"Every light must fade, every heart return to darkness!"

Ten guesses as to the book I just finished. No--not the comic book series of the first Kingdom Hearts. (Though I do own it...) It's Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad! And now that we have that lame Kingdom Hearts reference out of the way (the title) we can continue unheeded.

The book is based on Conrad's own travels up the Congo river, told in the form of the character Marlow. It's not up my alley. At all. I feel I should confess this before we move on. Maybe I didn't understand it (very possible) or what have you, but I just wasn't very interested. To be fair to Conrad, however, he is a very eloquent writer. He had very nice little statements and bits, it's just, the whole of the book didn't really capture my interest. Not my cup of tea. I'd say it's about a five or six, but Joey said he'd call it a nine or ten. Okay.

My favorite part came incredibly early in the beginning, probably only four or five pages in. In fact, there is no 'probably' about that statement. "'Now, when I was a little chap I had a passion for maps... At that time there were many blank spaces on the earth, and when I saw one that looked particularly inviting on the map (but they all look that) I would put my finger on it and say, 'When I grow up I will go there.'" Awww, it reminds me of myself when I was a tyke! Why? Well, I didn't do exactly that, but when I was a kid (until I was in about 4th grade, probably) I hadn't really ever taken a good, close look at a globe. I had only seen flattened maps. Since I had only ever seen all the world flat out in front of me like that (I was aware that the world was round, for the record) I didn't understand what the 'other side of the world' was. I thought there was some hidden, unmapped thing that was all jungles and full of mystery and adventures, and dinosaurs and Greeks and Egyptians that had preserved their ways. (I was always big into Greek history and culture and Egyptian mythology.) Imagine my disappointment when I studied a globe closely for the first time. Globes are the most depressing things in the world.

"It's queer how out of touch with truth women are. They live in a world of their own, and there has never been anything like it, and never can be. It is too beautiful altogether, and if they were to set it up it would go to pieces before the first sunset." If I had a nickel for every author I know that's commented on this fact... I'd have at least ten dollars. I don't mind, I think they're funny. (Wasn't there an episode of Fairly Odd Parents where they split the world into the guy half and the girl half?)

"I don't like work--no man does--but I like what is in the work--the chance to find yourself. Your own reality--for yourself, not for others--what no man can ever know. They can only see the mere show, and never can tell what it really means." Basically, your outward appearance and your actions can never translate as fully to another person's mind as they do to you. How you perceive life is hidden, even if you're a madman, and the picture of life you have can never really be told or understood by anyone else.

"I take it, no fool ever made a bargain for his soul with the devil; the fool is too much of a fool, or the devil too much of a devil--I don't know which." I'm still puzzling over this one a little bit. Assistant Emma, care to throw in your two cents?

"'Intimacy grows quickly out there,' I said." (IE, in the jungle--on the Congo.) There's something very sweet about this that I like. It seems to carry a little wistful nostalgia, and like Marlow had a soft look in the eyes. I don't know how to explain it. I guess all the meaningfulness in this rests with my imagery, which is my own reality that is what no man can ever know! Oooooh, high five me!

This copy of the book (stolen from my teacher) also has Conrad's story The Secret Sharer in it, which I liked by leaps and bounds more. Like, if Heart of Darkness was a six, The Secret Sharer was a nine. The ironic thing is, I have no little eloquent bits from The Secret Sharer to share (secretly). The thing the book I disliked lack made me love the other. Buuuuut. Let's see, it's about a new captain of a ship. While taking an on-deck stroll, he discovers a man in the water and takes him up and hides the man in his chambers. So... that's cool. I don't really have anything more to say, so I'll write you later! Now, I get read about the Romanovs...