This is something I wrote for school, its a bit more extensive review of Heart of Darkness

Polish-born British writer Joseph Conrad’s fourth novel, Heart of Darkness, is a classic tale about the hypocrisy of imperialism and what it leads to in the certain parts of the world. The book is extremely symbolical and it tells about the human condition and the psychological state of someone, who has been away for a long time.

The book has two major characters, Marlow and Kurtz, both from the different end of the character spectrum. Marlow is a very logical person and doesn’t let things get him down too easily. He works for the British navy and gets a job to see what happened to one outpost in the British Congo. He leaves London through Thames with his current crew, bound to Congo to find out what happened to the outpost and then make a report of it. Once Marlow arrives at the outpost in the British Congo, he is puzzled by the sight of the outpost having been burned down by a yet unknown person. Trying to look for the man in charge of the outpost, Kurtz, is a harder task than it should have been. They find Kurtz in the jungles of Congo and the mystery starts to unfold until the last lines of the book, “The horror….the horror”.

The book is extremely well written and keeps tension very well. I would say that it is a classic due to the subject of the book, the hypocrisy of imperialism that was never really touched upon, it was a very realistic story and very well written for the time. Reading this book made me realize the folly of imperialism and what it actually did to the countries affected by it and how it made a clear gap between the oppressor and the country being oppressed. The horror elements in the book were very subtle yet strong at the same time making it very effective.

Personally, I found this book a very interesting book to read due to its symbolism and very unique story. I stand by my claims that a short book is harder to write and make better than a long book since you have to make things seem natural in a shorter amount of text. By this logic, Joseph Conrad is one of the best writers I have read books from and looking at other books by him currently.

“Heart of Darkness” by Joseph Conrad is a definite must read for anyone who wants to read a good story, see original characters and like horror-esque literature or then wants to find about the folly of imperialism.

Jane Eyre

Oh my, I dont even want to do this, but here goes nothing, the book is Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë.

So, let's begin by saying that length doesn't make a good book, it can make any good book quite boring, but that's not the case with this book, since it was already bad, but the length just made it worse than it already was. The type of writing isnt as effective, making the book deliver everything less efficiently, but it only has a few of those points since the book is bland (and that scene happened to be in the beginning, so theres nothing to look forward to after that). The plot is very basic, girl has unhappy childhood, falls in love with someone, gets mad with him and yet in the end, marries the guy. Oh, joy, I'm not even bothering to hide the plot from you since reading this book is like self torture. I could say that the running gag in the book is the crazy housemaid, but it's too bland to be a gag, so I think the writer was being serious when she made her..... WHYYYYY?! So, the plot isn't anything special, atleast the girl doesn't fall for the guy when she sees him on a hors........ OH FOR CRYING OUT LOUD. So, love at first sight, with a very cliched western image of love at first sight, making it painful to read if you have ever seen a movie with Clint Eastwood in it. The plot doesn't improve at any point, since at first thinks she can't marry the horseback man from before when she's poor and then it turns out that her rich uncle died and left her a huge fortune..... Do I even have to say that this isn't a good plot twist.

Well, let's get into the characters, maybe there's something good in them. So, we established that the main character had a rough life, and it has an effect on her future, but I doubt that it makes her a person that bland, well, that might be due to the fact that she is overtly religious and only believes in love... why didn't I just leave this book on the shelf.... oh yeah, I HAD TO read this for school. So, what about Mr. Rochester, the man of Janes life. He is a misanthropic rich man who likes being a polygamist, since he tries to marry Jane while still being married. Yeah..... this book hasn't got a single likeable character in it.... except the crazy housemaid since she tries to kill the main characters a few times since she's insane (OR BRILLIANT) depending on your view on insanity and sanity. What about the setting, Victorian Age London, huge mansion..... and a love story.... aaaand unhappy events.... THIS IS ONLY A STEREOTYPE OF GOTHIC STYLED WRITING! Read "How To Kill A Mocking Bird" if you wanted to read gothic literature.

Okay, I can't go on with this, this scheibe is bananas.

Noapte Buna

Chuck Palahniuk-Invisible Monsters

Palahniuk is best known for his bestseller, "Fight Club", which was later made into a film. Due to his controversial subjects and interesting writing styles, he was labeled as a king of the underground culture, as well as a nihilist(label which he does not agree upon, stating that he is merely a Romantic with more extravagant subjects).

"Invisible Monsters" deals with the mentality derived from working in fashion, and the negative consequences that come from offering beauty on a plate for thousands of eyes to see, often forgetting one's true personality in favour of one that pleases all-or nearly all.

There isn't much I can state about the plot which won't ruin your surprise at the end, and make me seem stupid until you get there.

Regarding the style the book is written in, I could characterise it as schyzophrenic,yet results in little confusion. The story starts off with several ideas, apparently unrelated, which tie up in the most unexpected manner.You cannot say you read half of a certain book, and got the message completely.

As I am divulging little to none of the contents of the book, I consider some occuring motifs might make you read it: Supermodel, mutilation, a not-so-dead brother, a drag queen.

This gets 5/5 from me, as I couldn't leave the book out of my hands until I got to a new chapter, which would calm me a bit.

Conrad

This time, a short story by Joseph Conrad called "Heart Of Darkness".

I don't really need to say much about this book, but I will anyways. Short books are harder to write long ones since you dont have that much space to "flesh out" the characters too well and they might be left bland. This book is a perfect example of how it is done in just a few pages. It's not too rapid and it doesnt happen at just the end, it happens gradually so its not in your face. The style of writing is also very clever, making you think while your read the book and might be tricky so it will take you a while to know what its talking about. The writing is also very descriptive especially in the very beginning, describing the departure from London. The imagery is very vivid and it sounds like they would have been going to the open sea from the Thames. The plot has alot of dimensions to it, a symbolical side, a realistic side thanks to the portrayal of Congo and a psychological due to the condition of the human mind it displays at the end. The perfect line and the last line of the book shows it accurately "The horror... the horror".

To talk about the plot a bit more in detail, it is about Captain Marlow and his voyage to Congo to find out what happened to a certain man called Kurtz, who is thought to be missing since he hasnt contacted anyone in a long time. Once Marlow gets there, he finds the outpost burned down and Kurtz alive, living with the natives, seemingly not wanting to leave or contact anyone. I'm not getting in to that anymore since you would lose your interest. But I will tell you, everything is not as it seems.

Can't really talk about such a short story too much without delving into the plot and giving away everything, so I'll leave it at here and hope that you will read it and have a good time.

Good Evening.