Heart of Darkness

Well I bet no one will believe me if I swear up and down that I finished the book before the weekend ended. However, I do swear. It's just between the spontaneous dinner with the family and the snow storm (In the south 3 inches = a snow storm, if you are from the north laugh all you want, but here in the south I am glad to have the day off from student teaching!)

So I chose this book because of a debate I could not participate in last semester in my education class. The debate was people who loved Heart of Darkness and people who couldn't stand it. Having never even heard of the book, I could not participate in the conversation. Thus I decided I had to read it; especially after I found out that it was a common text in high school English classes.

Well, here is my opinion. As my boyfriend says, "sometimes classics are classics because they are old, not because they are great." If you've ever had a class where you had to do some creative writing they will constantly tell you "show, do not tell," and you will find that the books that keep you up until two in the morning because you can't put them down, do show and do not tell. This book is literarily people sitting around listening to this guy tell a story. I felt as if I was sitting and listening to an old man talk about his war days for hours on end. My mind continually wandered throughout the whole book causing me to have to return and reread several parts. Also, I do not see why we teach this text to our students. Every other word is a word I know my students do not know, and the plot jumps around and contains too many characters with too few names. Anyways, I would not recommend this text if you do not have to read it for a class. Sorry to all who do love it.