I’ve started to read heart of darkness recently, and frankly, it has been quite a struggle.

At first, I thought this book will be my cup of tea, I love history and also reading the classics, so a book criticizing colonialism in Congo sounded intriguing to say the least. But I already read the first 60 pages of the book, and it has been so difficult to follow.

The book is filled with archaic words, and there are so many metaphors. It’s like the author tried writing the book as complex as possible. I sometimes have to reread entire paragraphs just to understand what is happening and it’s quite frustrating.

I’ll admit that I’m not a native speaker, but I consider my level of English to be quite good and I didn’t expect it to be so difficult to read this book. I read war and peace and the count of monto cristo in English and they were much more interesting and easier to follow.

I saw some negative reviews about the book but I assumed they were mostly about the patronising and racist nature of the book, I didn’t think the writing would be so senseless.

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Should I keep pushing on or just give up on the book? Is it worth finishing it?

  • Marlow-Moore@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    As a native English speaker with high expertise in English, that shit was hard. It took me 3.5 attempts to finish it even though it’s less than 100 pages. But that’s the point. It’s an experience I’ve never had in a book. It was hard at the start, but eventually the strange, dense language became a blur, I was beginning to see the imagery between the words, and a movie started playing in my head. I was on the river with Marlow, and I experienced this otherworldly continent. For lack of a better metaphor, I unearthed the heart of darkness within me. The shocking, bizarre acts that shocked me at the beginning of the story were part and parcel by the end. Why would a fleet ship bombard the coastline at random? Just go there and you’ll understand. My morals had changed alongside Marlow’s.

    If you can stick with it, pick it up after dropping it out of confusion, and get through the end, you’ll experience it. Maybe. You’ll be a better reader at the least. It’s fucking hard.