Living in France it is not so easy to get hold of English language books. There are a couple of bookshops such as Decitre and fnac that have small foreign language book departments, which are great if you (like me) love handling books, looking at the covers and blurbs and reading a few pages to see if this is indeed a book you would like to read. Of course there is Amazon and e-readers that make it easy to buy books relatively cheaply but I do prefer the real deal.
In my quest to find 'real' books I set up an English language book exchange at work, which has become quite popular, though sometimes it appears to be library with the same books reappearing on the shelves. Shortly after I set this up the local Geallic Football team (yes, you did read that correctly!) started holding book sales to raise money for their team expenses. This has been a reliable source of books for a while although the majority of books seem to have a more masculine appeal as it is mainly the players who donate books. The recent development of a female team will hopefully redress this balance!
I found Heart of Darkness in the work book exchange and as Conrad is on my 'must read some of his work one day' list and was also a very thin book, I grabbed it to fill the 'book that can be read in one day' category and I was able to read it one day.
Set as a narrative it is a powerful book about the darker side of mankind and is based on some of Conrad's own experiences while in the Congo.
The fictional Marlow entertains his crew mates, who are waiting for the tide to turn before sailing up the Thames, by recounting his experiences on a riverboat in the Congo.
The story covers racism and a disillusionment of imperialism and is an uncomfortable but memorable read. The scenes described are incredibly vivid and easy to picture and you are taken, very quickly, into this dark and horrible world.
I would highly recommend this book and it would make a good starting point for a discussion on imperialism.
Set as a narrative it is a powerful book about the darker side of mankind and is based on some of Conrad's own experiences while in the Congo.
The fictional Marlow entertains his crew mates, who are waiting for the tide to turn before sailing up the Thames, by recounting his experiences on a riverboat in the Congo.
The story covers racism and a disillusionment of imperialism and is an uncomfortable but memorable read. The scenes described are incredibly vivid and easy to picture and you are taken, very quickly, into this dark and horrible world.
I would highly recommend this book and it would make a good starting point for a discussion on imperialism.
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