I give this book a 5-star rating for delivering as a polarizing, perplexing, provocative and enduring work of art. That is not to condone its racist aI give this book a 5-star rating for delivering as a polarizing, perplexing, provocative and enduring work of art. That is not to condone its racist assumptions nor to forgive the extent to which it absolves the sins against humanity committed in the name of European Imperialism. (Particularly here, what was known as the African Holocaust, which ravaged half the population of central Africa, mostly between 1890 and 1910.) Conrad Richter's intriguing and disturbing tale of Marlow's quest to retrieve the charismatic yet vicious company agent Kurtz -- who's amassing great quantities of ivory for the empire (without the word "elephant" ever being mentioned, I might add) -- is stomach-turning at many junctures, like the river on which he travels. That it succeeds at transcending time and the limits of human comprehension as an indictment of the atrocities carried out in the name of human progress is evidenced by the tale's versatility. It was both updated in Barbara Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible and re-situated in place and time in Francis Ford Coppola's movie Apocalypse Now. For the real history of this time, I'm proud to refer you to the work of the African-American lawyer and state lawmaker George Washington Williams, of Ohio, who visited the Congo during this time and wrote scathingly about the brutality and starvation the native Africans endured. ...more
I thought I should finally read Brave New World, which my 11th grade daughter's been assigned as summer reading for AP English. I couldn't put it downI thought I should finally read Brave New World, which my 11th grade daughter's been assigned as summer reading for AP English. I couldn't put it down. What was amazing to me was how comtemporary the story seemed, seeming as far in the future now as in the 1930s when it was written. I don't generally go in for science fiction, but Huxley roped me in especially with his contemplation of what it means to be happy and how that differs distinctly from being free. "Actual happiness always looks pretty squalid in comparison with the overcompensations for misery. And, of course, stability isn't nearly so spectacular as instability. And being contented has none of the glamour of a good fight against misfortune, none of the picturesqueness of a struggle with temptation, or a fatal overthrow by passion or doubt. Happiness is never grand." ...more
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