Rating: 
Summary: Slow but rewarding
Review: The main complaint I hear about Heart of Darkness is that it drags through its story. This is a valid complaint and true enough, but the reward that are received from reading the story outway the sluggish telling. I can't think of another way to get the point across, and flashy fast pace writing would have run contrary to the theme. Conrad has a brilliant mind, and is writing to only a select group of readers. While the book isn't a jolly good time, it is well worth the read.
Rating: 
Summary: "It would have been too dark altogether"
Review: I had to read this for AP English and it was the most difficult to understand, yet it is my favorite book. Conrad uses the most appropriate language to convey the idea that evil lurks within all men. Face it, we all would rather live in illusion than face reality. Marlow refuses to tell Kurtz's mistress the truth because it "would have been too dark altogether." The incomprehensible amount of evil within men is for the most part hidden "luckily, luckily." Finally, Kurtz even sees that he has lived an evil existence as he realizes "The Horror! The Horror!..." This book is a must read if you want to know a little more about the true nature of all men.
Rating: 
Summary: I just didn't get it
Review: I suppose this book was good. Every literary person seems to think so. I like the wasy Conrad puts some of his sentences together. But the rest of it was boring and too cryptic for my tastes. This like reading The book of the new sun with not even a decipherable adventure story within its pages. Yuck, is all I can say. Maybe when I'm older I'll try again. But probably not.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting implications, but ever so slow
Review: Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness served as a sharp critisism of the nature of man and man's ability to sell himself for material gain. It is unclear exactly who the hero of the story is because Kurtz is both a god and a devil in one. The long drawn out sentences, which were used to make the book ironic and deep, made the book almost painful to read. Each sentence contained what seemed like hundreds of words which made the book seem much longer than it's 100 pages. Whatever you do don't try to read this book all at once. You are bound to drift off and wake up the next morning with 99 pages left to go!
Rating:
Summary: I'M SO INCONCLUSIVE thanks to Conrad
Review: "It is impossible; it is impossible to convey the life-sensation at any given epoch of one's existence - that which makes its truth, its meaning - its subtle and penetrating essence. It is impossible. We live, as we dream - alone." (Joseph Conrad) When I returned home last spring from my first year at university, I believed that I would be able to piece together my life with the help of a few carefully chosen books. Conrad's Heart of Darkness was my second undertaking in the spring/summer of '98. It is the brilliant narrative of Marlowe, a seaman, who unravels to his fellow crewmen the details surrounding his search for the enigmatic figure of Kurtz in the dark depths of the african wilderness. Conrad brings up the question of faith: it is faith in the mystery of life that allows a person to transcend the boundaries imposed on him by the combined forces of human curiosity and an unexplainable universe. An enigmatic universe. Heart of Darkness' message is itself veiled by mystery. Its 100 pages breed ideas. It showed me that internalized human forces are not beneficial to our knowledge of life until they are externalized and examined on our mental dissecting tables. According to Conrad, we must turn ourselves inside out under the lense of introspective thought and shed light upon our innermost selves. Heart of Darkness helps a person do exactly this. This is futile though. Conrad shows that we are enigmas to our own selves.Its 100 pages breed ideas exponentially in a dead brain. It serves as a reminder that good books will explode in your face. Should we allow "the changing immensity of life glide past by, veiled by a sense of mystery or by a slightly disdainful ignorance[?]" (Conrad) This is a genuine recommendation. - Ben.
Rating:
Summary: This novel speaks in a language of pure emotion.
Review: A novel which explores the depth of the human soul is difficult at best to present to readers. Conrad has accomplished such a feat as he expounds on the limits of intelligent comprehension within the human mind. Such a journey of the mind, as well as the body,to the farthest depths of the African jungle is one which takes thourough concentration on the part of the reader, even moreso than that of the narrator. This novel is not one of morals, conclusions, or even a solid theme. It is, however, a novel which explores the idea that insanity varies depending on the culture in which it is presented, and the idea that to be free of civilization's strangling hold is often worth the loss of one's sanity. It explores a heart of darkness which, deep in the jungle of the soul and of Africa, is a dangerous thing to reveal--a terrific idea that the heart of darkness can be penetrated with a brief flash of light.
Rating:
Summary: Great depth, average execution
Review: Conrad is a master of his art, yet Heart of Darkness' experiment in the 1st/3rd person perspective makes for an irritatingly slow and detailed read. Notwithstanding the thematic depth of the novel, it could be helped along by a brisker pace and less environmental rhetoric.
Rating:
Summary: A journey into the heart of humanity
Review: Joseph Conrad does an exceptional job at making the reader get involved with all of the little things that are going on. The author Conrad uses great symbolism through every thing that is involved with the book from the characters to the scenery and everyhthing else that goes on in between. To read this book you have to look at all of the little things and try to figure out there meaning to make this book fun and enjoyable. Marlow , the main character, is a river boat captain who is hired by an ivory company to find a Mr. Kurtz, who was the companies best seller that went astray. While traveling up the river Marlow goes on a journey figuering out that modern society is is going down the tubes. When he gets to Kurtz camp he is welcomed by decapetated heads mounted on sticks. Kurtz ends up dieing and his last words are the ever famous, "The Horror!The Horror!" All in all i recommend this book, even though it is not the longest book you spend a lot more time figureing out the symbolism that this book is packed with.
Rating:
Summary: A revealing look into the heart of man
Review: Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad is an amazing novella exposing the dark psyche of man. This book allows the reader to see the possession of man's heart by greed, man's fall back to reality, as well as, the dark, true meaning of the heart of darkness. This novella is a necessity to anyone's reading repertoire.
Rating:
Summary: total, unadaulterated props to Conrad
Review: Everything about this book is great. But mind you, if you don't like depression or evil, then stay away from this book even if you have to read it for class. This book reaches into the most primitive impulses that all humans have shared from the day we evolved.
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