Joseph Conrad: Lord Jim

Hi everyone

This is my review for Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad.
I got my copy at the Fnac and it has 363 pages of story and 4 pages about the book by Harold Bloom.
You can find all my Joseph Conrad reviews here.

“Jim, first mate on board the Patna, is a simple and sensitive young man who dreams of becoming a hero. But when the Patna threatens to sink, Jim takes the cowardly way out and jumps clear. His unbearable guilt and shame at having violated the unwritten moral code of the sea lead him to become an exile in a remote Malay state. There he fashions a new identity for himself as the benevolent ruler of an exotic land - until his idyll is interrupted. Rich, moving and delicately crafted, Lord Jim is a compelling meditation on identity, guilt and lost honor.”

It honestly felt like work to get through this one. It took me such a long time and a lot of concentration to keep up with it.

The story is told from multiple POV’s (which is something I like), but it’s done in a way that confused me a lot. It’s not always clear what’s happening when exactly or who’s telling a story in which someone else is talking. There’s an astounding amount of quotation marks in this book. Captain Marlow hops from one point in time to another, forgetting things he should explain and thus explaining them much later in the novel and all the while rambling on. I didn’t feel the urgency of the situation or even care for the characters and what’s happening around them because it was so confusing. I just didn’t care about the story or the characters.

I could not get involved in the story, there was no plot to speak off and I didn’t particularly feel for the characters. It’s very repetitive, slow and boring. Jim’s inner struggle does not require so many pages.

We are supposed to feel sorry for Jim and then applaud and congratulate him for how much he’s changed. I can’t. I just can’t. The choice was simple and nothing can redeem him.
Worst of all, the story is incredibly racist. Absolutely cringe-worthy racist.

The writing-style is beautiful though. Conrad’s choice of words is amazing.

2 STARS

Happy reading!
Helena

Joseph Conrad: The Secret Agent

Hi everyone

The Secret Agent is my first book by Joseph Conrad.
I got it on holiday in Valencia and my copy has 270 pages and 8 pages author’s note.

“The Secret Agent is Conrad’s dark, and darkly comic story of a band of spies, anarchists, agents-provocateurs plotting and counter-plotting in the back streets of London in the early 20th Century. The novel centers on Verloc, a shop-owner, phony-anarchist and double-agent, who becomes embroiled in an ambitious terrorist plan to bomb the Greenwich Observatory.”

I have mixed feelings.
The first part was rather boring to be honest. But the second part was so sad and touching and I loved that.

Conrad’s writing style is incredibly dense and it’s hard to follow what’s going on, especially in the first part. It took some effort to figure what was happening.
The pacing of the novel confused me and that didn’t help either.
The story is very simple but he makes it way too complicated.

Conrad’s characterization is good though.
I actually liked Mr. Verloc even though it is his fault Stevie is dead. Verloc is a coward and he cares only for himself and his comfort. Why would I care about someone like him? But strangely, I did.

3 STARS

Happy reading!
Helena