I never thought I would say this about a Conrad novel, but this one's an overwrought drawing-room romance. There's still some amazing writing in it, but there's not much story. It reads like a first novel, which is weird, because it's supposedly one of his later ones. My guess is he dug out an old m

The experience of reading a Conrad novel is the same every time. You start it, think it's going to be so turgid, get muddled with the characters, wonder if there's going to be a plot, and suddenly you find you're totally hooked,and desperately involved, knowing it's going to end badly but hoping it

I love Conrad and have read most of his major novels, but I never got around to this one until now. It's considered one of his lesser works, and now I know why. It's supposedly a romantic tale of adventure, but there's an awful lot of sitting around talking, eloquently and at great length, about fee

This may sound weird, but the story itself I found to be a slow read at times, however the author is almost like a painter of words. He has such a unique and special gift of being able to put you into a scene with his descriptive words! I really have never read a book that kept my attention solely b

The Arrow of Gold is a non-political book about politics, and a study of a woman that offers no great insights into femininity. The first of those points is intentional and the second is not. It might have been a better book if the opposite had applied, i.e. if it had been a book about political iss