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A review by kleonora
Victory by Joseph Conrad
5.0
Verdict: An enduring psychological thriller love story and one of the greatest things I’ve ever read.
I hate writing reviews for good book because it put into such relief how inadequate my own writing is. It if for this reason I’ve waited over a year to write a review of ‘Victory’. This may only be my second helping of Conrad, the first being the scholastically mandatory and fantastic ‘Heart of Darkness’, but I’m ready to crown him His Lord Highness Ultimate Wordsmith Bar None. How a man who purportedly learned English from sailors can write this way boggles the mind. There must be some sort of genie involvement that no one is mentioning. In ‘Victory’ he describes the shadow a rock casts with such perfect aptness I almost cried.
So yeah, Conrad is a genius wordmeister. ‘Heart of Darkness’ was brilliant but a little bleak, still I went into ‘Victory’ expecting more of the same; boys, boats and (British) empire. Instead I got something very different. First of all, I got girls, or rather a girl. These had been scare in HoD and neatly divided into archetypes (mother, crone, seductress, virgin) and I’ve read enough literature of the period to have come to terms with this treatment of my sex. In ‘Victory’, however, we had a real life girl. An actual nuanced women who got things done and made things happen. Then things got terrifying.
‘Victory’ is a really tough book to pin down and maybe that’s why it doesn’t get the recognition it deserves. It begins with a sort of character study on this man Heyst who has ended on an island in Malaysia after a rather complicated chain of events involving a good deed, a failed business and the untimely death of a friend. On a trip to a larger more inhabited island he meets and girl he calls Lena who is part of some odd exploitative womens’ orchestra of the sort you got in Malaysia at the time (or so I assume).
They go together to his island. They don’t really have a step 2 to this plan but they are getting by until the Terrifying Men show up due to some maliciously spread and patently untrue rumours concerning Heyst’s secret wealth. There is the grinning and sadistic Ricardo and the skeletal Mr. Jones who reacts to women like Indiana Jones to snakes. From this point the story closes in and there is a distinct horror flavour as they realize the killer is inside the house. If Heyst and Lena’s love wasn’t doomed before, it certainly is now. Or maybe these slightly supernatural Terrifying Men are the embodiment of the doom. Like HoD there is something of the surreal in ‘Victory’ that makes the story stand out in slightly lurid colours.
I want to read this again. It is just a solid block of brilliance. Usually with a good book there is an element that lets the side down. Great writing but slow plot or page turner but weak characters. Even Dostoyvesky had trouble with endings. (Forgive me, master but it’s true) No such problems here. What can I say? ‘Victory’ is a book of spiritual and technical genius and utterly unique to boot.
It did make me cry and I don’t generally like that in a book. (It makes me feel played) I can’t say I even especially liked it in ‘Victory’ but I’ll forgive it for the reasons outlined above and bestow the hallowed 5 stars. This review was a bit vague and a lot doting but just take it as a good sign when a book leaves me without words.
I hate writing reviews for good book because it put into such relief how inadequate my own writing is. It if for this reason I’ve waited over a year to write a review of ‘Victory’. This may only be my second helping of Conrad, the first being the scholastically mandatory and fantastic ‘Heart of Darkness’, but I’m ready to crown him His Lord Highness Ultimate Wordsmith Bar None. How a man who purportedly learned English from sailors can write this way boggles the mind. There must be some sort of genie involvement that no one is mentioning. In ‘Victory’ he describes the shadow a rock casts with such perfect aptness I almost cried.
So yeah, Conrad is a genius wordmeister. ‘Heart of Darkness’ was brilliant but a little bleak, still I went into ‘Victory’ expecting more of the same; boys, boats and (British) empire. Instead I got something very different. First of all, I got girls, or rather a girl. These had been scare in HoD and neatly divided into archetypes (mother, crone, seductress, virgin) and I’ve read enough literature of the period to have come to terms with this treatment of my sex. In ‘Victory’, however, we had a real life girl. An actual nuanced women who got things done and made things happen. Then things got terrifying.
‘Victory’ is a really tough book to pin down and maybe that’s why it doesn’t get the recognition it deserves. It begins with a sort of character study on this man Heyst who has ended on an island in Malaysia after a rather complicated chain of events involving a good deed, a failed business and the untimely death of a friend. On a trip to a larger more inhabited island he meets and girl he calls Lena who is part of some odd exploitative womens’ orchestra of the sort you got in Malaysia at the time (or so I assume).
They go together to his island. They don’t really have a step 2 to this plan but they are getting by until the Terrifying Men show up due to some maliciously spread and patently untrue rumours concerning Heyst’s secret wealth. There is the grinning and sadistic Ricardo and the skeletal Mr. Jones who reacts to women like Indiana Jones to snakes. From this point the story closes in and there is a distinct horror flavour as they realize the killer is inside the house. If Heyst and Lena’s love wasn’t doomed before, it certainly is now. Or maybe these slightly supernatural Terrifying Men are the embodiment of the doom. Like HoD there is something of the surreal in ‘Victory’ that makes the story stand out in slightly lurid colours.
I want to read this again. It is just a solid block of brilliance. Usually with a good book there is an element that lets the side down. Great writing but slow plot or page turner but weak characters. Even Dostoyvesky had trouble with endings. (Forgive me, master but it’s true) No such problems here. What can I say? ‘Victory’ is a book of spiritual and technical genius and utterly unique to boot.
It did make me cry and I don’t generally like that in a book. (It makes me feel played) I can’t say I even especially liked it in ‘Victory’ but I’ll forgive it for the reasons outlined above and bestow the hallowed 5 stars. This review was a bit vague and a lot doting but just take it as a good sign when a book leaves me without words.