- Mass Market Paperback: 166 pages
- Publisher: Penguin (1995)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0140186522
- ISBN-13: 978-0140186529
- Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.7 x 1.5 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (88 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 693,667 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Heart of Darkness
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
47 of 48 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Some readers seem to have difficulty with this short novel. It's certainly not easy reading (Conrad never is, though I love his prose style), but is a challenging, thought-provoking and highly absorbing character study. The journey is as much into a mind breaking down as it is a physical journey down the Congo River. I found it richly rewarding (both the 1st time and when I read it again recently). It probably says more, in a short space, than any other novel about human existence, civilization and human excesses (with the possible exception of "The Fall" by Albert Camus). Powerful stuff - if you like a strong poison then try it (and then check out Conrad's great full-length novels: "Lord Jim", "Nostromo" and "Under Western Eyes").
129 of 137 people found the following review helpful
Format:Kindle Edition
This review is specifically about the Kindle edition of The Heart of Darkness, and more specifically:
# Publisher: Public Domain Books (9 Jan 2006)
# Sold by: Amazon Media EU S.à r.l.
# ASIN: B000JQU7A8
Reviews between editions seem to be frequently amalgamated and so it is important to note this is about the free (at time of writing) version.
Please also note that this review is about the 'edition', not the actual story itself and is therefore no reflection on Conrad's writing.
Having made myself clear on what I am reviewing (hopefully!) then my opinion is this:
Download some samples of other versions and pay some small amount for a better text. I struggled with half of this version before resorting to the actual book that I already owned. There are two major problems:
1. The style of writing and the protagonist Marlow's delivery makes very frequent use of dashes (en or em rules). This Kindle edition uses double hyphens, viz --, with no spaces, as in 'There were cases of them down at the coast--cases--piled up--burst--split!', which makes reading awkward and detracts from the narrative style.
2. Carriage returns are used frequently in error and seemingly at random. It is possible to identify new paragraphs as they are correctly indented but, having a line finishing after the first word for example, implies the end of a paragraph. However, the non-indented start of the next line shows that the text was meant to be continuous. Checking several examples with the Penguin text edition shows that these frequent carriage returns are, indeed, in error.
This edition is not recommended for reading on the Kindle.
# Publisher: Public Domain Books (9 Jan 2006)
# Sold by: Amazon Media EU S.à r.l.
# ASIN: B000JQU7A8
Reviews between editions seem to be frequently amalgamated and so it is important to note this is about the free (at time of writing) version.
Please also note that this review is about the 'edition', not the actual story itself and is therefore no reflection on Conrad's writing.
Having made myself clear on what I am reviewing (hopefully!) then my opinion is this:
Download some samples of other versions and pay some small amount for a better text. I struggled with half of this version before resorting to the actual book that I already owned. There are two major problems:
1. The style of writing and the protagonist Marlow's delivery makes very frequent use of dashes (en or em rules). This Kindle edition uses double hyphens, viz --, with no spaces, as in 'There were cases of them down at the coast--cases--piled up--burst--split!', which makes reading awkward and detracts from the narrative style.
2. Carriage returns are used frequently in error and seemingly at random. It is possible to identify new paragraphs as they are correctly indented but, having a line finishing after the first word for example, implies the end of a paragraph. However, the non-indented start of the next line shows that the text was meant to be continuous. Checking several examples with the Penguin text edition shows that these frequent carriage returns are, indeed, in error.
This edition is not recommended for reading on the Kindle.
98 of 104 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
With this novella Joseph Conrad brutally rips away the barriers that men build to hide themselves and exposes the evil that lurks in all men's hearts, waiting for an opportunity to get out.kurtz sails away into the dark continent full of ambition to build a bright shining society where men will be Gods. The result is unspeakable evil. What actually happens the reader never knows. They are just invited to look at the battered result of Kurtz's ambition. Marlowe returns and visits the now dead Kurt's fiancee, but is unable to tell her the truth about her beloved and makes up some romantic tale to spare her feelings. Nowadays Conrad is vulnerable to accusations of racism as he uses Africa to represent the dark continent. As always the politically correct have completely missed the pooint. The evil was in Kurtz, as it is in all men, not in Africa. And Conrad was exposing the wickednesss of colonolism which he was vehemently against, which anyone could find out if they read his works closely. In fact he was not a racist but years ahead of his time.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Powerful stuff
I really liked this book, wish it had been longer! What impressed me was how brave these guys were venturing up the Congo back in the 19th Century. Read more
Published 20 days ago by sliced pig
The horror!
Everyone probably knows the plot basics of Heart of Darkness and that it inspired the scenario for the Vietnam-war movie Apocalypse Now - if with a significant degree of... Read more
Published 1 month ago by reader 451
A classic adventure
The story flows as smoothly as a jungle river, and the reader keeps turning the pages to learn the truth about a mythical figure, Colonel Kurtz, a man who has lost touch with... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Roger Weston
Good read
I enjoyed reading this book on my new Kindle.
We are having a year of the classic in our book club and this was the first one.
We are having a year of the classic in our book club and this was the first one.
Published 2 months ago by Anne Phillips
difficult one to get into
I've tried to get through the first few pages of this book but just can't seem to grasp it. However l am going to start again and see if it lives up to the reviews
Published 3 months ago by Peri
Awful kindle conversion -avoid
This is an absolute classic book, but the Kindle conversion here is very poor.
The flow at times is very confusing due to inappropriate punctuation. Read more
The flow at times is very confusing due to inappropriate punctuation. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Lowdown
the horror!
A beautifully written, but desperately depressing portrayal of the colonisation of Africa. Amazing how ahead of his time Conrad was with regards his obvious disapproval of what was... Read more
Published 5 months ago by Philcounty
One of the best books ever written and its free!
I have always loved Heart of Darkness, its a brilliant read and to be able to download it for free is great. Highly recommend.
Published 7 months ago by P. Kirkham
Worthwhile
Heart of Darkness is one of those `must read' books. It is forever quoted as one of the greats, both for its scenes and for the underlying theme. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Calypso
A really interesting read
When I read this book I was looking for an introduction to classic literature and I definitely found it here. It's a short book but don't think that this is an easy read at all. Read more
Published 8 months ago by T. H. Boyd
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