Rating: 
Summary: A masterpiece
Review: So much has been written about 'Heart of Darkness' that it is hard to contribute to the discussion without immediately becoming redundant. But here is one point: part of the beauty of this masterpieces is that it - like all great works of art - functions on many levels. You can look at it as a criticism of Imperialism, as many have, although nowadays this traditional viewpoint seems stale. You may enjoy it for its masterful use of the English language; in fact, I can think of no better 'classical' tale form except perhaps that of Moby Dick. You may be startled by a short passage that strikes you as profound in its psychological richness. You can marvel at the strange character development where both Marlowe and Kurtz somehow remain elusive. And there is much more to ponder if you open your mind and simply allow the words to feed your imagination. Read it slowly, deliberately, and enjoy. It is doubtless one of the strangest works of English literature ever produced but perhaps also one of the best.
Rating: 
Summary: The Horror! The Horror! It's really not that bad
Review: When I first started reading this book, It was all just words. As a high school senior, it was a little too difficult to understand, but after many class discussions ans "socratic seminars" I really started to understand it. This book is definately not my most favorite, but it's also not my least favorite either. I won't reveal the ending, but it is a really strong ending. "The Horror! The Horror!" are the last words spoken of Kurtz, and even though it's the end of the novel, it still leaves the reader wondering about it.
Rating:
Summary: Into the vacuum poured the primal force of the cosmos.....
Review: When Kurtz exclaims "The Horror! The Horror!", it is in the same sense that we would also cry out if suddenly faced with the unshielded countenance of God. At the threshhold, just before we were either consumed, or absorbed, this too would be our cry. This most remarkable of books is a dissection of the Western psyche. We start with the capital city of the living dead in Europe itself. This is a land of sleepwalkers who have never awakened- they live out their lives spinning castles in the air that ultimately mean nothing. This is the state of the modern Western mind. Theory and profit, but no soul. On the journey down the African coast we encounter the European battleship antiseptically shelling the coast. These are tranplanted westerners hiding in the shells of their technological terrors while lobbing shells into the outer world- without really being contaminated by it. Then we reach the coast, where the high ideals preached in Europe are more and more obviously abandoned the farther inland one travels. When the land and the natives become "difficult", pure force and brutality are used to overcome and destroy. In other words, if they will not be "westernised", turned into copies of us, they must be obliterated. Preferably while making us a profit. Kurtz was a strong man. He was ambitious and powerful. Perhaps he kept up the charade of "civilising" the natives and the land in the name "progress" longer than anyone else. He kept up these empty lies until he penetraded to the deepest core of the primeval jungle. And then, this hollow shell of ideals and greed imploded. You see, as Conrad points out, Kurtz was fundamentally hollow. Yet Kurtz didn't just die, he was too strong. Instead, into that vacuum rushed the primal force itself. Kurtz became what he hated the most- he became the soul of the jungle- because he had none of his own. He became an "animal" in it's highest sense, a totally natural man. Indeed he became a natural King, as the native tribes recognised. He and the land were truly one.
It is a mistake to judge Kurtz by the standards of the city of the dead. Kurtz and his warriors sweeping across the jungle, taking heads and ivory as trophies, was as natural as lions running down gazelles.... Far more natural than the hypocritical, brutal, soulless, enslavement of the coastal natives in the name of "civilisation".....
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