Reviews with content warning for Misogyny - Heart of Darkness

Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

17 reviews

asotun's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

Wanted to read it after listening to an actor talk about how Joseph Conrad describes the pathetic, sleazy, pale evil of "normal people". Read about the evil of resource exploitation and conniving White men.

But couldn't get over the fact that this book was neither anti-racist, nor materially anti-colonial. And definitely strong traces of misogyny, which some research about Joseph himself confirmed. So it put me off.

I would say there is better literature on the same themes that I'd enjoy reading more. But if you really want to, it's a super short book so you wouldn't lose much. Some passages are very vivid.

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thatpreyash's review against another edition

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The writing style is quite engaging, but I couldn't stomach reading this any further because of how racist and misogynistic the main character is. I get that Marlow is meant to be an unlikeable character, but the way he dehumanises the native Africans and kept calling them the n word made my skin crawl. I suppose it makes sense for the time period, but that doesn't mean I enjoy reading it.

I also don't think this book is a particularly effective critique of colonialism. While the brutality that the Europeans inflict is very obvious, none of the African characters are given the chance to speak for themselves. None of them are even named. Although the story opposes colonialism on paper, in practice, it doesn't do much to empower African people. We only ever hear about them through the eyes of their oppressors, who obviously have a racist view of them already. Instead, the story focuses on the white characters, whose perspectives I'm just not particularly interested in hearing. We already live in a white supremacist world, so I'm just not interested in hearing what a violent racist has to say. I'd rather hear the perspective of the colonised people to be honest.

Overall, I think it's a perfectly adequate story in terms of how it's crafted. It's just not one that I want to read.

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ekgranstro's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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hjb_128's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Complicated
Loveable characters? Complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Complicated

4.0

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librarymouse's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I'm rating this higher than I did last time around, but not by much. It's not my favorite book by a long shot, but after learning more about Joseph Conrad and writing about textile manufacturing practices contemporary to Conrad's writing of the book in how they relate to its content, I got a lot more out of it this time around.
It's a slow paced book, but time moves quickly for the characters.

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saraaaa's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark reflective fast-paced

Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

A very mild read, whose status as a classic is surely upheld by its relevance as a historical document. Conrad harshly criticizes colonialism, but does so from within the racist framework of his times.
I liked that the reader is constantly reminded that the story is being told by a specific character with specific views on life, and therefore is only one of many different perspectives on the narrated events.
Conrad paints the colonial environment and the Congolese forest as engulfed in a haunting, menacing spell that gives an air of magic realism to the novella – when it did not have the tones of exoticism, it painted a beautiful picture.

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jade_smith's review against another edition

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adventurous dark slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This was me revisiting this book for the first time since studying it in high school. I still find it to be such an incredibly interesting novel. To say I "enjoy" this book doesn't feel right -- but to say it enthralls me as a historical object is definitely true.

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