Heart of Darkness: Classic Edition

This review is for the audio version of Heart of Darkness as read by David Case, not the novel itself.

I had to read this book quickly over the weekend, and I thought listening to it as I read would speed up the process. While it did help me concentrate, I now regret listening to this version. The mood and atmosphere of this book requires something quite different than what is offered. Case's tone was, for lack of a better word, flippant. And almost high-pitched. I never felt the gloomy, eerie chill of Conrad's words because the reader's voice was so devoid of emotion. I think perhaps he was trying to convey Marlow's air of superiority...maybe attempting to portray Marlow as cold and cynical...I'm not sure. It didn't work for me. At times I thought he was reading the passages cold, with no actual understanding of what he was saying. Also, the other characters' voices all sounded exactly alike, and their accents were extremely muddled.

I have since gone back and begun reading the book without listening along and I find it much more enjoyable--or maybe I should say, much creepier.

The back of the CD case explains that Case has won numerous awards for all of his audio readings, and perhaps he is as good as his description. However, if you decide to buy an audio version of Heart of Darkness, I'd go with another one.

I listened to this book on audio from discs I got at the library. The first thing I should admit is that I didn't follow the story very well. In fact, I would have a hard time repeating all of the most important aspects of the story. I followed the story so poorly that I hesitated to even write a review. Then I realized that that was actually a reason to write one. I have never had this problem before. Allow me to explain.

I listen to audio books on my drive to and from work. As happens from time to time the road demands all of my attention and I miss a passage. I usually rewind it a bit and re-listen in case I missed something important. In this case, I listened to the entire first disc over and I simply had a great deal of trouble following the book while driving. Consider heading in to work in the morning and listening to music. You would have no problem singing along with the song and following the tune without incident. Now imagine listening to a lesson in algebra this way. You might learn algegra. You might even be great at algebra, but do you really want to learn it that way?

That said, I will review the parts I did get and explain why I didn't follow.

On a scale of one to ten most books pros are in the seven to eight range while the cons reside in the three or four range. This book pegged out the meter. Cons hit the ones regularly and pros, the ten. And strangely, many of the pros ARE the cons. One of the pros is that the writer has an amazing turn of phrase. Descriptions run long and deep and do not bore, yet at the same time, the books matter seems to be composed almost entirely of these descriptions. The actual story could be told in just a few paragraphs really. It is a short book with only four discs. Because the book was written around the turn of the century (the 20th century, not the 21st century), the English is just different. It's difficult for me to explain. It's not hard to follow, in the way Shakespeare might be for some, but still demands a similar attention. The recording of the book is tinny. From the first word to the last I very much got the impression that I was actually listening to a 1920's broadcast over the radio. Again, this was good and bad. It made me feel like I was IN the era it was written, but at the same time it made me feel like the quality was too poor to catch all of the nuances. I wanted to turn the bass up on my radio. The reader had a heavy English accent, which was a bit annoying at times. Yet again, this was necessary. I don't think anyone else could have read this book with as great an effect, because it was written at a time and in such a way that you might think the English could stop a hurricane if they wanted to. Could you image listening to that kind of colonial attitude read by an American? The combination of tinny audio and English narration really gave me the feeling I was on safari in the late 1800's. I loved that. At the same time, there was liberal use of the 'N' word. While I understood the book was written in a different time, my upbringing was such that it sent a small shock down my spine every time I heard it, which was often.

I'm not sure if I should recommend this book. I love science fiction and one of my favorite authors was Isaac Assimov. He was a classic author that was in no small part responsible for making science fiction popular: one of the founding fathers of science fiction. One of his great contributions to science fiction was the list of laws by which robots had to be designed. Violation of these laws was a common theme for his books. As dear as his is in my heart, I wouldn't actually recommend reading some of his robot books because decades later, they come across as common place. Oh boy another robot that comes across as more human than the people in the book. He was the first to write these books. They were ground breaking. But that almost doesn't matter, because they have been rehashed so many times, the ending is really no surprise. You'd really have to read them with a mind to see how the original was done and with the fore-knowledge that the ending won't be a surprise. This book is a little bit like that. You might want to read it to understand the flavor of Joseph Conrad, to familiarize yourself with him as an author, to educate yourself on the style of one of the classic authors but if you do, I highly recommend doing it in such a way as to allow yourself to concentrate on the content or you might come out not retaining what you just heard.

I agree with the "2-star" reviewer: This reader's supercilious tone annoyed me from the start and though I'm the patient sort, Mr. Case's voice never enveloped me in this moody, brooding story. I imagined Marlow recounting his tale from the comfy confines of a deep leather chair at his favorite club rather than while seated cross-legged on the hard deck of an anchored "yawl" on a river in the middle of the night. What should have been spooky and ghost-story like came out almost shrill and abit grating to my ear. If you must listen to "Darkness" then this version will suffice but before buying I'd recommend checking out your public library first for a different edition.

No complaints about the book. The audio requires my to turn my stereo up very high and while it hurts my ears I still can’t hear some quiet speech. Most audio books require lower volume and are easier to hear.

A good read! Definitely not what I was expecting.

the product it is in a good use.I've used it for an university work and it is in a good condition and it is available for anybody who need it.