This started out as a four-star book: the forward momentum of the story as the narrator travels through the Congo, the terrible conditions he finds, the trek through the jungle, the river journey. And then it stumbled. Perhaps the fact that about three quarters of the novella was spent trying to reach Kurtz, by the time the narrator does, it couldn't ever be as spectacular as the build-up. And the end of the book was one endless internal musing.