amazon reviews and ratings of classics, that a good portion of those writing the reviews have been assigned the book as homework. English teachers everywhere feel the need to expose students to The Great Works apparaently without seeming to realize that often what they're doing is creating resentment toward something that the student might appreciate in later life. I know it happened to me more than once in school, and I always =enjoyed= reading, unlike many of my peers. (It helps to revisit classics on one's own time years later.) While nowhere near as severe as the culture shock one gets from reading Dickens or Shakespeare, the significance of Conrad's work is going to be lost on someone who doesn't know anything about the "colonization" of Africa, and today's kids may not even know enough about Vietnam to feel the impact of a work that was so amazingly descriptive a situation 60 years into the future. This is unfortunate because even one who enjoys the more adventurous and suspenseful aspects of the work isn't going to get what all the fuss is about unless he has a better background in history than modern education is likely to give. Despite all this, "Heart of Darkness" is one of the more accessible classics this side of Mark Twain. Conrad doesn't subject the reader to hundreds of pages about whaling (Melville) or steep himself in the subtleties of contemporary politics (Dickens). It's also short and doubtless contributes to the camp who believe the novella is the optimal literary form. On the other side, tt is a dark, rather brooding look at Man as a whole, as well as individual men, so you may want to have some Twain or Thurber on-hand to apply as needed afterwards.
Rating: 
Summary: Grueling - The horror! the horror!
Review: I can only thank God this novel was short. Reading it was a grueling process, not because of syntax errors or pretentious wording, but because it was so dull and dry. It seemed to drone on and on in the same monotone voice with no defined direction. I would not read this book for enjoyment, if you are to read it, do it because for some reason it is a classic and there are numerous allusions to the book in popular culture and modern literature. To pick the "best" part of the book, Conrad did do a good job on the themes of the unknown and the dark depths of human nature. The end was interesting, but it did not plunge me into an analysis of the book or any sort of emotional connection to my life.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting perspective of Africa in the 1890s
Review: This is an interesting look at Africa. Conrad, based on his own experiences, describes Africa as an educated European would at the beginning of the century. Unfortunately, it tends to portray Africans as savages, but it also shows the follies of Europeans dealing with them as if they were savages. If this book were written in today's time, it would probably be considered racist. Fortunately, that was not the intent. It actually portrayed the Europeans as racists, elitists, and greedy. It's an evenhanded book in its portrayals, but both sides are not treated kindly The main point of this book is not a description of Africans, or Europeans, but of how the actually placement of one's self could affect someone's mind. All throughout the book, Marlowe, the main character, wishes to meet up with the legendary Kurtz. When he finally meets him, he discovers the insanity that a place like this could have on someone of such high stature as Kurtz. It's highly reminiscent of Apocalypse Now. Besides the unfortunate portrayal of Africans, the biggest grudge I have against this book is its language. It takes about 50 pages to get the feel of his writing, but this book is only 96 pages long. Though the language is rough, I would recommend this book. Conrad describes the jungle unlike any author I can think of.
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Summary: BUY IT NOW
Review: It's true that this book is not for everyone, but at such a great price you might as well try it. I was one of the many who were forced to read it in college. I praise my instructor everyday for such a gift. Read the other reviews and buy this book now. You will not be disapointed.
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Summary: the horror
Review: Last year, I saw an interview with Walter McDougall on Booknotes about his book, Promised Land, Crusader State : The American Encounter With the World Since 1776. His thesis is that America is torn between two competing & diametrically opposed impulses. On the one hand, we want to be a Shining City on a Hill, uncontaminated by contact with the outside world. But on the other hand we long to bring freedom, democracy, etc. to other nations. The reasons for this dichotomy have never been presented with more power than they are in Heart of Darkness. It is the story of how the Imperial impulse--bringing civilization to the savages--corrupts the bringers. Marlow, a steam boat pilot, sets off upriver in Africa to find Kurtz, an ivory trader who has gone native. Along the way, he finds a pamphlet that Kurtz wrote about the civilizing mission of the White man, which ends with the postscript "Exterminate all the brutes!" When, Marlow finds the mortally ill Kurtz, in a camp surrounded by pikes with human heads mounted on them, he has stopped trading for ivory & has instead taken to raiding villages & taking it by brute force. He has abandoned civilized norms and has adopted the methods of the natives. Kurtz final words to Marlow are "The horror. The horror." When Marlow returns to Europe he meets Kurtz fiance & when she begs to know if Kurtz spoke of her, Marlow tells her that he died with her name on his lips. It is not just the savagery of the natives that is corrupting, it is the very notion of a civilizing mission. Conrad is wrong, of course, but it's a great book. GRADE: A
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Summary: I love it, but...
Review: I think normal interpretations of this book are wrong. I don't think that it is a commentary on imperialism. Imperialism is just the context of the novel. Conrad no doubt was influenced by the politics and culture of the time, but has no real point in regards to the novel. Going deeper, seeing the novel as a commentary of the "darkness" of evil in every human's heart is equally flawed. Conrad did use Kurtz as a person who had chosen to embrace his evil, but viewing Kurtz as an allegory for the "meaning" of the novella is just as narrow as reading it as a simple adventure novel. Marlowe is the main character in the story, and he chooses good over evil in the end. He inspires the listeners on the boat on the Thames to confront their own "heart of darkness" as he himself did. The book is about self discovery, and thus there are no "answers," and thus no "meaning." The book is meant to only inspire uneasiness and self discovery, just as Marlowe did at the end of the book to his small audience. This is challenging to people, and the easiest thing to do would be to label this as a dark commentary on the evil of humanity. But is it really? Search inside yourself, and you will have accomplished what this book sets out to do. I certainly did. And thus (compiled with the awe inspiring descriptive ability of Conrad) I love it. Because it makes me uneasy.
Rating:
Summary: A deep journey
Review: Marlowe must travel up the Congo river, find the mythical ivory trader Kurtz, and take him back to the coast. In each step of the journey, Marlowe lives in an opressive, dehumanizaed atmosphere, surrounded by cruel employees of an ivory-trading company, and by black slaves. After days of tense travel in the midst of the jungle, Kurtz is found. And oh!, he is found to be more than just a legend. An ill Kurtz reigns on a closed universe, with a total absence of any points of reference to the outside world. Kurtz has gone deep into the heart of darkness. Conrad's prose is dense, precise, accurate. The tale is elusive, nuanced. You have to guess what is going on and, especially, what has happened. In the end, it is Kurtz himself who summarizes the book: "The horror! the horror!".
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